We are an independent publisher. Our reporters create honest, accurate, and objective content to help you make decisions. To support our work, we are paid for providing advertising services. Many, but not all, of the offers and clickable hyperlinks (such as a “Next” button) that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. The compensation we receive and other factors, such as your location, may impact what ads and links appear on our site, and how, where, and in what order ads and links appear. While we strive to provide a wide range of offers, our site does not include information about every product or service that may be available to you. We strive to keep our information accurate and up-to-date, but some information may not be current. So, your actual offer terms from an advertiser may be different than the offer terms on this site. And the advertised offers may be subject to additional terms and conditions of the advertiser. All information is presented without any warranty or guarantee to you.

This page may include: credit card ads that we may be paid for (“advertiser listing”); and general information about credit card products (“editorial content”). Many, but not all, of the offers and clickable hyperlinks (such as a “Apply Now” button or “Learn More” button) that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. When you click on that hyperlink or button, you may be directed to the credit card issuer’s website where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer. Each advertiser is responsible for the accuracy and availability of its ad offer details, but we attempt to verify those offer details. We have partnerships with advertisers such as Brex, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo and Discover. We also include editorial content to educate consumers about financial products and services. Some of that content may also contain ads, including links to advertisers’ sites, and we may be paid on those ads or links.

For more information, please see How we make money.

Can You Add a Companion on Southwest After Your Pass Expires?

  • Million Mile Secrets

    • Signing up for credit cards through partner links earns us a commission. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Here’s our full advertising policy: How we make money.

    Update:   A credit card offer in this post may no longer be available, but check the Hot Deals for the latest offers!

    Million Mile Secrets’ reader Taylor commented:

    If your Companion Pass expires the end of this year, can you get around this by booking for next year right now with the Companion Pass?

    Because Southwest recently opened their schedule to include flights up until January 4, 2015, Taylor wants to know if he can use his Companion Pass for travel after it expires on December 31, 2014.

    Can You Make Companion Pass Bookings Beyond Its Expiration Date?

    When Does a Companion Pass Expire?

    Link:   8 Easy Steps to the Southwest Companion Pass

    Once you’ve earned the Southwest Companion Pass (by earning 110,000 Southwest points within a calendar year), the pass is valid until the end of the following calendar year.

    So if you earned your Companion Pass today, it would be valid until December 31, 2015.  I’ve written about how to time your credit card sign-ups so that you earn the Companion Pass as close to the beginning of the year as possible.  That way, you can use it for almost 2 full years.

    But even if you get the Companion Pass now, you have ~1.5 years of flying, which is still quite good!

    You can earn the Companion Pass by:

    Once Earned, the Companion Pass Is Valid Until the End of the Following Year…but No Longer!

    Your Companion Pass MUST Be Valid on Your Dates of Travel!

    Southwest will NOT allow you to make a Companion Pass booking after it expires.  According to the terms and conditions of their frequent flyer program:

    The Member will maintain Companion Pass status for the remainder of the calendar year in which the status was earned and for the entire calendar year immediately following.

    And if you try to make a Companion Pass booking while the pass is still valid, but for travel after the expiration date, Southwest will NOT let you make the booking!

    The Companion Pass beginning validity date and/or expiration date cannot be adjusted.

    So Taylor can only use the Companion Pass until the last day of this year.  But he could try to re-qualify for the Companion Pass in 2015 by signing-up for 2 more Chase Southwest cards!  Or have his partner apply for the cars.

    Testing It Out

    I ran an experiment to see if Southwest would enforce this rule.  So I made a (refundable) points booking to Dallas on January 2, 2015.  My Companion Pass expires on December 31, 2014.  But there was still an option to add a companion!

    Southwest Still Gave Me the Option to Add a Companion on a Booking After My Companion Pass Expires!

    But when I got to the final screen, I got an error message.  Southwest would NOT let me add a companion after the pass expiration date!

    Denied! Southwest Knew My Companion Pass Expires on December 31, 2014

    I made another companion booking for before December 31, 2014 and I could add a companion.  So the “error” message above was likely intentional!

    Bottom Line

    If your Southwest Companion Pass expires at the end of this year, you can NOT use it for travel after the expiration date.  Even if you book the travel now!

    Taylor’s best bet is to re-qualify for the Companion Pass as early as possible in 2015, and to use it for travel through 2015 and 2016.

    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! :)