Get 30K Points & The Companion Pass After $4K In Spend (Targeted)
Southwest’s amazing offer from 2019 has returned…well sort of. It is once again possible to get the Companion Pass after only $4,000 in spend but it is targeted this time around. A FM reader let them know that they received the targeted offer via snail mail. Let’s take a look at the details.
Details of the Offer
- Earn 30,000 points and a Companion Pass valid through 12/31/21 after you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months.
- Offer Expires 11/2/2020
- The $69 annual fee is NOT waived the first year
That is the good stuff here is the bad stuff:
- The Chase 5/24 rule applies
- You can not receive the offer if you currently have another Southwest personal card
- You can not receive the offer if you have received a personal Southwest credit card bonus in the last 24 months.
- This companion pass is only good until the end of 2021. If you earn it the old fashioned way it can be good for up to 2 years which is something to consider.
Companion Pass
Some might not understand why this is a great deal because they don’t know what a Companion Pass is. When you have a companion pass you can designate someone to fly for free with you on every Southwest flight. This includes cash flights or award flights (which you will have 34,000 miles for because of this offer). All you need to do is pay the $11.20 taxes in fees roundtrip for domestic flights and $100 or so for international flights.
You can change your designated companion up to 3 times per year not including your first designation. You must complete all companion designated flights before you can change it though. So if you have a flight scheduled for April and then another one for May, with a different companion, you have to finish the April flight before changing your companion. But you can book your ticket for the May flight and as long as there is one seat open your companion flies free. No matter the cost of the ticket!
Should You Shoot For The Two Year Plan?
It is possible to get the companion pass for almost 24 months if you time it right. If you were to get the 60,000 point Southwest Premier Business Card and a 60,000 point Personal Southwest card (which come around semi regularly) in a quick time span then you can get the companion pass via the regular route. That would be good for the rest of the year you earn it plus the next calendar year. If you can not get a business card then this option is pretty much off the table for you.
The two things to consider with this are that it takes 2 cards and $15,000 in spend to earn it that way. $12,000 for the personal card and $3,000 for the business card. The ideal time to sign up for the cards is December and then complete the minimum spend in January. This gets you the companion pass for essentially 24 months. Many people can’t hit that level of spend quickly. It also means waiting until the end of this year to do it. It will probably be a few months before any 60,000 point personal offers return which would diminish the value of doing it this year.
I think which option works best for you depends on your personal situation but I wanted to lay out the options for you. Also if you have a 2 player system in place and both are under 5/24 you could have one take this offer now and the other shoot for the 2 year plan in December. That would get you the companion pass for 3 years, something to consider.
Conclusion
This is a pretty great offer, especially for families. If Southwest flies out of your airport, you often fly with a family member or friend, and you are targeted for the offer you should seriously consider this offer.
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