NOTE: Southwest has since changed their credit card offerings since the time of publication of this post.  Please click here for updated card offerings.

I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July!  Michael and I spent the weekend in Portland, Maine and it was amazing!  I’ll have more from our trip later this week and next so stay tuned.  Oh and guess what?!  We used the Southwest Companion Pass to score these tickets!

In today’s Travel Tuesdays post I want to share how you can work your way towards having the Southwest Companion Pass.  You’ve seen me rave about the pass here and here.  For those of you who don’t know, the Companion Pass is the holy grail to traveling in the US.  With it, you are able to designate a “companion” (mine is Michael) and that companion gets to fly for free with you on ANY flight you book!  You are allowed to change your companion up to 3 times – be careful who the 3rd person is because once you’ve used your 3, you’re stuck with the last one.

Once you accumulate enough miles to get the Companion Pass (you need 110,000 miles), it is valid for the remainder of the year in which you acquire it PLUS the entire next full calendar year!  So that means if you time it correctly you can have it for almost TWO full years!  Another perk?  As the Companion Pass holder, you can book your ticket with points and your companion STILL flies for free!  Michael and I have used this method a couple of times when one plane ticket happens to be ridiculously expensive – looking at you Seattle – my flight alone would have been around $600, which honestly, when you split the cost with your companion, it’s actually not that outrageous.  But for Seattle, I ended up using points to book my ticket and then added Michael.  Free flights for both of us!

Note – we usually don’t do this as we want to save miles for the dreaded time when we no longer have the Companion Pass.

How to Obtain the Southwest Companion Pass

Ok – So now that you know how amazing the Companion Pass is, you’re probably wondering how to get your hands on one!  So like I mentioned, you need to accumulate 110,000 Southwest miles within a calendar year.  The easiest and most efficient way to achieve this goal is by opening up two Southwest credit cards.  I opened up the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Visa first.  Check out all of the details on the card and how it compares to other travel cards right here (NOTE: Southwest has since changed their credit card offerings since the time of publication of this post.  Please click here for updated card offerings.)  After I hit that minimum spend, I signed up for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Visa. (NOTE: Southwest has since changed their credit card offerings since the time of publication of this post.  Please click here for updated card offerings.)  Remember that the whole point of opening these cards is to accumulate the sign up bonus, so be sure to hit the minimum spend!

After signing up for both of those cards and hitting the minimum spend on both, I accumulated 100,000 miles right there alone!  After that I just needed 10,000 more miles.  This is where you’ll need to figure out what works best for you.  I accumulated the additional 10,000 miles two ways.  First, Southwest miles from flying actually do add up pretty quickly.  I took a few flights and accumulated miles that way.  Second, when you make purchases on your Southwest credit card(s), you  earn miles.  Depending on your spending habits and what you’re able to put on the card, miles can accrue quickly.

Something to keep in mind while you’re strategizing on how to get your hands on the Companion Pass is to be aware of the timing of accumulating the miles.  If you’re able to time it right, you can have the Companion Pass for almost two full years.

Michael and I have been able to utilize the Southwest Companion Pass a ton this year and have been able to fly to places near and far for next to nothing.  I highly recommend working your way towards the Companion Pass.  If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to shoot me an email, comment here, or message me on social media!  I’m more than happy to help and love hearing from you!!

ICYMI – Previous Travel Tuesdays Posts

Intro to Accumulating Frequent Flyer Miles, Without Flying!

How a Little Planning Can Take You Around the World

10 Tips for Traveling with Only a Carry-On Bag

Disclaimer: If you click and/or sign up for a credit card through certain links on this site or any of my related social media platforms, I may make a commission from that click and/or purchase.  As always, all opinions are my own.