Last Week for the Deal of the Year – Southwest Companion Pass Offers End February 11th!

The best deal in travel is the Southwest Companion Pass.   When you have it you can bring along your companion on any Southwest flight for just the cost of taxes and fees!

And it has never been easier to earn.  Right now you can earn 30,000 Southwest points and a Companion Pass that is valid until December 31, 2019, after being approved for and meeting the minimum spending requirements on any of the Southwest personal cards:

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card – This card has the lowest annual fee among the Southwest personal cards
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card – This has the most perks.  You’ll earn 7,500 bonus Southwest points every card anniversary, $75 in annual statement credits for eligible Southwest purchases, and get 4 upgraded boardings per year (when available)

This offer is going away on February 11, 2019, so you’ve only got a week left to apply.

Southwest Companion Pass Bonus Offers

To earn the 30,000 Southwest-point bonus and the Companion Pass that is valid until December 31, 2019, you’ll need to spend $4,000 within the first 3 months of account opening.  This offer applies to all 3 of the Chase Southwest personal credit cards.

Normally to earn a Southwest Companion Pass you’d need to earn 110,000 qualifying Southwest points or have 100 one-way flights within a calendar year.  So being able to earn one as part of a credit card’s sign-up bonus is amazing!

You can read our guide to the Southwest Companion Pass here.

But it’s not without its trade offs.  If you earn a Southwest Companion pass the hard way I outlined above it is valid for the rest of the calendar year you earned it in and the entire next calendar year.  So if you earned 110,000 Southwest points in February 2019, your Companion Pass would be valid until December 31, 2020!

So this promotional Companion Pass is easier to earn, but you won’t have as much time to use it.  However, keep in mind that the bonus points you earn from the sign-up bonus and the points you earn from spending with your Southwest card will count toward the 110,000 points you need to earn a Companion Pass that is valid through 2020.

So you could get one of the personal cards now, and set yourself up to earn a Companion Pass for 2020.  After meeting the minimum spending on a Southwest personal card, you’d have at least 34,000 Southwest points.  That means you’d only need 76,000 more Southwest points to qualify for a Companion Pass through 2020.

You could earn most of the points you need just from opening a Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card.  With it you can earn a 60,000 Southwest-point bonus after spending $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.  Once you include the points you earn from the minimum spending, you’ll have earned at least 63,000 Southwest points leaving you only 13,000 points short.  And there are lots of ways to earn Southwest points that will count toward earning a Companion Pass.

Keep in mind that you can only hold a single Companion Pass per calendar year.  So if you earn the promotional one that is valid until December 31, 2019, and then earn 110,000 qualifying Southwest points in 2019, you won’t have 2 Companion Passes at the same time.

Also, all of these cards are restricted by the Chase “5/24” rule, so if you’ve opened 5 or more credit cards from any bank in the last 24 months you won’t qualify for any Chase card.  However, certain small business cards won’t add to your “5/24” count.

Are you considering this deal?