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Update 2/21:Â Southwest has extended this promotion by one day and you now have until the end of today (2/21) to book qualifying flights.
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Southwest is back with another opportunity to earn a limited-time Companion Pass. You have to book by Thursday and fly twice by the end of March; if you do, you’ll earn a Companion Pass that’s valid for two months from early August to early October.
This even works with flights booked with Rapid Rewards points.
The Deal
- Earn a Southwest Companion Pass by completing the following requirements:
- Register for this promotion
- Book a round trip flight or two one-way flights by February 21, 2025 for travel through March 31, 2025
- Earn a Companion Pass valid from August 7, 2025 through October 8, 2025.
- Direct link to registration.
Key Terms
- Valid on new reservations booked within the Promotion Period for travel during the Travel Period only.
- Travel booked or flown prior to registration for this promotion is not eligible for this promotional Companion Pass offer.
- Redemption reservations and Cash + Points bookings qualify for this promotional offer.
- Cash + Points bookings will earn Rapid Rewards points, tier qualifying points for A-List and A-List Preferred status, and Companion Pass qualifying points on the portion of the base fare that is paid with dollars.
- Companion Pass, charter flights, group travel, and Southwest Vacations packages do not qualify as one-way or round trip flights for this promotion.
- Changes made within the Promotion Period is allowed if the qualifying travel is still completed in the Travel Period.
- Changes made to any itinerary after the Promotion Period may eliminate qualification for this promotion.
Quick Thoughts
Southwest seems to run this type of promotion a couple of times per year. It’s not the most enthralling promotion ever seeing as the Companion Pass is only valid for two months. However, if you anticipate flying a fair bit on routes served by Southwest from early August to early October, there’s definitely some value to be had here.
Southwest made a positive change to this type of promotion the last time they ran it in September. That’s because they added the ability to take qualifying flights when booking with Rapid Rewards points. Before that, only cash fares were eligible.
This promo could even be worth a mileage run for a couple who’ll be able to put the Companion Pass to very good use. If you can find low cash or points fares, booking a round trip could save you much more cash or points from August to October even if you didn’t need to actually fly anywhere by the end of March.
As a reminder, Southwest personal cards currently have an offer awarding a Companion Pass that’s good through February 28, 2026, so that will be a better choice for many people who are under 5/24.
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I seized this opportunity to visit my familiy in Chicago to qualify and then reserved flights to in September to Hawaii with miles. I’ve never used a companion pass before. After we qualify with the flight this week, can I change one of my (3) existing miles reservations to instead be companion pass? (and thereby refund miles for the same seat)
I don’t think I’ve ever been in this particular scenario. What I’d do is nominate your companion, add a new ticket for them on the flight, then cancel their original booking once that’s done.
If I booked my flight before Feb 20, but then had to re-book it (for a different travel date but still before 3/31) after Feb 20, would i still qualify for the CP?
Someone reported doing this in the past with a similar promotion and got the Companion Pass, so hopefully that’ll be the case this time too.
When do they issue the companion pass?
I booked my 2 one way flights during the promotion and now they have gone downin price. If I do a change and just rebook the same flights, it shouldn’t impact my companion passes, correct?
I would think that would be OK based on changes other people have made with similar past promos. However, if the savings are only a couple of bucks I might leave it as it is just in case it did affect it.
To activate the companion pass, do we have to book the flights for the August-October time of travel by Feb. 21 or just the flights that occur before March 31?
Just the flights before March 31
Thanks, that’s great!
Hmmm it won’t let me register anymore. Guess they only extended booking date but registration date
There is a better-than-good chance that I will need to travel somewhere in the middle of March, but I am not sure if it will be PIT, CLE, or GRR (exciting destinations!). I guessed PIT, but I am hoping if I have to change the city after the sign-up period that it will still fly so long as I actually fly by the end of March.
Do you have enough Southwest credits or points to book all three now, then cancel any you don’t need later on? I know you could do that even if you don’t have any credits or points, but it would mean the refund would be returned as Southwest credits which might not be ideal for you.
Your plan will hopefully work though. We had a data point from someone in the past where they did something similar to what you’re proposing. They did end up getting the Companion Pass.
I decided to go ahead and book CLE as well since I had enough travel credit to cover, but they are work trips so I need it to be cash rather than points. My guess is is will work fine to change flights to different dates, departures, and destinations as long as it was originally booked at the right time and flown by the end of March.
Would my wife and I flying 1way count as two one way tickets, and thus qualify?
No, as the two flights have to occur on the same Rapid Rewards account.
Can I book a really cheap flight but not fly, in order to get the companion pass?
No – you have to fly the two one-way or one round trip flight
I am trying to join rapid rewards and I am unable tp
This piqued my interest as the August – October dates overlap a Labor Day weekend trip and our kid’s school Fall break which would make the companion pass very useful. Unfortunately I couldn’t find much for sub-$100 one-way fares from PHX before end of March. Spring Training and spring breaks will pump up travel here for a while so not too surprised.
I did notice that prices dropped $25 – $50 for many days on the same routes when looking at all of April. Will be curious to check in a few days if there is still the March/April price disparity because of busy tourism locally or if Southwest refused to discount March flights as much knowing they had this promotion on offer.
Hi Stephen, would you know if booking a flight using one of those Southwest 20% off award flights promo codes is allowed under this companion pass promotion? I read the fine print but couldn’t determine for sure if this was allowed or if using the promo codes would not be considered a qualifying flight. Thanks!
I would think that it would, but I’m not 100% certain on that and so I’d be inclined to not risk it if you think you’d be able to get good use out of the Companion Pass. It would be a shame to miss out on that if it would give far more value than the 20% savings.
Thanks for the insight!
I canceled and rebooked a round trip for this. Saved about 1000 points on a redemption and paid $11 more on a paid ticket. All in all a wash but might come in handy.
Did you get any confirmations of the companion pass? I did that too but no emails received.
No but I have a screenshot of the email and the reservations in case they don’t give the CP.
would paying for the qualifying flights by March with southwest flight credits work? Says Cash or points but is available flight credit considered either one of those?
Yes, using flight credits is fine.