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Update 8/28/23: This offer is back again. This year, there is a slight change in the dates and since the booking and travel windows are both very tight, the offer seems very niche, but nevertheless it may be useful for those with a lot of companion travel planned for early 2023.
Southwest has launched a new promotion that can get you a Companion Pass that’s valid for the first couple of months of 2023 2024. Qualifying for it isn’t too tricky, but it does involve booking one or two flights by August 30, 2023 and flying by September 30, 2023 to earn the promotional pass.
The Deal
- Get a Southwest Companion Pass valid
January 4 to March 4, 2023January 8 to March 8, 2024 when doing the following:- Registering for this promotion and booking a round trip or two one-way flights by August 30, 2023
- Travel by September 30, 2023
- Direct link to registration.
Key Terms
- Member must register for this promotion, purchase one round trip or two one-way flights between
September 6 and September 8, 2022August 28 and August 30, 2023 for travel that must be completed betweenSeptember 6 and November 17, 2022registration and September 30, 2023. - Registration must be completed prior to booking and commencement of travel.
- A qualifying flight is a one-way revenue flight on Southwest Airlines from an origin city to a destination city, including any intermediate stops and/or connections OR a round trip revenue flight on Southwest Airlines from an origin city to a destination city and back to the originating airport or carrier-recognized co-terminal. Qualifying flights include flights paid entirely with dollars, LUV Vouchers, gift cards or travel funds, and with no portion of the purchase price paid for with Rapid Rewards points. Charter flights, group travel and Southwest Vacations packages do not qualify for this promotion.
- This includes domestic and international revenue flights booked in any fare family (Wanna Get Away, Wanna Get Away Plus, Anytime, or Business Select).
- The Member’s Rapid Rewards account number must be entered at the time of booking the Member’s qualifying flight.
- Changes made to the itinerary after purchase may eliminate qualification for promotion.
Quick Thoughts
Although the Companion Pass is only valid for the first two months of the new year, that could still provide a good amount of value if you’re planning on flying with Southwest a lot from January 8 to March 8, 2024. Even if you’ll only be able to take advantage of the Companion Pass once or twice but for more expensive flights, it could potentially even be worth making a mileage run if you can find a cheap round-trip flight or two low cost one-way flights.
Be sure to note all the applicable dates. You have to register for the promotion by August 30th and book your flight(s) by then. You then have to complete those flights by September 30th, so that gives you just 1 month to fly in order to qualify for the Companion Pass (which is less generous than last year since last year’s promotion allowed 2.5 months to fly in order to earn a promotional Companion Pass).
Also note that the round-trip or one-way flights need to be paid flights rather than award travel. Those paid flights can be paid for any way you like though including with travel funds that no longer expire.
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just booked 2 one-way flights for late Sept; if fares for the booked flights drop in early Sept when i’d like to only change the fares, will the promo CP still be qualified / awarded? Thx
So I need to fly the flight to get the passes?
Yes
So if I am on track to get the Companion Pass for 2024 AND I get one through this promo, can I have 2 passes?
Unfortunately not – you can only have one per account.
Awesome! That’s like 2 months of 2.6 cpp value for my Ultimate Rewards points.
Lol! Oh man, did you read the article from this morning about that 2.6 cpp…
My companion pass expires at the end of this year. My wife currently has the Southwest Business card and will apply for the consumer card near the first of the year. This provides a nice little buffer prior to her completing all the spend and earning the pass for nearly two years.
I’ll cancel my cards closer to the end of this year and wait two years to repeat.
does anyone know if a 8 year old traveling with a adult, can the minor earn a southwest pass? or does he need to be at least 18? I was not able to find it In terms and conditions.
It states that the tickets purchased with Rapid Rewards are not valid for this promotion. I’m assuming that’s the ONLY purchase limitation, right? In other words, I can pay for the ticket with my travel funds money and / or SW gift cards and still qualify for the promotion, is that how you understand the terms as well?
Yes, the terms specifically state “Qualifying flights include flights paid entirely with dollars, LUV Vouchers, gift cards or travel funds”
Hello! Do I need to be the ticketed passenger for 2 one way tickets in order to qualify for the companion pass promotion? Or can I purchase a one way ticket for myself & also for my mom on the same itinerary an still qualify? Thank you
You personally will have to fly a round trip or two one ways.
Status match opportunity during the CP window? (January 4 to March 4, 2023)
So nice to read a review of a Paris hotel by you, Stephen!!! And you surely covered all the bases. I only want to add that some readers might want to know that the Venice Simplon Orient Express train departs weekly from that station. If you want to see the gleaming train cars, the porters in their dark blue uniforms & the lucky passengers boarding the train on a red carpet, I believe the platform is open to the public. I was fortunate to take that train several years back, and I highly recommend it despite the price.
Another gem in a different station, Gare de Lyon, is the iconic restaurant, Le Train Bleu. It is so atmospheric. At the food and drinks are wonderful. You feel like you time travelled back to the days of the Palace of Versailles. It’s worth googling it, to see what is possible in a train station. I’m getting very nostalgic writing this.
Wow, that is a beautiful restaurant!
able to use amex $200 travel credit to buy southwest travel funds/gift card?
It won’t work for gift cards. It is possible to indirectly use the travel credit to generate travel funds – you can check this post to see what currently works with Southwest. https://frequentmiler.com/amex-airline-fee-reimbursements-still-works/
when lists airfare under $100 is that including all taxes & fees or just the base flight itself?
That includes taxes and fees.
Thoughts on cancelling and rebooking a couple of flights that I have booked that would fall within the promotion window?
Provided you’ve registered for the promotion first, cancelling and rebooking should be fine.
Just did it. One was $25 more, but I decided it was worth $25 as we’ll use the CP at least once in Jan
Hmm.. I have two one-ways coming up in a few weeks. I just registered for the promotion and “changed” the flights to the same itinerary at $0 (these were booked with travel funds+luv vouchers). Wondering if this qualifies for the promo or if I’d have to completely re-book the trips. The flights have gone up in price, so not sure if it’d be worth it.
I wouldn’t count on changing your flights as being eligible, but perhaps it’ll work.
I’m not positive, but I canceled and rebooked to get a new PNR. If you change, you usually keep the original confirmation code so I’m not sure it’s considered new.
So the same flights have not gone up it sounds like since you were able to change the flight to the same itinerary.
why not completely cancel, then rebook.
I put “change” in quotes because if you try to change your flight to the same itinerary there is no cost to it. This strategy didn’t work for me. I didn’t get the temp companion pass. Had I completely rebooked, it would have cost me more since the flight price went up as mentioned. This time around I have a round trip flight 9/27 and 9/30. So I cancelled and rebooked these (after registering for the promo) since the prices actually went down. I suspect I’ll get the temp pass this time around.