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The Southwest Airlines Companion Pass continues to be one of the better status benefits offered by any of the major US airlines and now, for the second time in a space of just nine weeks, Southwest is giving you the chance to earn a limited-time version of the pass in just a single trip.
The promotion
It’s simple. To earn and then enjoy a Companion Pass that’s valid for travel between 6 January and 6 March 2026, this is what you need to do:
- Register now (here).
- Purchase one round trip or two one-way flights by 11:59 p.m. CT on 28 August 2025 (Thursday).
- Basic fares are excluded from this promotion.
- Travel by 15 November 2025.
That’s it!
Key terms
- Registration is mandatory.
- Member must register for this promotion, book one qualifying round trip or two qualifying one-way Southwest flights during the Promotion Period for travel during the Travel Period, and fly during the Travel Period.
- Registration must be completed prior to booking and commencement of travel.
- Valid on new qualifying flights booked during the Promotion Period for travel during the Travel Period and flown within the Travel Period.
- Member’s qualifying flights must be booked through Southwest.com®, the Southwest Mobile App, swabiz.com (SWABIZ®), Global Distribution System (GDS), or Southwest Partner Services (SPS) distribution channels with Southwest Airlines® inventory during the Promotion Period for travel that must be completed during the Travel Period.
- Member’s Rapid Rewards account number must be entered at the time of booking.
- A qualifying one-way flight for this promotion is a one-way flight on Southwest Airlines from an origin city to a destination city, including any intermediate stops and/or connections on Southwest Airlines.
- A qualifying round trip flight for this promotion is a round trip flight on Southwest Airlines from an origin city to a destination city and back to the originating airport or carrier-recognized co-terminal.
- Valid on new reservations booked within the Promotion Period for travel during the Travel Period only.
- Travel booked or flown prior to registration for this promotion is not eligible for this promotional Companion Pass offer.
- Travel date is determined by the qualifying flight(s) original scheduled departure time.
- Qualifying flights must be flown by the same Member.
- Redemption reservations and Cash + Points bookings qualify for this promotional offer.
- Cash + Points bookings will earn Rapid Rewards points, tier qualifying points for A-List and A-List Preferred status, and Companion Pass qualifying points on the portion of the base fare that is paid with dollars.
- Companion Pass, Basic fares, charter flights, group travel, and Getaways by Southwest bookings do not qualify as one-way or round trip flights for this promotion.
- Changes made within the Promotion Period are allowed if the qualifying travel is still completed in the Travel Period. Changes made to any itinerary after the Promotion Period may eliminate qualification for this promotion.
- The promotional Companion Pass is valid from January 6, 2026 through March 6, 2026 and allows you to designate one person to fly with you, free of airline charges (does not include taxes and fees from $5.60 one-way) on flights purchased by you, booked through Southwest, and completed between January 6, 2026 and March 6, 2026.
- Member is limited to one Companion Pass at a time.
Full terms and conditions (which you should read carefully) can be found on the promotion page.
The Southwest Companion Pass
The Southwest Companion Pass is a benefit that usually requires a flyer to earn 135,000 qualifying points or to fly 100 qualifying one-way flights, so straight away, you can see how hard it is to earn one of these ‘the hard way’.
But what is a ‘Companion Pass’?
Southwest grants Companion Pass holders the right to choose one person to fly with them for just the cost of the flight taxes (starting at $5.60 for one-way travel). There’s no fare to pay or points to hand over. This second flyer flies for the cost of the taxes alone.
There are no blackout dates on which the Companion Pass cannot be used, and there’s no need for any kind of special fare to be available for the Companion Pass to be useable, so this is a genuinely great and easy to use benefit to have.
On a single trip, a Companion Pass can save a couple hundreds of dollars, but this isn’t a one-time thing. It can be used over and over again for as long as the pass is valid*, so for frequent flyers, the savings that a Companion Pass offers could easily reach into triple figures.
The one key condition to note is that the holder must nominate one person to be their ‘companion’ when they travel, but as Southwest now allows Companion Pass holders to change their designated companion up to three times each calendar year, that’s not going to be a particularly onerous condition for most people.
Booking companion travel is straightforward:
- The holder of the Companion Pass books their ticket.
- After booking their flight, they can head over to the ‘My Trips section’ of their Southwest account and click the ’Add Companion link’ which they’ll find next to the booking they just made.
- From there, the Southwest website will guide them through the purchase process (paying the taxes due) and will ask them to confirm their companion’s details.
That’s it. It’s as simple as that, and for a limited time you don’t have to earn 135,000 qualifying points or fly 100 one-way flights to enjoy this fantastic benefit.
You can enjoy it by simply registering, booking one round trip or two one-way flights by 28 August 2025 (Thursday) and traveling by 15 November 2025.
*Usually, a Companion Pass is valid for the year in which its earned and a further full 12 months after that, but the Companion Pass that can be earned through the credit card welcome offer is only valid between 6 January and 6 March 2026.
Quick thoughts
It’s hard to imagine an easier way to earn a Southwest Companion Pass (albeit one that’s only valid for 60 days) especially as the terms and conditions indicate that points bookings and points + cash booking as well as regular bookings will qualify for this promotion.
Clearly, the fact that bookings must be made by 23:59 CT on Thursday means that there isn’t really much time for procrastination, but if you don’t already need to make a booking with Southwest, it shouldn’t be too tricky to organise a quick (and cheap) trip that fulfills the terms of the promotion (assuming that you’ll be able to get a lot of use out of the Companion Pass).
Personally, I’d go for this offer if we had plans to visit somewhere expensive (like Hawaii) in the months for which the Companion Pass is valid, as the cost of a day return between LAX and Las Vegas (which would trigger the Companion Pass) …
… would quickly be quickly recouped when Joanna flew to Hawaii for free.
Yes, I would have to work out if (in this example) the saving of ~$411 was worth taking a day out of my life to go to Vegas and back, but as I could work at LAX, onboard the flight, and in Las Vegas, I would probably have fewer obstacles to doing this than some.
Bottom line
For a very limited time (until tomorrow, Thursday), Southwest Airlines is offering everyone the opportunity to earn a limited-time Companion Pass (valid for travel between 6 January and 6 March 2026) just by booking and flying two one-way flights or one roundtrip.
If you think that you’ll be able to make good use of the Companion Pass, this is a promotion you should probably jump at as its requirements should be relatively easy to complete.
