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October 10, 2018 By Ian Thomas 4 Comments

Disclosure: Some posts contain referral links (much love if you use them!). Opinions expressed here are the author's alone and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by any entities.

Writing a post with the headline “The best deal in travel” has to be click-bait, right? That’s definitely what I would have thought years ago when I first heard about the Southwest Companion Pass – this can’t be real! But it was, it is and man is it amazing.

Wait a minute, back up

Southwest is easily the airline we use the most. Several times a year are guaranteed trips to Maryland to see my family and to Canada (flying into Buffalo) to see Sarah’s family. Southwest makes this easy with their flexible points, free checked bags, and no change fees.

And with Southwest’s expansion into the Caribbean and Mexico, the airline keeps getting more attractive. Adding to that the fact that Southwest is starting to fly to Hawaii soon and are looking at Canada, the airline is clearly focused on growth.

But back to the Companion Pass, would you believe me if I told you that ever since we got married, Sarah has flown for free with me wherever I go with Southwest? Or that we haven’t paid for a single flight on Southwest in the last 5 years? It kinda sounds too good to be true, but it’s not!

We fly a lot and the Companion Pass has made all of our travel doable and way cheap. I’ve gotten plenty of friends their Companion Pass, and this week and next week I’m going to dive into how you can get it too.

What is the companion pass?

Southwest’s Companion Pass allows an individual to designate another person as their “companion” and that person can fly for free with them wherever they go. This is pretty sweet, right? Well, it gets better. This companion is not restricted to paid flights; they can tag along on reward flights as well.

And that is what really sets it apart. After all, it takes earning 110,000 points in a calendar year to get the Companion Pass, so that means you have almost $2,000 worth in travel in your account. Multiply that by a free companion, and you are looking at $4,000 towards Southwest travel!

Right now, I am Sarah’s companion until the end of 2019

How long does the Companion Pass status last?

The Companion Pass is good the calendar year you obtain the points in and the following calendar year. I usually arrange Southwest points to hit my account in January, which gives me almost two full years of companion pass status.

Wait, it takes how many points to get the CP?

Right. So, the Companion Pass seems way out of reach for most folks. 110,000 points or 100 flights is a lot of money and flights to take in a year. But this is where credit cards come in. Next week, I’m going to dive in to how we get Companion Pass status so regularly (we are on our 3rd CP) and how we maximize the two years.

The Simple Summary

The Southwest Companion Pass is the best deal in travel and easily my favorite perk I’ve ever earned. Let me know if you have any specific questions below and head here for a deep dive into how we make the CP magic happen!

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Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: Budget Travel, Budgeting, Credit Card Travel, Discount Travel, Free Travel, Money-Saving Hack, Southwest, Travel

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Comments

  1. Carly Ross

    October 31, 2018 at 10:28 am

    Companion Pass is so legit! We have one and have had for years thanks to my husbands business travel. It really benefits us in our personal travel. I should probably blog about it too! Now to partner with Southwest! Hmm…lol!

    Reply
    • Ian Thomas

      October 31, 2018 at 10:32 am

      For real! And with credit cards, it’s so much more accessible! We are definitely planning a trip to Hawaii for next year when Southwest starts flying there 🙂

      Reply
  2. Laura Webb

    October 31, 2018 at 11:46 am

    Oh my goodness, this is awesome! Seems like a great excuse to do some extra traveling to me!

    Reply
    • Ian and Sarah Thomas

      October 31, 2018 at 12:09 pm

      Amen to that!

      Reply

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