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Update: The Offers In This Post Have Now Expired
I don’t often write about credit card sign-up bonuses because, to be frank, I don’t find most of them to be all that fantastic or exceptional (with a few occasional exceptions). But now we have a credit card sign-up bonus from Southwest & Chase that, as long as you’re a California resident, is one you shouldn’t be passing up.
All the Chase Southwest co-branded credit cards are now offering a Southwest Companion Pass if you sign up, get approved and make a single purchase on your new credit card….and that’s on top of the existing sign-up bonus too! (OFFER EXPIRED)
This offer ends on 30 November 2017
I’ll get on to why the Companion Pass is so great in a minute…but first the credit cards.
Chase issues 3 different Southwest co-branded credit cards and you’ll have to look at carefully if you want to spot the differences.
All these credit cards offer the Companion Pass after a single purchase (as long as you’re a California resident) and all have additional sign-up bonuses too.
Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card
- Sign-up bonus – 40,000 bonus points after $1,000 spent in first 3 months (Offer Expired)
- $69 annual fee
- Earn 2 points/$ on all Southwest purchases & 1 point/$ on all other purchases
- Earn 3,000 points on your card anniversary
Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card
- Sign-up bonus – 40,000 bonus points after $1,000 spent in first 3 months (Offer Expired)
- $99 annual fee
- Earn 2 points/$ on all Southwest purchases & 1 point/$ on all other purchases
- Earn 6,000 points on your card anniversary
- No foreign transaction fees
Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
- Sign-up bonus – 60,000 bonus points after $3,000 spent in first 3 months (Offer Expired)
- $99 annual fee
- Earn 2 points/$ on all Southwest purchases & 1 point/$ on all other purchases
- Earn 6,000 points on your card anniversary
- No foreign transaction fees
If you’re only getting the credit card for the Companion Pass it would seem logical to get the Business Credit card for the higher signup bonus or the “Plus” credit card for the lower annual fee.
Southwest Companion Pass
This has to be one of the best airline benefits out there as this is what the companion pass offers:
If you hold a Southwest Companion pass you can add a second person to your reservation and pay only the taxes due on that person’s fare – that’s it!
With taxes currently at $5.60 for a one-way for a domestic flight that’s basically getting you a second ticket for next to nothing.
Here’s the best bit: You can use this benefit as many times as you like in the year and there are no restriction on the types of ticket that this will work with – as long as there’s a seat available on the aircraft you can book it with your companion pass.
It doesn’t matter if the primary fare is purchased with cash, points or even LUV vouchers, the companion fare will always be available.
Normally you would have to earn 110,000 Southwest points in order to earn the Companion Pass but, as I’ve said, if you’re a resident of California you can now get one by applying for (and getting) one of the three Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards I’ve mentioned above.
Full Companion Pass details available at this Southwest page
Bottom Line
This is the easiest way of getting a Companion Pass that I’ve ever seen and with Southwest having recently announced that it will commence flight to Hawaii in 2018 the value of this pass has just shot up.
Outside of the occasional sale, flights to/from Hawaii can be very expensive (they’re currently over $700 roundtrip for dates I’m hoping to book in 2018) and a Companion Pass will essentially get two people to/from Hawaii for the price of one – that makes this credit card sign up offer a “must-have” if you live in California.
There’s no real reason to delay your credit card application as the companion pass will only be valid through 31 December 2018 regardless of your application date…and the soon er you get it the sooner you can use it to save.
