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Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards is a unique loyalty program that shares some characteristics common of airline loyalty programs (like priority check-in and boarding for elite members) and additional key features (like the ability to bring a companion for free when you’ve earned enough points in a calendar year and points that never expire). This guide is designed to include everything you need to know about the Southwest Rapid Rewards program.
Southwest Rapid Rewards Overview
Southwest Rapid Rewards shares traits that are common to most airline rewards programs:
- Earn points from paid flights (based on the cost of the fare)
- Use points to book free flight awards (and cash+points rewards, starting in 2024).
- The cost, in points, for free flights depends upon the cash price of the flight
- Those who spend a lot on paid flights earn elite status.
- There are two elite status levels: A-list and A-list Preferred. The higher your status, the more perks you get.
- Branded credit cards can be used to earn points and to help earn elite status.
Rapid Rewards also has a few traits that are unique:
- If you earn 135,000 Rapid Rewards points in a calendar year, you earn a Companion Pass. The Companion Pass allows a companion to fly with you for free (paying only the taxes) every time you fly whether the primary passholder’s ticket was purchased with money or points. See more detail in our Southwest Companion Pass Complete Guide.
- Southwest Rapid Rewards points never expire
- Award flights are highly flexible and can be cancelled or changed with no fee up until 10 minutes prior to departure
How To Earn Southwest Rapid Rewards Points
Members can earn points through paid flight activity, credit card spend and bonuses, and many types of partner activity (including the shopping portal, car rentals with partners, flower delivery, and more). Southwest Rapid Rewards points do not expire, which means there is low risk in collecting points.
On paid flights, members earn points based on fare type and price:
- Wanna Get Away Fares: Earn 6x points per $1 of base fare
- Wanna Get Away Plus Fares: Earn 8x points per $1 of base fare
- Anytime Fares: Earn 10x points per $1 of base fare
- Business Select fares: Earn 12x points per $1 of base fare
Elite members earn bonuses (A-list gets 25% bonus points, A-list Preferred gets 100% bonus).
Partner activity that can increase your points balance includes:
- Credit card spend
- Credit card bonuses (including new cardmember welcome bonuses and any short-term spending bonuses)
- Hotel partners
- Rental Car partners
- Rapid Rewards dining
- 1-800 Flowers (1,000 miles per order of $29.99 or more with promo code R22)
- Marathon gas stations
Do Southwest Rapid Rewards points expire?
Southwest Rapid Rewards points never expire, so there is no activity necessary to keep them alive. Note that if you close your account, you will forfeit any points in the account at time of closure.
How much are Southwest Rapid Rewards points worth?
Our Reasonable Redemption Value for Southwest Rapid Rewards points is 1.4c each. However, the actual value of points varies based on the price of the flight and route. In short, points are tend be worth slightly more towards cheaper fares and certain international routes where taxes make up a more significant portion of the cost.
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards award flights
All seats available for sale on a Southwest Airlines flight can be booked with points as an award ticket. The number of points required for a flight depends on the cash price of the fare and points can be used regardless of fare type (“Wanna Get Away”, “Wanna Get Away Plus,” “Anytime”, and “Business Select” fares are all available using points).
A unique feature of the Southwest Rapid Rewards program is the flexibility of award tickets: awards can be cancelled up 10 minutes before the flight is scheduled to depart for no fee. Points are immediately re-deposited into your Southwest Rapid Rewards account. Flights can alternatively be changed just as easily, sometimes without even paying a fare difference.
Southwest Airlines Elite status Overview
Southwest offers two levels of elite status: A-list and A-list Preferred. Companion Pass is arguably a third level of elite status, though it comes with no elite benefits other than the companion ticket so we’ll cover that separately in this guide. Requirements for A-list and A-list Preferred status are straightforward and benefits are similar
A-list
Requirements: 20 one-way qualifying flights or 35,000 tier-qualifying points
Benefits:
- Priority boarding (the system automatically assigns a position 36 hours before your flight (same as Early Bird check-in).
- 25% bonus points earned on paid fares (15x Business Select, 12.5x Anytime, 7.5x Wanna Get Away)
- Free same-day standby (note that this does not extend to any companions on the same reservation)
- Free same-day change
- Priority check-in and security (where available)
A-list Preferred
Requirements: 40 one-way qualifying flights or 70,000 tier-qualifying points
Benefits:
- Priority boarding (the system automatically assigns a position 36 hours before your flight (same as Early Bird check-in). A-list Preferred receives priority over A-list but both are behind Business Select passengers
- 100% bonus points on paid fares (24x Business Select, 20x Anytime, 12x Wanna Get Away)
- Free same-day standby (note that this does not extend to any companions on the same reservation)
- Free same-day change
- Priority check-in and security (where available)
- Free in-flight Wi-Fi
- Two free premium drinks per flight on flights of 176 miles or longer
Shortcuts to Southwest Rapid Rewards elite status
Rapid Rewards Premier, Premier Business, Priority, or Performance Business cardmembers earn 1,500 tier points for every $5,000 in purchases on a Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card. That’s a 50% decrease in required spend from previous years. Those who spend their way toward a Companion Pass will find themselves racking up tier points far more quickly in the new system.
Southwest Companion Pass Overview
The key details of the Southwest Companion Pass are:
- A member who earns 135,000 Rapid Rewards points in a single calendar year earns a Companion Pass, enabling the pass holder to bring a companion for free (the companion just pays the taxes)
- The companion can be changed up to 3 times per calendar year
- As long as a seat is available for sale on the flight, a Companion Pass holder can add their companion. The same fare type does not need to be available.
The Southwest Airlines Companion Pass can be an extremely valuable tool given that it enables the primary passholder to bring a free companion an unlimited number of times whether the passholder’s flight was purchased with money or points (the primary passholder’s ticket can even be purchased with points from someone else’s account and they can still add the companion for free). It’s worth noting that the companion can be added at any time up until 10 minutes before departure as long as there are seats available for sale and regardless of the fare type originally purchased. In other words, if the primary pass holder buys a Wanna Get Away fare, their companion can still be added even if only Business Select fares remain for sale.
The 135,000 points required for a Companion Pass can be earned from paid flights, credit card spend, credit card welcome bonuses, or many types of partner activity including shopping portal purchases and rental cars.
Shortcuts to a Southwest Companion Pass
The Companion Pass has a multitude of shortcuts. The most popular shortcut is via new credit card bonuses since even the new member spending bonus counts toward the 135K points that must be earned in a calendar year to get the Companion Pass and Southwest cardholders get credit for 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each year (note that these are not redeemable points, it is effectively just a reduction in the number of additional points you must earn). For instance, if a member were to open a Southwest consumer credit card and a Southwest business credit card and they each featured an offer like 60,000 points after spending $3,000 in 3 months, opening both cards and meeting the associated spending requirements in the same calendar year would yield 126K total points. Together with the 10K Companion Pass Qualifying points automatically credited to cardholders, such an individual would have 136K Companion Pass Qualifying points – enough for a Companion Pass.
However, there are also many other ways to earn Companion Pass qualifying points. In practice, we have found that the following things do count:
- Paid flight activity
- Points earned from credit card spend, including the signup bonus
- Points earned from the Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping portal (however, seasonal bonuses from the portal do not count)
- Most (but not all) points earned from partners
Keep in mind that you do not need to earn all of the points from a single source — mix and match points from each of these shortcuts as you please.
Which points qualify toward the Southwest Companion Pass?
Credit card welcome offers
Chase frequently offers valuable welcome offers for signing up for their Southwest cards and meeting the minimum spend. There are several versions of the Southwest credit cards. In terms of consumer/personal credit cards, there are three: the Premier, Plus, and Priority cards. On the business side, there is the Premier Business and the Performance Business. Welcome offers on these cards increase and decrease throughout the year and have historically ranged from 40,000 points to 80,000 points, which means that it is often possible to earn enough points for a companion pass, or very close to it, by opening two credit cards and meeting the minimum spending requirements. Here is the current offer information on each of the Southwest credit cards:
| Card Offer |
|---|
40K points + $400 ⓘ Affiliate 40K points + a $400 statement credit after $3K spend in the first 4 months. (Offer Expires 12/9/2024)$69 Annual Fee Alternate Offer: Current public offer is 50K points after $1K spend in 3 months. After clicking through, be sure to manually select the exact Southwest card in which you are interested. This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). |
80K points ⓘ Affiliate 80K points after $5K spend within first 3 months your account is open$199 Annual Fee This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). |
40K points + $400 ⓘ Friend-Referral 40K points + a $400 statement credit after $3K spend in the first 4 months. (Offer Expires 12/9/2024)$99 Annual Fee Alternate Offer: Current public offer is 50K points after $1K spend in 3 months. This card is known to be subject to Chase's 5/24 rule. Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. |
40K points + $400 ⓘ Affiliate 40K points + a $400 statement credit after $3K spend in the first 4 months. (Offer Expires 12/9/2024)$149 Annual Fee Alternate Offer: Current public offer is 50K points after $1K spend in 3 months. This card is known to be subject to Chase's 5/24 rule. |
60K points ⓘ Affiliate 60K points after $3K spend within first 3 months your account is open$99 Annual Fee This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). |
It is important to note that Chase added new rules on the Southwest credit cards in recent years. Each of the Southwest credit cards now carries 24-month language. In a nutshell
- You are ineligible for the welcome bonus on a Southwest personal credit card if you currently have any Southwest Rapid Rewards personal credit card or have earned a new cardmember bonus on any Southwest personal credit card in the past 24 months
- You are ineligible for the welcome bonus on a Southwest business credit card if you currently have that specific Southwest Rapid Rewards business credit card or have earned a new cardmember bonus on that specific Southwest business credit card in the past 24 months. This is a key distinction: the verbiage on the application page does not preclude you from earning the welcome bonus on a second business credit card, it just needs to be the other product.
In short, the easiest path to earn the Companion Pass via credit card welcome offers requires opening at least one business card.
| Applying for Business Credit Cards Yes, you have a business: In order to sign up for a business credit card, you must have a business. That said, it's common for people to have businesses without realizing it. If you sell items at a yard sale, or on eBay, for example, then you have a business. Similar examples include: consulting, writing (e.g. blog authorship, planning your first novel, etc.), handyman services, owning rental property, renting on airbnb, driving for Uber or Lyft, etc. In any of these cases, your business is considered a Sole Proprietorship unless you form a corporation of some sort. When you apply for a business credit card as a sole proprietor, you can use your own name as your business name, use your own address and phone as the business' address and phone, and your social security number as the business' Tax ID / EIN. Alternatively, you can get a proper Tax ID / EIN from the IRS for free, in about a minute, through this website. Is it OK to use business cards for personal expenses? Anecdotally, almost everyone I know uses business cards for personal expenses. That said, the terms in most business card applications state that you should use the card only for business use. Also, some consumer credit card protections do not apply to business cards. My advice: don't use the card for personal expenses if you're not comfortable doing so. |
Ideally, you would time the applications and spend so that the points would be earned as early in a calendar year as possible. That way, you’ll have the Companion Pass for nearly two years.
Southwest Rapid Rewards points post to your Southwest Airlines account upon statement close. Timing out purchases in order to earn points from welcome offers at the appropriate time is fairly easy to do. For example, if you would like to earn the welcome bonus on a card in January, be sure to wait to meet the minimum spending requirements until after your December statement closes (since purchase activity after your December statement has closed should post to your Southwest account upon the close of your January statement). The safest bet is of course to wait until January to meet the minimum spending requirement to avoid the risk of points posting early.
If you open more than one Southwest credit card in close proximity to each other for the purposes of earning the Companion Pass, be sure to time the spend so that you earn both bonuses in the same calendar year. If you choose to pursue such a strategy late in the year with the goal of earning welcome bonuses in January, be careful not to meet the spending threshold early. A member who earns 63,000 points in December and another 63,000 points in January will not have a companion pass since the points were not earned in the same calendar year.
Unfortunately, Chase does apply its 5/24 rule to these cards. That means that you most likely won’t get approved if you’ve opened 5 or more cards (with any bank) in the past 24 months.
| Chase's 5/24 Rule: With most Chase credit cards, Chase will not approve your application if you have opened 5 or more cards with any bank in the past 24 months. To determine your 5/24 status, see: 3 Easy Ways to Count Your 5/24 Status. The easiest option is to track all of your cards for free with Travel Freely. |
Credit card spend
If you’re a big spender, then another way to get the Companion Pass is to simply charge $135,000 worth of expenses on a Southwest credit card (or cards) during a single calendar year.
Since the cards only award 1 point per dollar on most spend, this wouldn’t be the fastest way to earn the Companion Pass, nor the cheapest in terms of opportunity cost. However, if you know you’ll use the Companion Pass a ton, it might be worth it to you.
1-800-Flowers
1-800-Flowers lets you earn 1,000 Companion Pass qualifying Southwest points per order with promo code RR22. To qualify, orders must be $29.99 or more and only one promo code can be used per order. The terms of this deal have been updated to indicate that you can only receive these points a maximum of 12 times per year (i.e. max of 12,000 points).
Online Shopping
If you do a lot of online shopping, you can earn points that qualify for the Companion Pass by shopping through the Southwest Rapid Rewards shopping portal. The portal offers different point bonuses for different stores. It’s often possible to earn 5 or more points per dollar for shopping at popular merchants. Note that points from seasonal portal bonuses (such as “Spend $300, get 500 bonus points”) do not count towards the Companion Pass.
Hotel partners
Southwest Airlines has several hotel partners (as seen on this page). Some hotel partners only allow for points transfer, but others allow you to earn Southwest points for your stays. These points are Companion Pass-qualifying.
For example, Southwest has a partnership with MGM Rewards whereby you can earn 600 Rapid Rewards points per stay at most of the MGM hotels in Las Vegas. As shown above, these points count towards the Companion Pass.
Book hotels through Rocketmiles
Rocketmiles is a hotel booking site that rewards you with airline miles in lieu of earning hotel points, elite credit, etc. You choose the type of miles you want to earn and then the search results show the price of the hotel per night and the number of miles you can earn. If you pick Southwest Rapid Rewards, then it’s possible to earn Companion Pass qualifying points for your stay.
Unfortunately, Rocketmiles promotional bonuses are not Companion Pass qualifying points. In the above example, it shows the number “5,000” crossed out and replaced with “8,000 Rapid Rewards Points”. In this case, you would probably earn 5,000 Companion Pass qualifying points — the other 3,000 bonus are most likely a bonus. Also keep in mind that you will not earn hotel points or elite credit for bookings made through RocketMiles. If you have elite status with the hotel chain, it will probably not be recognized, so you will not receive benefits of your status like free breakfast.
Rental Cars
Southwest Airlines partners with a number of rental car companies to offer points for renting through Southwest (see the current list here). Always be sure to compare the cost using any associated rate codes. Base points earned from car rentals do count toward the Southwest Companion Pass, but be aware that additional bonuses beyond base points may not.
Referring friends
Chase sometimes offers bonuses for referring friends to apply for a card you have. You can check to see if you have any referral offers by entering your last name, billing zip code, and the last four digits of your Southwest card here. Typically, you can earn 10,000 Rapid Rewards points per referral up to a maximum of 50,000 points per year. What’s more, your Southwest credit card referral link can now be used to refer someone to any Southwest credit card. In other words, if you have the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier credit card, you could refer someone to the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Performance Business credit card or vice versa. This opens up more possibilities in terms of earning referral points.
It is furthermore noteworthy that referrals collected late in the year can be an interesting way to earn toward the pass. We discovered that referrals earned after your December statement closes but before December 31st will count toward the current year’s Chase referral cap, but will not post to your Southwest Rapid Rewards account until your next statement cuts (in January). One could therefore essentially double up on Companion Pass-eligible points by doing the following:
- Make sure your Southwest credit card statement cut date is set for early in December. As an example, let’s say your December statement posts on December 10th
- Refer 5 friends between December 11th-December 31st (50,000 point cap for this calendar year)
- Refer 5 more friends between January 1-January 9th (50,000 point cap for the new calendar year)
- When your statement cuts again on January 10th, your Southwest account would theoretically be credited with 100,000 referral points from a single credit card (50K “earned” the previous calendar year from Chase’s perspective and 50K “earned” from the current calendar year, but all posted to your Southwest account in the same calendar year)
Again, the trick here is to make sure not to refer people to apply until after your December statement cut date. For more information on this method, see: An unexpected path to the Companion Pass.
What doesn’t count towards a Companion Pass
The most notable sources of non-qualifying points include: transfers from hotel partners and those transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards. These points will NOT count towards earning a Southwest Companion Pass.
Purchased points, transferred points transferred between members, points converted from hotel and car loyalty programs, and e-Rewards, e-Miles, Valued Opinions and Diners Club, points earned from program enrollment, tier bonus points, flight bonus points, and partner bonus points (with the exception of the Rapid Rewards Credit Cards from Chase) do not qualify as Companion Pass Qualifying Points.
It is also important to note that bonus points at many partners do not count. Base points earned from partners do count in many instances — such as the 1,000 points with the 1800Flowers coupon code above, base RocketMiles points, etc. However, an extra added bonus may not count. You can easily go to your Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards account and click “Recent Activity”, then filter by “Companion Pass qualifying points” to verify which transactions count toward your current total.
Sharing points with others
You can transfer points to another member, but Southwest charges a fee to do so. Instead, you can simply use your points to book a flight for someone else whether or not you will travel with them. Note that if you use your points to book a flight for someone who has a Companion Pass, he or she can still add their companion for free. There is little reason to consider paying for a transfer.
Southwest “More Rewards”: International flights, experiences, and more
Southwest credit card holders have access to additional redemption opportunities via “More Rewards”. These opportunities generally yield less value per point than redeeming for Southwest flights, but it opens the possibility to use points for international flights (including in premium cabins), experiences, gift cards and more. Card holders can click through the link on this page and log in to view options.
International flights can only be booked on routes that are not served by Southwest and it is possibly that some carriers may not be available. However, based on sample searches, it appears that flights can be booked at a value of approximately 1c per point. Flights do not need to be to/from the United States (for example, a flight from Germany to Spain or Hong Kong to Bangkok can be booked via the air portal.
You can also use points to pay for car rentals, experiences, vacation packages, and even travel insurance, though values tend to be quite poor.
Southwest Credit Cards
Chase issues quite a few Southwest Airlines consumer and business credit cards. Current offer information for these cards can be found below:
| Card Offer |
|---|
40K points + $400 ⓘ Affiliate 40K points + a $400 statement credit after $3K spend in the first 4 months. (Offer Expires 12/9/2024)$69 Annual Fee Alternate Offer: Current public offer is 50K points after $1K spend in 3 months. After clicking through, be sure to manually select the exact Southwest card in which you are interested. This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). |
80K points ⓘ Affiliate 80K points after $5K spend within first 3 months your account is open$199 Annual Fee This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). |
40K points + $400 ⓘ Friend-Referral 40K points + a $400 statement credit after $3K spend in the first 4 months. (Offer Expires 12/9/2024)$99 Annual Fee Alternate Offer: Current public offer is 50K points after $1K spend in 3 months. This card is known to be subject to Chase's 5/24 rule. Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. |
40K points + $400 ⓘ Affiliate 40K points + a $400 statement credit after $3K spend in the first 4 months. (Offer Expires 12/9/2024)$149 Annual Fee Alternate Offer: Current public offer is 50K points after $1K spend in 3 months. This card is known to be subject to Chase's 5/24 rule. |
60K points ⓘ Affiliate 60K points after $3K spend within first 3 months your account is open$99 Annual Fee This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). |
It is important to note that Chase added new rules on the Southwest credit cards in recent years. Each of the Southwest credit cards now carries 24-month language. In a nutshell
- You are ineligible for the welcome bonus on a Southwest personal credit card if you currently have any Southwest Rapid Rewards personal credit card or have earned a new cardmember bonus on any Southwest personal credit card in the past 24 months
- You are ineligible for the welcome bonus on a Southwest business credit card if you currently have that specific Southwest Rapid Rewards business credit card or have earned a new cardmember bonus on that specific Southwest business credit card in the past 24 months. This is a key distinction: the verbiage on the application page does not preclude you from earning the welcome bonus on a second business credit card, it just needs to be the other product.
Those looking to earn a Companion Pass via credit card welcome offers will need to open at least one business card.
Southwest Check in process
One of the most polarizing features of Southwest is the check in and boarding process. Love it or hate it, Southwest does not assign seats and instead assigns boarding positions based on a number of factors, most notably when a customer checks in. This means that if you want a favorable boarding position so you can choose the aisle/window seat you want, you’ll need to check in as early as possible. Online check in begins 24 hours prior to departure, but Southwest also offers Early Bird Check In.
Early Bird Check-In
For a fee that starts at $15, Southwest will automatically check you in beginning 36 hours before your flight — 12 hours before general check in opens. They will prompt you to add Early Bird Check-in on the booking confirmation page:
Alternatively, you can always add it later on by clicking on a reservation in your account and then clicking the button to add early bird check-in.
However, there is one notable problem with early bird check in: If you cancel your reservation, you will lose the money you paid for early bird check in. Normally, if you cancel a paid reservation with Southwest, you receive a credit that doesn’t expire. If you booked your ticket on points, you can choose to have the taxes refunded to your original payment method. However, if you paid for early bird check in and you cancel your ticket, you get neither a refund nor a credit for the Early Bird Check-in fee. If you simply change your flight, you keep Early Bird Check-in. For this reason, I never add Early Bird Check-in until I’m sure that plans are firm. Also, I typically only add Early Bird Check-in to my ticket (the primary traveler, not the companion). There are a few reasons for this strategy:
- If ticket prices drop, Southwest will allow you to change/re-book at the lower fare and receive a refund of the difference in points or a credit if you paid the cash price.
- Companions receive sequential boarding so that they get boarding positions next to or very close to each other. Since that is the case, only one needs to purchase Early Bird Check-In and the 2nd person will automatically get the benefit. Both passengers do need need to check-in.
- If you get bumped from your flight, you will lose early bird check in and will not get a refund of that fee.
- The utility of early bird check in can depend on your origination point.
Early Bird Check-in might not be worth it
The usefulness of Early Bird Check-in will likely depend on two main factors: whether or not you have a seat preference and your point of origin.
Southwest only flies the Boeing 737, though they fly several different variants of that plane. The smallest version they fly has 23 rows. Assuming that aisle seats and window seats are equally desirable, that means that there are about 92 “preferred” seats on even the smallest planes (23 aisle seats and 23 window seats on each side of the aisle). Each Boarding group has 60 people. Therefore, everyone in Boarding Group A will get a preferred seat if they want it. Since at least some of the people in Groups A and B will be traveling together (and therefore someone in the party will take a middle seat next to their companion), I think it’s generally true that nearly everyone in Group B will have access to a preferred seat as well. By the time Group C gets on board, it is much more likely that only middle seats are left. In my experience, checking in exactly 24 hours before the flight often (though not always) produces a Group B boarding pass.
However, that may vary a bit depending on the second factor: your point of origin. Southwest normally allows you to check in 24 hours before your scheduled departure. When you check in for your first segment, you are automatically checked in for all of your segments that day. This results in an advantage for those passengers who are not based in Southwest hubs.
Let’s consider that you are based somewhere in the Northeast — like Albany, NY. Southwest only flies a couple of direct routes out of Albany. Most itineraries from Albany connect in Baltimore, Chicago, or Orlando. So let’s take this Albany, NY to Los Angeles, CA itinerary as an example:
The initial flight (Southwest Flight #6542) leaves Albany at 5:40am on Friday morning. There is a connection in Baltimore to Southwest Flight #1951 — that flight leaves Baltimore at 8:05am. Since passengers can check in 24 hours before their initial flight, a passenger starting in Albany can check in for both flights together at 5:40am on Thursday. This means the Albany passenger will be checked in for that second flight from Baltimore to Los Angeles 2 hours and 20 minutes before someone originating in Baltimore is able to check in online. Of course, it’s not only passengers from Albany that have an advantage. Passengers originating in Boston get a 10-mintue head start on Albany — their first flight is at 5:30am. Those folks starting in Manchester, NH are going to beat Boston and Albany with their 5:15am departure:
The point here is that if you live in Manchester, NH, you probably don’t need Early Bird Check-in. If you can check in right at 5:15am 24 hours in advance, you only have to contend with folks originating in Manchester on your first flight and you will be among the first checking in on the Baltimore segment. You have a nice head start on the people who live in Baltimore.
Of course, on the flip side, this means that people who live in Baltimore may need to pay for Early Bird Check-in to have any chance at a decent boarding position. The people in Manchester, Boston, and Albany who also paid for Early Bird Check-in will continue to have a head start. However, those originating in Baltimore can put themselves ahead of the 24-hour check ins from Albany, Boston, Manchester, etc by paying for Early Bird Check-in. Therefore, if you live in a Southwest hub city, you may want to consider paying the premium.
Southwest Business Select Overview
Southwest sells Business Select fares that include priority security and A1-A15 boarding. While these tickets are generally much more expensive than Wanna Get Away fares, they are sometimes not much more than “Anytime” fares – so if you’re booking close to departure, they can be a better value in terms of securing a good boarding position and priority security in some airports. These fares also include a free premium drink and earn more miles per dollar. They are refundable as well.
However, note that if you book business select, your companion will not (yet) share your favorable boarding position. He or she will still need to check in as usual (or purchase Early Bird Boarding or an upgraded boarding position at the gate). Southwest has done trials of a a program where the companion will board with the Companion Pass holder in the Companion Pass holder’s boarding position when flying on a Business Select fare. This program could be expanded in the future, so keep your eye out for details.
FAQ
Here are a few other common questions that people ask about the Southwest Companion Pass:
Q: Can I change my flight on a companion booking?
A: Yes. You will first need to cancel the companion’s reservation. You can then change the primary traveler’s flight.
Q: How soon are my points refunded for a canceled booking?
A: Immediately. Points go directly back into your account and do not expire.
Q: Can a companion pass holder cancel the companion’s reservation if he/she cannot travel with me?
A: Yes. You can cancel their reservation and either receive a refund of the taxes or keep them as a credit to use on a future flight. Note that you need to choose the option to refund to your credit card rather than as travel funds if that is what you prefer.
Q: Can a Companion Pass holder’s companion travel without the primary passholder?
A: NO! The terms of the program explicitly forbid the companion from flying without the primary traveler and Southwest will likely revoke your companion pass if you do this. It is theoretically possible to do — both travelers check in and only the companion shows up — but will almost certainly get you in trouble with Southwest. Furthermore, if the itinerary is round trip, the companion might have his/her return flight cancelled. Don’t do this.
Q: Does my companion earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points?
A: No, they do not. The primary traveler does earn points on a paid reservation (not a reservation made on points).
Q: What happens to my companion’s reservations if I change my companion?
A: You must first cancel your companion’s reservations before changing companions.
Q: Can I book a round trip flight that begins before my Companion Pass expires on December 31st, but returns after the pass has expired?
A: This isn’t possible. Southwest won’t let you add a companion to a reservation that extends beyond the pass validity period. You would have to book a one-way in December (you could add your companion to this reservation) and then a one-way returning in the new year where you pay for both seats.
Q: Is there an advantage to booking one-way flights or round trip flights with the Southwest Companion Pass?
A: It makes more sense to book one-way flights with Southwest in general. In the vast majority of cases, the round trip price (at least on domestic flights within the US) is simply the cumulative total of the two one-way flights. You will enjoy greater flexibility in making changes to one segment or the other if you book one-way flights.
Q: What are some of the best uses of the Southwest Companion Pass?
A: This is obviously completely subjective. Obviously, you can enjoy some cheaper trips around the US. Southwest also flies to a growing number of international destinations, including:
Aruba
Belize
Cabo San Lucas/Los Cabos, Mexico
Cancun, Mexico
Cuba
Grand Cayman Island
Liberia, Costa Rica
Mexico City
Montego Bay, Jamaica
Nassau, Bahamas
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
San Jose, Costa Rica
Additionally, you can use Southwest to position for an award flight or cheap flight deal out of a different city. This can be a great option when saver-level awards on American/United/Delta are not available from your city.
Q: Does Southwest have an extra seat policy for customers of size?
A: Yes. Southwest allows customers that need more than one seats worth of space to purchase two and then apply for a refund for the second seat: “Customers who encroach upon any part of the neighboring seat(s) may proactively purchase the needed number of seats prior to travel to ensure the additional seat(s) is available…You may contact us for a refund of the cost of additional seating after travel. If you prefer not to purchase an additional seat in advance, you have the option of purchasing just one seat and then discussing your seating needs with the Customer Service Agent at the departure gate. If it’s determined that a second (or third) seat is needed, you’ll be accommodated with a complimentary additional seat.”
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[…] For example, I have the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier card, and it was news to me (after reading Frequent Miler’s complete guide to the Southwest Rapid Rewards program) that the card gives me free Early-Bird check-in on two flights a year. Who knew? Not me! I want to […]
Hey Nick, I’m curious. You often mention that you fly Southwest a ton, but I don’t think I’ve heard you say how you are booking. Are you just swimming in points from referrals? I think I’ve heard you say that you aren’t big on transfers from Chase UR, but if you weren’t that into Hyatt and you didn’t have the ability to generate so many SW points from referrals, would you consider transferring from Chase then?
No — I would pay cash using credits generated by credit card airline incidental credits and/or discounted gift cards (you can pretty frequently get Southwest cards on sale for 10-15% off face value).
I don’t know that I’d say I fly Southwest “a ton” — they are our domestic airline of choice, so when we travel domestically, we almost always fly Southwest. That said, we only travel domestically a few times a year these days.
The bottom line for me is that I can only get ~1.3c per point from Chase points transferred to Southwest. I’ll get far more value than that by transferring those points to Hyatt or foreign airline programs to book international premium cabin travel. It’s not worth it to me to burn those points at such low value. I would rather use cash than accept 1.3c per point — it’s just below my acceptable range for UR points.
In terms of not being “that into” Hyatt, the thing about that statement is that even if I didn’t have elite status with Hyatt, there are still so many situations where Hyatt hotels would by far be my best value option for booking a hotel. Obviously footprint is an issue, so if you’re mostly traveling to places without Hyatt hotels, than it makes sense that you wouldn’t value that transfer opportunity so much. Even in that case, I’d rather save my Chase points and use them at a value of 1.5cpp (with a CSR) to book travel through the Chase portal. Every 100K points I transfer from Chase to Southwest would be “costing” me $200 since I could have used them for $1500 worth of travel through Chase.
In terms of how we’re earning Southwest points, yes I usually earn some every other year from referrals (we aren’t often using a referral link on our Best Offers page, but I do still tend to get a chance to pick up referrals toward the end of the year every other year so that the referral points from December and January will all post in January to combine toward the Companion Pass). I also make use of the quarterly spending bonuses when it makes sense. But I also have a lot of Southwest credit from airline incidental fee credits.
Hey Nick, thanks for the thoughtful response. I hate it when I see things differently from you, because it means my reasoning is probably wrong.
I have purchased a lot of discounted SW gift cards in the past, but I want to get away from that. My points balance has gotten pretty high, and I’m still earning faster than I spend them, so I want to avoid paying cash when I can use points.
Take grocery stores this quarter. If I use the freedom and eventually transfer to SW, that’s like 6.5% back. You have endorsed using the Amex Blue Cash Preferred for 6% cash on groceries, so right now using the freedom to transfer to SW beats that. I’m also targeted for 5x on grocery with one of my SW cards, but it seems totally irrational to touch that before maxing out the freedom’s $1500 spend (x2 when you count P2).
The other piece that you seem to undervalue a little bit is the advantage of booking SW flights with points rather than cash. If you speculatively book and cancel a lot of flights, it’s way more convenient to get your points back than have to keep track of flight credits. Same with repricing when the price goes down.
So maybe the rubric goes something like this. IF 1) Hyatt doesn’t consume all of your UR earning; 2) you earn enough Amex points or other transferrable currencies to meet your needs for international flights; 3) you can easily earn 5x URs from Freedoms and Inks; 4) you either don’t have Sapphire Reserve or don’t like dealing with OTAs and 5) you fly SW -> THEN transferring URs to SW equates to a 1.3cpp cash out of URs (you can even call it 1.1-1.2cpp if you factor in the ability to buy discounted gift cards), which represents good value. It’s at least equal to, if not better than, cashing out Amex points via Schwab, which I don’t get the sense you are super excited about, but has least gotten more approval from you than UR->SW transfers. I’m thinking that you (and Greg) would fail on point #1, which is why any UR->SW transfer seems so wrong to you.
You make some fair points. A couple of quick thoughts:
1) It’s not particularly important to your point, but I’m not sure where I’ve “endorsed” using the Blue Cash Preferred for groceries. I can’t remember the last time I talked about using that card and I’ve never had it myself. But nonetheless, like I said, that part isn’t very important – you’re right that I wouldn’t talk someone away from earning 6% at grocery stores.
2) “It’s irrational to touch Southwest 5x grocery until you’ve maxed out Freedom grocery”. Agreed. I would max that in one shopping trip though, so I still do the a Southwest ones also (but correct not instead).
3) “Points enjoy more convenience than cash”. Good point – you’re right. But what cost am I willing to pay for that convenience? If the points were only worth half a cent, I wouldn’t give up the points for the convenience. Obviously you would at the 1.2 or 1.3c (or whatever) value point. I wouldn’t. That doesn’t make you wrong, it just means we have different thresholds. From my perspective, even if we eliminate Hyatt altogether, as someone flying a family of four usually intentionally at least twice a year and in business class, I know I’ll redeem those points toward a far more comfortable long haul flight experience *that I otherwise couldn’t or wouldn’t pay for*, whereas domestic tickets on Southwest for four people the couple/few times per year that we’d need to buy them would fit into the bucket of costs that I would consider paying for whether or not I had credit card rewards. So essentially, I’d rather pay “cash” ( in the form of flight credits or discounted gift cards) that has finite value than my points which often provide far outsized value. Of course, if I had 10,000,000 Ultimate Rewards points, I would lower the value at which I were willing to use them since I’d want to prioritize using points (which do not grow over time) over cash. In my case, we both earn and use a lot of points every year and I’m typically not sitting on a huge stash of UR points (obviously recognizing that what constitutes “huge” or “not huge” varies considerably from person to person).
Further to that point, a few years back you may or may not recall that Greg was sitting on a few million URs and he had noted how he had started prioritizing using the travel portal to use points at 1.5cpp since he felt like he had so many points that he had to get himself into the habit of spending the balance down some. I then remember a point not all that long ago where he remarked that he regretted that to some extent because he had suddenly started burning through Hyatt points super fast and suddenly felt like his supply wasn’t keeping up with his needs. I have some level of fear that there will come a day when points acquisition is much slower or more difficult and I’ll wish that I had more points – I’m somewhat hesitant to use points at suboptimal value for that good ole FOMO later. That’s not a totally rational way of thinking about things though and I recognize that.
4) You make a decent case for transferring to Southwest. Ironically, stay tuned for a post coming this week with my feelings about the Schwab cash out (that I promise you I mostly wrote yesterday morning – haven’t finished it yet – without any thought about this conversation at all). Here’s the thing: I earn way more Amex points per year than I do URs. I also burn far more per year than URs. But I still don’t burn at a rate that keeps up with my capacity to earn. And given the way Amex has mostly kept the Points Parade marching on, I ironically am more comfortable redeeming Amex points at 1.1cpp. That’s driven in large part by the fact that even when I’ve driven my Amex points balance close to zero, we build it back up much more quickly. I haven’t yet hit the time when I’ve wished I had some more Amex points available (meaning not that I don’t always want more points but rather that I haven’t hit a situation where I’d have done something differently “if only I had more Amex points”). I’ve been able to regenerate quickly enough to always have what I need on hand and not have to miss the points I redeemed at lesser value. My Chase points have been down in that “shoot, I’m going to need to cancel a speculative reservation in order to free up points to book this other thing” range with my Hyatt bookings a few times.
Can I ask you a question: if you’re transferring to Southwest and you’re not transferring to Hyatt, how are you booking your hotels?
For the past several years, I’ve been averaging about 40 nights per year in “hotels,” so think I travel way more than the average American, but not as much as you. I manufactured Hyatt Globalist in early 2021 (when everyone else did), so I had a lot of Hyatt stays in 21-22 and burned a ton of URs. Totally agree with the hype that if you can swing it, Globalist is the benchmark loyalty status. But there is no way I can consistently earn Globalist. So when I stay at Hyatt, I focus on places where I won’t feel like I’m missing out too much on not being a globalist (last year, one of my only Hyatt stays was Zilara Cap Cana). Marriott is probably my top hotel chain, because starting at 30 nights each year, I can realistically hit platinum with the double night promotions. But the Vacasa partnership has been a huge hit to my chain hotel nights, as I’ve been averaging 10+ nights there the past few years. And I took advantage of the free Carnival cruise last year, so I didn’t even reach Marriott Platinum. There just aren’t enough nights to go around.
Correction: Southwest no longer flies to Mexico City. 🙁
Question: What non-Chase cards complement having a Companion Pass? Probably just something that comes with a Priority Pass lounge access?
Thanks for turning on the comments for this post once again!
I’m assuming that spend towards A-list is timed like spend towards a companion psss. That is, it counts as of the time the statement which includes the purchase cuts. So, if my statement date is Dec 2, and I spend $10k on December 10, which is included on my Jan 2, 2024 statement, then that spend will count towards A-list 2024 A-list qualification.
Do I have that right? TIA.
As of July 28, 2022, travel funds no longer expire. Under your “Early Bird Check-in” section you note that canceling paid travel gives you credit that expires one year from the original booking. That should be updated to reflect the current SW policy.
Good catch. Updated.
I am a RR member and need 500 points for A-lost 2023I am halfway into my trip that started 12-23-2022 and returned 1-2-2023. The total earnings for the flight are 2400 pts. Does the first leg of my flight and the points count in 2022?
Situation: have travel funds expiring prior to being able to use, and SW will not extend (even for 2 weeks!). Looking for a way to salvage this.
If I use the funds to buy an “Anytime Fare”, and then cancel that, will I then have a new travel voucher with a different expiry date? The terms say, “If you used Southwest travel funds from a previous reservation toward an Anytime fare, those funds will be refunded as flight credit”. The term ‘flight credit’ is vague to me, given they have defined what travel funds are. Anyone (Nick) have experience here?
I am 97.6% sure that will not work. Your new flight credit will maintain the same expiration date as your current one. I haven’t done it myself, but like I said I’m almost certain that will not work.
To add to toomanybooks’ comment about purchasing an A1-A15 boarding position for $30 to $50, note that you are purchasing for only one segment if you have a multi-segment flight. EarlyBird, in contrast, covers all the segments.
I think the worst EB I ever got was approx B45.
A-List members can’t purchase EB, because it isn’t needed. As an A-Lister, for a recent 2-segment flight I had A-40 and A-26.
[…] Good reference guide if you fly Southwest a lot: Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Complete Guide. […]
Wow, this is incredibly comprehensive.
I concur with toomanybooks. The boarding position thing is somewhat overrated. There are ones or two really good seats depending on plane variant (exit row with seat in front of you missing) and they first row bulkhead seats have a bit more legroom. Other than that, if you check in at T minus 24 you’ll avoid a middle seat. And there’s also an advantage to boarding towards the end.
Worth noting if it’s not obvious that Southwest has no premium seating — no first class, no premium economy. Except for minor bulkhead and exit row issues all rows are the same.
Ones thing I just learned yesterday that is not directly related to the points program itself. You can only use three methods of payment per reservation and each individual voucher from a past refund is a separate payment method.
So, if you have four $100 vouchers and want to buy a $310 fare then you can only use two of the vouchers and a credit card for the rest. It won’t let you apply a third voucher because you would have used up all the payment method slots and not paid the whole fare.
Therefore, if you collect many smallish value vouchers it will take multiple flights within the time limits you have to use them up.
One way to buy a $310 fare with four “vouchers” (or travel funds) is to first find a flight (on any itinerary) with a price between $110 and $200, book that flight using two of the vouchers/Travel Funds, then cancel that flight. This will now give you a single voucher with a value of $110 to $200, which can be combined with the other two $100 vouchers/Travel Funds you have to book your desired $310 flight.
Also, Nick didn’t mention anything about paid tickets being almost as flexible as award tickets (cancel by 10 minutes before the flight, but travel funds from the ticket are locked to the original passenger vs. points just going back to their original account which can then used by anyone).
Excellent summary, best I have ever seen.
The only thing I would add is that if you want to purchase an A1-A15 boarding position at the gate, you may for $30-50 depending on itinerary and availability.
https://www.southwest.com/html/travel-experience/upgraded-boarding/index.html
The Southwest Performance business card reimburses you for up to 4 of these a year.
The fear people have of a bad seat is in general way overblown. I have flown Southwest for over 20 years and have never once failed to get my preferred aisle, even on a full flight when I was one of the last to board.
And there is an advantage to boarding somewhere in the middle anyway. You have some control over your seat partner; choose someone who is already sitting, preferably a small person in a middle seat on a flight you know to be pretty full. What good does it do to pay extra for your preferred seat in very early boarding and then have some huge guy with C10 sit next to you?
EBCI is almost-free money for Southwest, about 10% of their net income last I checked. Whoever invented that was a genius.