How to Change Your Southwest Companion
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Update: One or more card offers in this post are no longer available. Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers. Lyn writes about Southwest Airlines on GotoTravelGal.com and I’ve asked her to share with you some tips for maximizing your companion when you earn the Southwest Companion Pass. Emily and I believe the Southwest Companion Pass is the best deal in travel! Lyn: I am now on my 2nd Southwest Companion Pass, an amazing deal that gets you Big Travel With Small Money by allowing 1 person (your “companion”) to fly nearly free with you for from the time you earn it until the END of the FOLLOWING year. The Companion Pass has literally changed my life from traveling on 1 or 2 car trips a year to taking more than 6 trips yearly for my family of 4. To earn the Companion Pass, you’ll need to collect 110,000 qualifying Southwest points within 1 calendar year.Did you know your companion does NOT have the be the same person throughout the life of your Companion Pass?
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I’ll explain how often you can switch companions and show you how to get the most out of your Southwest Companion Pass.
How to Select Your Companion
Link: The Step-by-Step Guide to Earning the Southwest Companion Pass
If you have successfully earned 110,000 qualifying Southwest points (which I show you how to easily do in my free guide “The Step-by-Step Guide to Earning the Southwest Companion Pass”), you will receive an email from Southwest congratulating you on reaching Southwest Companion Pass status. While you will also later receive the actual pass in the mail, in the meantime, you can go ahead and choose your companion. Southwest allows you to change companions up to 3 TIMES per calendar year, AFTER you initially choose your companion. That means you can have 4 different companions the 1st calendar year, then 3 in the 2nd year – or 7 total across the life of the pass. Start with the person who will be flying with you first.Step 1. Log Into Your Southwest Account to Choose Your Companion
To choose your companion, you will need to log into your Southwest Rapid Rewards account, the airline’s loyalty program, at Southwest.com. From there, click on “My Account” at top right. You should see a couple of colored dials and the message, “Congrats! You’ve Earned Companion Pass!” Below, you will see “Choose Your Companion” and in blue “Enter Your Companion Info.”
Step 2. Add Your Companion to a Flight
Now that you’ve selected your companion, you can book your flight. Keep in mind that your companion can FLY FREE with you on any flight whether you booked it with points or money. Either way, no points need to be redeemed or money spent for their ticket aside from the mandatory government security fee of $5.60 per person each way (for domestic flights).
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How to Change Your Southwest Companion
If you want to change companions during the year, say to take a trip with your mom after you and your significant other enjoy a vacation, you can do this up to 3 TIMES, so plan wisely.
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Bottom Line
Changing your companion is as easy as making a phone call to Southwest at 800-435-9792. But remember you can’t change companions until all travel with your past companion is finished. By adding the new companion as soon as all past travel is complete, it should be smooth sailing to change companions up to 3 times in a year after you add your first one!Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)
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