Strategy · Southwest

The Companion Pass Is Still Worth It. Even After Everything Southwest Did This Year.

They changed a lot. Bags aren’t free anymore. But they didn’t touch the one thing that actually matters for families.

We took our family to Hawaii a couple years ago. Six of us. The babies stayed home, but the big kids got their first taste of the islands. And we got there almost entirely on points.

It was honestly such a high. I had a spreadsheet with everyone’s name on it and how many points each person would need, and I just started working through it card by card. For us it was the Southwest cards that made it happen. We used the Companion Pass twice. Chris flew with one kid. I flew with another. That left a couple kids where we had to transfer points from other cards to cover their flights. But we did it. Hawaii. Six of us. For not very much money. That trip changed the way I think about travel.

So yeah, I have a soft spot for the Companion Pass. But I also want to be honest with you, because Southwest had a tough year and I’ve been sitting on this post trying to figure out how to say it without sounding like I’m making excuses for an airline.

What Southwest actually changed

The biggest thing: free checked bags are gone. That was Southwest’s whole thing for years. You flew them, everyone got two bags free, no drama. That ended in 2025 for most fares. Cardholders still get a free bag, but it’s not automatic anymore for everyone on the plane.

They also cut the earning rates on Wanna Get Away fares. Those are the cheap tickets that most people actually book, and you used to earn 6 points per dollar on them. Now it’s lower. If you were earning points primarily through flying, that hurts.

And open seating is going away. Assigned seats are coming. A thing that made Southwest distinctly Southwest is leaving.

So yeah. It has been a year for Southwest loyalists.

but here’s what they left alone

The Companion Pass. Same threshold, same rules, same two years of free travel. Everything I actually care about is still intact.

How the Companion Pass actually works

Earn 135,000 Southwest points in a single calendar year and you get the Companion Pass. One person of your choice flies with you on every Southwest flight, every time, paying only taxes and fees. That can be as little as $5.60 a flight. And it lasts for the rest of that year plus all of the next one.

Earn it in January and you have almost two full years. That’s every flight you take on Southwest during that stretch with your companion flying essentially free.

For a family that travels together, or a couple that takes a few trips a year, the math adds up fast. We used ours to get two people to Hawaii. And then we used those same passes again on other trips that year.

How people actually earn it

You can’t realistically earn 135,000 points through flying alone. The way most people do it is through the credit card bonuses. Southwest has a personal card and a business card, and right now the sign-up bonuses combined can get you most of the way there without a single flight.

1
Open the Southwest personal card. Current bonuses run around 50,000 to 60,000 points after hitting the minimum spend. That spend counts toward your 135,000 threshold.
2
Open the Southwest business card. Another 60,000 or so, plus whatever you spend to hit the minimum. The business card does not count against your Chase 5/24 limit. You use one personal slot for the personal card, and the business card is free.
3
Earn through regular spending. Regular purchases on both cards earn points too. Hitting 135,000 between the two bonuses and everyday spending is very doable if you time it right and start early in the year.
4
Earn it early. The pass lasts through the end of that calendar year and all of the next. Earn it in January and you get nearly two years. Earn it in November and you get barely two months before it resets. Early in the year matters a lot.

Ready to go after the Companion Pass? Current offer is up to 90,000 points on Southwest personal cards and up to 80,000 on business cards.

Apply with Amy’s link →
the 5/24 thing to know

The Southwest personal card does eat one of your Chase 5/24 slots. The business card doesn’t. So if you’re planning your card sequence, you want to already have your Chase Sapphire Preferred before you open the Southwest personal. Get Chase first, then Southwest. Apply for the Sapphire Preferred with my link →

Is it still worth it in 2026?

For us, yes. I wouldn’t build my whole strategy around Southwest the way I might have a few years ago. The program is less generous than it used to be and I think that’s just the reality now. But the Companion Pass itself hasn’t changed, and for a family that travels together it’s still one of the better deals out there.

check their routes first

Southwest is almost entirely domestic. They don’t fly everywhere, and they don’t fly internationally except a handful of Caribbean spots. Before you commit to this strategy, pull up their route map and make sure they fly where your family actually wants to go.

We used ours for Hawaii. We’ve used it to visit family. We’ve used it for quick weekend trips where flying two people would have cost real money. Every time the pass works, it feels like a win. And that feeling of getting your family somewhere you couldn’t have otherwise afforded is exactly why I started learning about points in the first place.

I’ll update this if Southwest changes the pass itself. But right now, in 2026, it’s still real and it’s still worth going after.

xo, Amy
More from the Points Room The Chase 5/24 rule — read this first → The cards Amy actually uses → Plan a trip with your points →