The Southwest Companion Pass remains one of (if not the) best values in the travel world. With it, you can designate anyone you want (and change it so you have up to 4 different people in a year) to travel with you for free on Southwest. Find out which card can help you get the Southwest Companion Pass for 2 years!
Best Credit Card to Get the Southwest Companion Pass for 2 Years
Link: Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card (not an affiliate link)
How to Earn the Southwest Companion Pass
To earn the Southwest Companion Pass, you have earn 110,000 Rapid Reward points in a single calendar year. These can be earned by flying or through credit card bonuses and spending. Once you earn it, you have the Companion Pass for the rest of that year and all of the following year.
It is important to remember that the 110,000 points are not traded for the Companion Pass. Instead, it is simply a level you need to reach. You still keep those points for future redemptions on Southwest!
The Best Single Credit Card for Southwest Is…
The best card offer out right now is the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card. This is a newer card (just being released 4 months ago) so chances are pretty good you have not had this one before! Not only is it new but it comes with a hefty 80,000 points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
85,000 Points Towards the Goal!
Receiving the full bonus (plus the points from the spending) will put you at a cool 85,000 points after just the one credit card. That leaves you 25,000 points shy of the Southwest Companion Pass! You can get the rest of the way there by actual spending on the card or generating referrals for friends and family and earning 5,000 points on each of those (see this post for more information). Of course, you could also get a Southwest personal card to lock up the Companion Pass very easily!
Referral points count towards the Southwest Companion Pass
Strong Perks
There are many great perks on this card as well that you can take advantage of while flying Southwest:
- Four upgraded boardings per year (when available)
- 365 inflight WiFi credits ($8 each)
- Global Entry or TSA Precheck reimbursement (up to $100 in value)
Annual Fee?
With all of these points and perks comes a $199 annual fee as well – and that is not waived. So, take that into consideration before you apply! But, for each year, you will also get 9,000 points as an anniversary bonus. That is like getting a value of at least $135 with that annual fee, plus the four upgrades and WiFi credits. If you fly Southwest more than 4 or 5 times per year and like to stay connected in the air, this card can pay for itself.
It IS a Small Business Credit Card
Now, it is a business card so that means you need some kind of small business to apply. This can be anything that you consider to be a business – even if it is a sole proprietorship and you use your own social security number in place of the TIN (taxpayer identification number). But, you may need to speak to a Chase representative so make sure you have all of this in order.
It is fine to have a small amount of income for the business as well as Chase and others like to be able to partner with small businesses that are just getting started. So, this could be some kind of a reselling business, any kind of consulting, teaching, design, etc. Be creative with what you are already doing to make money – you may be surprised at the kind of small business you already have and don’t know it!
Warning! Use Strategy with Your Spending!
Now, here is the important part – you don’t want to hit that $5,000 total until early 2020! That is because you only earn the Companion Pass with points you earn that calendar year. To earn it for almost 2 full years, you want to get the points in early 2020 and then knock out the rest of them after that. If you earn your 80,000 point bonus in 2019, you will need to get all the way to 110,000 points this year and that Companion Pass will expire at the end of next year instead of giving you 2 years!
Featured image from Southwest
[…] Southwest points) are about to expire October 16. Brace for the screaming sales tactics next! Yeah, the new Southwest Performance Business Credit Card is offering 80k points as signup bonus, this gets you a long way towards the 120k required for the Companion Pass! And […]