How to Earn the Southwest Companion Pass in June

June 5, 2019 by Lyn Mettler 25 Comments

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Want one person to start flying free with you by earning the coveted Southwest Companion Pass? I’ll show you how to accomplish it in June.

First, the Southwest Companion Pass lets one person fly free with you for up to two years. We are now on our FOURTH Companion Pass and love it! You cannot beat the savings of never having to pay — either with points or cash— for one person in your group to fly.

A Companion Pass earned in June 2019 will be good until the END of 2020.

You’ll need to collect 110,000 qualifying Southwest points in ONE calendar year, to get your pass and this is most quickly easily accomplished by signing up for two Southwest credit cards: one personal and one business. But that is NOT the only way!

To find out 10 things you MUST know before earning your Southwest Companion Pass, download my FREE Cheat Sheet below.

Download Your FREE Guide & Start Flying FREE on Southwest!

How to Earn a 2019 Southwest Companion Pass Pass in June

Right now, the easiest and quickest ways to earn the Southwest Companion Pass is to take advantage of two Southwest credit card offers: one personal and one business. Southwest offers three personal cards and one business credit card.

All three personal cards are currently offering a 40,000-point sign on bonus with a 1,000 minimum spend within 90 days.

Additionally, the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier business card has a 60,000-point bonus with a $3,000 minimum spend in 90 days.

Note: Chase will no longer allow you to hold more than one Southwest personal card.

If you apply for 1 personal and 1 business card, you will be able to earn 104,000 points toward the 110,000 points you need to earn the Southwest Companion Pass. The additional 4,000 points come from the 1 point per $1 spent you will accrue by meeting the minimum spends on each card.

Yes that’s me holding my Companion Pass next to the Knight Bus at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando 😉

In addition to qualifying for the Companion Pass, you can use these points AS SOON AS YOU EARN THEM to book free flights! My family of 4 traveled to 6 destinations for less than $100 PER flight (for ALL of us) with about 160,000 points in one year, so these points can take you quite far!

Southwest Credit Card Options

The cards include:

Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Business Premier ($99 annual fee, 6,000 anniversary points)
Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority ($149 annual fee, 7,500 anniversary points + other perks; read the full review here)
Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier ($99 annual fee, 6,000 anniversary points)
Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus ($69 annual fee, 3,000 anniversary points, DOES charge foreign transaction fees when traveling internationally; the others don’t)

Which personal card should you choose? The Premier card is a good middle-of-the-road option that does not have a high annual fee ($99), but still nets you 6,000 anniversary points each year, which DO qualify for the Companion Pass, so they can help you down the road.

If you fly Southwest A LOT, you may want to consider Priority, as it comes with some nice perks like a $75 Southwest credit and four A1-15 boarding upgrades (LOVE THAT!).

If you’re looking to spend the least out of pocket, go with Plus, which only has a $69 annual fee.

Please note: This post contains affiliate links for which I may earn a commission if you apply for the cards after clicking through. Thanks for using the links in this post to review and apply for any credit cards. This helps support the blog, at NO COST TO YOU, so I can bring you more information like this free! You can also always use the TRAVEL CREDIT CARDS links in the main menu above (shown below) to review and apply for cards.

The Southwest Companion Pass Step by Step

Apply for a Southwest personal and business card at least 30 days apart. Chase will not approve you for a second card if you’ve applied for another Chase card within 30 days. You can try applying for both in the SAME DAY (before they realize you have applied for the other card). This works for some people, but not for others. I have never tried it.
If you are declined for either card, which is VERY common, wait until you get a letter in the mail stating the reason you were declined. If it says too many applications, that is because you applied for two cards within 30 days. Wait until 30 days have passed from your first application and then call the Chase Reconsideration Line.
Once you get your cards, complete your required minimum spend (here are some ideas) as soon as you can, but as slowly as you need to avoid incurring debt you cannot immediately pay off. After you meet the minimum spend on both, you should have 125,000 points and just like that you are done!
Points credit to your Rapid Rewards account within 6-8 weeks of completing the minimum spend. This is typically AFTER the card close date in the period in which you completed the minimum spend, but some readers have found recently that it’s happening after the SECOND card close date after you meet the minimum spend.
While your waiting for your pass, you can go ahead and book any flights you want and then add your Companion once you have your pass. This is no problem UNLESS the flight has sold out. If you have enough points, you can hold a seat for your Companion with points and then cancel it when you get your pass and then add them as your Companion.

Do I Qualify for a Business Card?

You’d be surprised at how many people qualify for a business credit card who don’t think they have a business. Do you have any kind of side income for which you would file a Schedule C on your taxes or receive a 1099? Or is there some side income you can start to earn in order to qualify you for a business card?

This could be any of the below:

eBay sales
Amazon sales
Affiliate income
Babysitting
Mowing lawns
Dog walking or pet sitting
Uber/Lyft driver
Consulting
Freelancing (writing, graphic design, research, etc.)
Virtual assistant work
Administrative work
Catering
Etsy craft sales
Selling crafts at a craft show
Selling produce or homemade goods at a Farmer’s Market

If you do any of the above — or anything like it — or could start doing any of the above, you can apply for a business card. And your business does not even need to be profitable; it just needs to earn some income and have the “intention” to be profitable!

Chase will likely want to see some “official” paperwork that includes your name and the name of your business. Applying for a free Employer Identification Number (EIN) is a great and quick way to accomplish that.

You DO NOT need to be an LLC or incorporated; a sole proprietorship (using just your social security number) works just fine.

Want More Southwest Points?

It’s easy to keep earning Southwest points!

To earn your other Southwest points, choose from some of the following activities.

Rapid Rewards Shopping
- Sign up for Blue Apron – 700 (check out my hack to get these points FREE)
- Economist subscription – 550 points
- Wall Street Journal subscription – 700 points
- Barron’s subscription – 700 points
- Vinesse Wines – 1,400 points
- Order magazines at DiscountMags.com (starting at the Rapid Rewards Shopping portal) and earn 20 points per $1
- Shopping at your favorite stores like Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Lowe’s, Kohl’s, Home Depot, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Dick’s Sporting Goods and more and earn up to 5 points per dollar!
Additional spending on your new Southwest credit cards – Earn 1 point per dollar and pay anything and everything you can with them, so long as you pay them off within 30 days, so you don’t incur high interest. By using your card for expenses, you’ll also more quickly meet the minimum spend and thus collect your bonus points (complete all expenditures for your minimum spend a day or two before the credit card monthly closing date to get your bonus points quickly). Consider the below expenses:
- Utilities
- Rent and car payment by using Plastiq (this is an affiliate link for which I earned a reduced fee if you use the service after clicking through; note: you can no longer pay mortgages via Plastiq with a Visa card)
- Textbook fees
- College tuition
- Sports fees
- Medical or dental bills
- Groceries and gas
- Dining
- Homeowner’s Association dues
Book a hotel through SouthwestHotels.com and earn up to 10,000 points per night (Note: points do not credit your account until the stay is completed). This option helped us quickly earn the last points we needed for our 2017 and 2018 Companion Passes. Here’s how I earned the 2017 pass.
Rent a car through Southwest.com and earn up to 2,400 points
Refer a friend to the Chase Southwest credit cards and earn up to 10,000 points per referral up to a max 50,000 points across all cards. Check to see if you are eligible at Chase.com/ReferaFriend
Paying your electric bill in certain states (up to 27,000 points)
Sign up for Chase Sapphire Preferred, my FAVORITE travel credit card (read my full review of this card) and earn an additional 60,000+ points that transfer instantly at a 1:1 ratio to Southwest! These points DO NOT qualify for the Southwest Companion Pass.

What questions do you have?

Thanks again for starting your credit card applications at the TRAVEL CREDIT CARDS link in the main menu above or the links included in this post.

Read More:

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Lyn Mettler