We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Another Southwest Companion Pass Trial
Southwest is running another Companion Pass promotion on their much desired Southwest Companion Pass where you can nominate another person to fly with you and just pay the taxes and fees on their ticket. This time around it’s a trial Companion Pass that lasts for a couple months as long as you buy a roundtrip, or two one-ways, by the end of today, Sept 5th, 2024.
Earn a trial Southwest Companion Pass
- Register for the promotion and purchase a qualifying Southwest® flight (one round trip or two one-way qualifying flights), starting today through Sept. 5, 2024.
- Travel by Nov. 20, 2024; and
- Designate a Companion to fly for free1 with them between Jan. 6, 2025, and March 6, 2025.
What is the Southwest Companion Pass?
It’s really pretty simple, and as I mentioned one of the topics I’m asked about most. Every single time you fly, whether you used cash or points to book your Southwest ticket, your companion flies with you free. This requires earning 135k Qualifying Rapid Rewards points in a year in order to qualify.
- You still have to pay the companion taxes and fees
- You have to select the companion that will fly free with you while your companion pass is valid
- You can change who this is 3x in the year
- This is based on calendar year so you could change it 3x this year, and then again 3x in 2022
- You can make changes by calling this number 1-800-435-9792
- You can change who this is 3x in the year
Have we seen Companion Pass promos before?
Yes, most recently we’ve seen Flash Companion Pass promotions that yield a temporary Companion Pass for 6 to 8 weeks. s
- May 2024
- 1 roundtrip or 2 one ways to Hawaii and get 2 months of Companion Pass
- Similar restrictions, no award tickets
- March 2024
- 1 roundtrip or 2 one ways and get 2 months of Companion Pass
- Similar restrictions, no award tickets
- August 2023
- 1 roundtrip or 2 one ways and get 2 months of Companion Pass
- Similar restrictions, no award tickets
- April 2023
- 1 roundtrip or 2 one ways and get 6 weeks of Companion Pass
- Similar restrictions, no award tickets
- September 2022
- 1 roundtrip or 2 one ways and get 2 months of Companion Pass
- Similar restrictions, no award tickets
My thoughts
If you’re looking to get a Southwest Companion Pass, this certainly makes it much easier and gives you trial period to see if you’d like to really go for the full deal for 25/26. Pretty nice!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.