Svetlana’s Parents Get the Southwest Companion Pass and Over $3500 in Southwest Tickets!
Note: The Chase Southwest Airlines Credit Card bonus changes frequently and the offer discussed below may no longer be available. Please check the page for the most updated information on the bonus.
A few months ago, I wrote about how Svetlana’s parents planned to get the Southwest Companion Pass so they can start getting two tickets for the price of one on Southwest Airlines. Well, they finally reached their goal and got their welcome email. They are now proud holders of the Southwest Companion Pass!
The holder of a Southwest Companion Pass can designate a companion (and is allowed to change it up to 3 times during the lifetime of the pass) that can travel with him or her for only the cost of taxes ($2.50 to $5.00 usually) on any fare, paid or redeemed with points. The only restriction is there must be another seat available on the flight. A Southwest Rapid Rewards member will earn the Companion Pass after either flying 100 segments on Southwest Airlines or earning 110,000 qualifying Southwest Rapid Rewards points in a single year. The pass is then eligible for the rest of that year and the following year. Now all Samba for Miles’ mom has to do is go online and choose her companion! For more info on the Southwest Companion Pass, check out the Terms and Conditions.
What Samba for Miles’ parents earned:
- 110,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards miles redeemable towards Wanna Get Away fares at 1.67 cents each. No award hunting here!
- A Southwest Companion Pass good until the end of 2014 (a year and a half) that allows Samba for Miles’ mom to bring a designated companion with her on her Southwest flights, whether she pays for the ticket or redeems miles.
How they earned it:
- Svetlana’s mom signed up for two Chase Southwest co-branded credit cards. One business card and one personal card. At the time, each credit card came with a 50,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards point sign-up bonus after spending $3,000 on the card within 3 months of account opening.
- While the sign-up bonuses would get her 100,000 miles, she needed 110,000 total (meaning they’d need to spend $10,000 total on the cards to get the Companion Pass)
Value of their Southwest Rapid Rewards and Companion Pass
At 1.67 points each, 110,000 points is worth $1,833. Since they also got the Southwest Companion Pass along the way, the value is actually $3,666. Every time they buy a ticket, they will get a second one for free. The only restriction is there must be another seat available on the flight. Of course, we need to subtract the $79 they paid for the Vanilla reloads:
Value = (110,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards Point * 1.67 cents value per point)* 2 – $79 Vanilla Reload Fees = $3587.
(Note: Southwest Rapid Rewards points have changed value since this post and are now only worth 1.43 cents each).
Hi, thanks for the info on the SouthWest Companion pass. I do have one question: I read that the promotion for the Companion pass ends on August 6th, does that mean if I apply to get the SouthWest cards I have to spend the $3000 before August 6th in order to recieve the 50,000 rapid reward points, or does the August 6th deadline meen I just have to sign up for the card by then?
Thanks,
Nadav
It’s only the 50,000 point bonus for the card that’s available right now that ends on Aug 6. As long as you apply for the card before August 6, you will have the full 3 months from account opening to spend $3,000. Don’t forget you actually need to earn 110,000 points to get the Companion Pass (which the 50,000 miles from the credit card will count towards) so a card sign-up alone won’t do it. In my post, Svetlana’s parents signed up for two cards and earned 110,000 points. Good luck :)
Hi, MP!
Did they apply for the personal & business cards on the same day?
Dino
They did! And got approved for both :)
Is there a way around if Walgreens only accepts cash for a vanilla reload? I’ve read you can buy a prepaid gift card and go to walmart to transfer the money onto the bluebird card.
You’re very correct :) You can, in fact, buy PIN enabled debit cards at drugstores and then load them onto your Bluebird at Walmart at the register or the kiosk. The easiest one to use is OneVanilla as it takes any PIN you set. I discuss this strategy in my post on ways to get United miles and link to a post on Frequent Miler that discusses the different debit cards you can use. Our team’s Natalya has been using this strategy and I do have to make a warning: 3 times she’s gotten OneVanilla cards that didn’t work and she’s had to call for them to send new cards. So keep all your receipts – this is very important! This is one reason I like Vanilla Reloads and continue to write about them; in all the time, myself, friends and family have been getting them, we’ve only had one card that didn’t work once between all of us.