Southwest recently offered a 60,000 point sign-up bonus on all three of their Chase co-branded credit cards. The offers ended at the beginning of October which was perfect timing for earning a two-year Companion Pass for 2018 and 2019.
Let me explain. If you get 110,000 Southwest points in a calendar year, you earn a Companion Pass which allows you to add a companion to all of your Southwest itineraries for free! If you earn the points in January, the Companion Pass is good for the rest of the calendar year AND the entire next year. Sounds too good to be true, right? For the time being it isn’t, but I can’t guarantee how long this will last.
Companion Pass 2018-2019
My fiance earned the Companion Pass for the first time back in 2015. He’s been laying low waiting to get back under 5/24 so we could earn the Companion Pass again for 2018 and 2019. This time, he decided to open the Southwest Plus card because of the lower annual fee and the Southwest Business Premier card since it won’t count against his 5/24 status. We may open the third Southwest card at a later date because we fly Southwest so frequently.
Companion Pass 2020-2021
It’s a little insane to be thinking this far into the future since there is no guarantee that the Companion Pass will even exist in 2020. Caveats aside, I plan on taking a churning hiatus starting around February so I can open the Southwest cards to get the Companion Pass the next time around. Hopefully, the 60,000 point offers will be around to make earning the Companion Pass super easy.
Final Thoughts
In this rapidly changing world of points and miles, Southwest may put the kibosh on earning the Companion Pass this way by 2020. Even so, I think our four-year plan is worth it since the Companion Pass is of so much value to us. Worst case scenario, my credit report will have settled down a bit, and maybe I’ll finally get approved for a Citi card!
