The Cheap Way to a Southwest Companion Pass Ends December 2. After That, It Takes $95,000 of Card Spending.

If you’ve been planning to open a Southwest card for the bonus and turn it into a Companion Pass, you have until December 2. After that, the bonus still buys flights. It stops buying the pass.

The Companion Pass lets one person fly with you free of airline charges (you still pay taxes and fees from $5.60 each way). For a couple or a parent with a kid, it can halve the airfare for a year. The card bonus has long been the shortcut to it. Southwest just closed the shortcut.

What changed on October 15

Today the pass takes 135,000 Companion Pass qualifying points or 100 one-way flights in a calendar year. Card bonuses count toward that, and so does the 10,000-point boost Southwest gives cardmembers each year.

Starting January 1, 2027, those qualifying points are retired. The pass moves into the new status tiers, earned with Tier Qualifying Points (TQPs). Southwest’s list of things that won’t earn TQPs: “new Cardmember welcome bonuses, referral bonuses, anniversary points, and bonus points from spend (e.g., 2X on gas), as well as partner spend.”

Southwest’s announcement page calls this “More opportunities to get Companion Pass benefits.” Here’s what those opportunities cost.

The 2027 math

Three companion trips come with a Milestone Reward at 95,000 TQPs or 75 one-way flights. Unlimited trips take Platinum status: 140,000 TQPs or 100 flights.

Southwest cards earn one TQP per dollar of purchases. So three companion trips from card spending alone means $95,000 on the card. Unlimited means $140,000, or $130,000 counting the one-time 10,000-TQP boost cardmembers get at 130,000. Flying helps: Choice fares earn TQPs at 6 times the fare, so 95,000 TQPs is about $15,800 of Choice tickets.

Translation: in 2027, the Companion Pass becomes a perk for people who fly constantly or put a small business on the card. For a family flying a few times a year, it’s effectively gone.

The window, and who should use it

Southwest’s FAQ says anyone approved for a Rapid Rewards card on or before December 2, 2026, who meets the welcome bonus requirement, can have those points count as Companion Pass qualifying points, “even if the spend threshold is met in early 2027.”

And a pass earned in 2026 under the current rules runs, per Southwest, through December 31, 2027.

Here’s the catch. A bonus alone doesn’t get you there. On Chase’s page, the Priority card pays 60,000 points after $2,000 in three months, for a $229 annual fee. Add the 10,000-point cardmember boost and a new cardholder has about 72,000 of the 135,000 needed. The other 63,000 have to come from flying and spending you were going to do anyway.

Do this now. Log in to your Rapid Rewards account and check your Companion Pass progress for 2026. If you already have around 63,000 from flights and spending, a card approved by December 2 can push you over, and the pass covers your companion through the end of 2027. That’s real money.

If you’re near zero, don’t open a $229 card chasing a pass you can’t finish. And if you’d carry a balance at a 19.49% to 27.99% APR, the interest eats the free flights. Check how Chase’s application rules treat you before you apply, and compare against our best credit cards.

Verdict: worth grabbing if you’re close. Not worth chasing from scratch.

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