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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!

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 come back next week for a deep dive into how we make the CP magic happen!