The Southwest Companion Pass is one of the best deals in travel. That is thanks to its potential value as well as the fact that it can be earned without stepping on an airplane in the first place! Here is how you can earn that Southwest Companion Pass with just one new credit card!
How You Can Earn the Southwest Companion Pass with One New Credit Card
For just a few more days, you can earn a huge 75,000 Southwest points on the Southwest personal cards. While that gives you over $1,000 in Southwest travel right off the bat, it also puts you more than halfway to the Southwest Companion Pass.
The problem is that this year the Southwest Companion Pass requires the earning of 125,000 Southwest points in a calendar year (not redeeming the points – just needing to earn them). That was an increase of 15,000 points over previous years.
If you can earn the Southwest Companion Pass, that means you get to designate a companion that can travel with you for free all of the rest of 2020 and 2021 when you fly Southwest (just pay the taxes/fees which are just $5.60 per segment for domestic flights).
Step 1 – Apply for a New Southwest Personal Card
Link: Southwest Personal Cards at 75,000 Points (this is a referral offer that will credit a reader 10,000 points if you are approved)
Now, you don’t have to pick one personal card because it has a better offer even if you would prefer another card for the other benefits or lower annual fee – they are all at 75,000 points each.
Rules First – Can You Get One?
Before we get started, remember that all of these cards are covered under Chase’s 5/24 rule (you will not be able to get the card if you have 5 or more new accounts with any banks in the last 24 months) and you cannot get one of these if you have had a personal Southwest card bonus offer in the last 24 months.
The Southwest Offer on the Personal Cards – 75,000 Points Each!
Since they are all the same when it comes to the bonus offer, I will just put the details for each of them here. This offer is a tiered offer meaning you will have to meet two spending thresholds to get the whole bundle.
- Earn 40,000 points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening
- Earn 35,000 additional points after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first 6 months of account opening
Put simply, spend $5,000 in the first 6 months with the first $1,000 of spending happening in the first 3 months and you will get 75,000 bonus points plus the 5,000 points from your spending for a total haul of 80,000 Southwest points. Not bad!
Step 2 – Refer to Friends and Family Members
Link: Chase Referral Page (enter your last name, billing zip code, and last 4 of any of your Southwest cards)
The Southwest card offers 10,000 points per successful referral and these count towards the Companion Pass as well! That means that if you max out the referral promotion with 5 friends or family members, you will receive the extra points needed to secure the Southwest Companion Pass!
Now, I know that it may seem like a big task to get 5 friends/family members to sign-up but if you are like me, you always have people asking you how you take the trips you do. 🙂 Introducing them to free travel on Southwest is a really easy way to get them hooked on the travel reward train (or plane).
Even if you don’t max it out, you should be able to get at least put yourself 10,000 or 20,000 points closer with a couple of referrals. That would leave you just 25,000 points shy. If you use the card for daily spending and shop through the Southwest shopping portal, you will be getting yourself even closer!
Plus, to help you out, go ahead and leave your Southwest referrals in the comment field below and I will rotate them out over the next few days in the link above! Hopefully, it will help a few of you get closer to your Southwest Companion Pass!
