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The Southwest Companion Pass might be the most valuable domestic airline perk that currently exists. Today, Southwest updated their credit cards offers and amazingly the companion pass is now a perk for meeting the required minimum spend.
For those of you not familiar with Companion Pass, it allows someone else to travel with you for the entire year. You still have to pay the taxes on their ticket, but the Companion Pass is valid on both award and revenue tickets. You are allowed to change your designated companion up to three times in a year, so you can potentially use this benefit for multiple people.
Typically, the welcome bonus on the Southwest personal cards fluctuate between 40,000 and 60,000 Rapid Rewards points. With this newest update, the Southwest personal cards will only come with a 30,000 Rapid Rewards points bonus but with almost a full year of the coveted Companion pass, that should more than makes up the lower welcome Rapid Rewards points offer.
Southwest Card offers ending February 11, 2019
The following credit cards are offering the new welcome offer:
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card ($69 annual fee)
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card ($99 annual fee)
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card ($149 annual fee)
The cards are all offering the same tiered bonus of up to 30,000 Rapid Rewards bonus points, as follows:
- Earn the Companion Pass and 30,000 points after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months
- Every time you fly, they fly free of airline charges for the rest of 2019. (Does not include taxes and fees from $5.60 one-way)
- The Annual Fee’s are not waived for the first year
This welcome bonus is only expected to last until on February 11, 2019, so you have one month to take advantage of this deals.
The offers will be changing after that and we don’t know how it will change, but I can assure you that this is an amazing offer right now! The card is subjected to the Chase 5/24 rule. Also please note the following terms apply when it comes to eligibility on all the cards:
Southwest Priority Card Benefits
The priority card may have the highest fee but it comes with the best additional benefits. The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card was only introduced back in July of last year.
The Priority Card has a $149 annual fee and offers:
- A 7,500 point anniversary bonus each year
- 2x points for every $1 spend on Southwest Airlines
- 1x points on everything else
- A $75 annual Southwest travel credit
- Four upgraded boardings per year when available
- 20% back on inflight drinks and wifi
The 7,500 points given during each anniversary covers more than 2/3 of the annual fee as you can redeem Southwest points for a fixed 1.5 cents per point so you can easily earn back the cost of the annual fee with all the benefits.
In Conclusion
The companion pass is an amazing perk and to have the ability to earn it by spending just $4,000 in 3 months is an AMAZING opportunity. You would normally need to earn 110,000 Rapid Rewards Points to get this perk, so what are you waiting for! Sign up for the Southwest Plus, Southwest Premier, or Southwest Priority cards before this bonus is gone! Keep in mind that if you were to apply today, your first statement would likely end in February, so if you hit the spending requirement in the first month, you’ll have the Companion Pass for about 10 months.
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