How You Can Earn the Southwest Companion Pass with Only 3 Cards
When we first heard about the Southwest Companion Pass, it almost sounded too good to be true—one person flies free (just pay taxes & fees) every time you fly Southwest for the rest of the calendar year and the entire following year.
As a family of six trying to stretch every dollar and maximize our travel rewards, this was a no-brainer. And the best part? You can earn it with just three credit cards. The first time we did this, we both opened and personal and business card, which is described in this post. But we didn’t feel like this was the best way for us going forward.
You can go here to read all about the pass, but the basic understanding of how you would normally go about qualifying for this pass is taking 100 one-way flights or earning 135,000 Rapid Rewards® points.
Nobody got time for that.
Let’s learn how to get it faster!
Before you begin, remember:
• THE TIMING OF THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. If your goal is to get the Companion Pass for as close to two full years as possible, then you need to begin around late October/early November, and NOT meet the minimum spend until AFTER JANUARY 1st. This way, the points post in the year you need the pass plus the next FULL year. We would suggest getting up to around 400-500 left on the card, then putting it away until after January 1st. Southwest has been known to prematurely give out points when you’re close to hitting that minimum spend.
• Download the Travel Freely app to keep track of which cards you open and when so you’ll know when you can open it again next time and get alerts for your annual fee. You don’t need to enter your credit card numbers.
Step 1: Start with the Southwest Performance Business Card
Player 1 signs up for the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card, which comes with a hefty 80k welcome bonus after meeting the minimum spend of 5k in 3 months. It does have an annual fee of $299, which is the most out of the Southwest cards, but trust me, it’s totally worth it, especially since this card also gives you TSA PreCheck or Global Entry credit, worth over $100.
Step 2: Refer Your Player 2!
Now comes the power move—referring your Player 2 (in my case, my spouse). Once I hit the minimum spend and get the bonus on the Performance Business Card, I will then use my referral link to refer my husband, Player 2 (or P2) to two more Southwest cards; listed below, earning myself an extra 40k referral points (20k each referral) when my husband gets approved, adding to my already 85k I received from the Business Performance card plus the points from meeting the minimum spend. Score!
P1 will refer P2 to these cards:
1. The Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Plus Personal Card
✅ Welcome bonus: 60,000 points after spending $1,000 in 3 months **(see below)
💳 Annual fee: $99
2. The Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Card
✅ Welcome bonus: 60,000 points after spending 3k in 3 months
💳 Annual fee: $149
By strategically timing the spending across all three cards, and with referral bonuses included, you easily cross the Companion Pass threshold—earning well over 135,000 qualifying points each.
**Currently, the offer on the personal cards is 100k for a $4,000 spend in 5 months. This offer ends September 17, 2025. If you open it now, you would still need to wait to meet the minimum spend AFTER JANUARY 1st, 2026. You would also need to refer someone else to get the 20k referral points. But also wait until after your statement hits in December, so the referral points post in January. With the 100k + 20k referral + 10k sw bonus + 5k from spend = 135k points which automatically gets you the pass!
Breakdown:
Player 1: 80,000 (welcome bonus of Performance Biz Card) + 20,000 (referral) + 20,000 (referral) + 10,000 (Southwest) + 5,000 (meeting the minimum spend) = 135,000
Player 2: 60,000 (welcome bonus of personal card) + 60,000 (welcome bonus of Premier Biz card) + 10,000 (CP bonus points from Southwest) + 5,000 (personal card spend) + 6,000 (biz card spend) = 141,000
TOTAL: 270,000 points (worth at least $2700 in flights) & $550 initial investment
The Value:
With the Companion Pass in hand for both my husband and I, we booked flights for our entire family—and only paid the taxes and fees, which were $11.20/pp/round-trip.
So far, we have personally redeemed over $14,000 worth of Southwest flights (and we’re just getting started!). We’ve flown coast to coast, taken spontaneous weekend trips, and booked flights we never could’ve justified paying cash for.
Final Thoughts
You don’t need to open every card under the sun to earn incredible travel perks. And you don’t have to fly a crazy amount of flights or spend over $135k to get the Companion Pass. With just three of these Rapid Rewards cards, good timing, and smart referrals, you can earn one of the best deals in travel.
If you’ve got a Player 2 and/or kids flying with you, the Companion Pass should be high on your points & miles bucket list.
And if you’re wondering if it’s worth the $$ in fees? Let me just say—yes.
A thousand times, yes.
