Southwest Companion Pass: How to Earn It (2026)

The Southwest Companion Pass lets one person you name fly with you for the cost of taxes and fees, on every Southwest flight you take, for as long as the pass is active.

Earning it takes 135,000 Companion Pass qualifying points, or 100 qualifying one-way flights, inside a single calendar year.

The rules that decide whether you get there are mostly about which points count. Here is the dated map, as of September 2026.

How do you earn the Southwest Companion Pass?

Two paths, both measured inside a single calendar year.

Southwest's Rapid Rewards terms state that a member who earns 135,000 Companion Pass qualifying points, or who flies 100 qualifying one-way flights, qualifies for the pass.

The counter resets on January 1, and nothing carries over from the year before.

For scale, Southwest's 2026 status page puts A-List at 35,000 tier qualifying points and A-List Preferred at 70,000.

So how much flying is 135,000 points? That depends entirely on which fare you buy.

Southwest's earning page sets the rates per dollar of base fare: 2 points on Basic, 6 on Choice, 10 on Choice Preferred, and 14 on Choice Extra.

That third column is plain arithmetic off Southwest's published rates, not a Southwest figure.

It also runs high, because A-List adds a 25% earning bonus, A-List Preferred adds 100%, and the cardmember boost takes 10,000 off the top.

Which points count toward the Companion Pass?

This is where the surprises live, and where a large Rapid Rewards balance can be misleading.

Southwest's terms count points from revenue flights booked through Southwest, points earned on Rapid Rewards credit cards and the debit card, and base points from Rapid Rewards partners.

Both kinds land in the same account and look identical on the balance line, which is why the distinction is easy to miss.

The cardmember boost is the other number worth knowing. Rapid Rewards cardmembers receive one boost of 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each calendar year.

Southwest deposits it by January 31, or up to 30 days after you open the account. Only one card account per member is eligible.

For how the underlying currency earns and redeems, our guide to Southwest Rapid Rewards points covers the spendable side.

How long does the Companion Pass last?

Southwest's terms are specific: you hold the pass for the remainder of the calendar year in which you earned it, and for the entire calendar year immediately following.

Read that twice, because it means the finish line is always a December 31.

The points themselves follow a separate clock. Southwest's terms state that points do not expire, and that closing an account terminates the balance in it.

That is unusual across the industry, and our rundown of whether airline miles expire puts it in context.

What does your companion actually pay?

Taxes and fees, and nothing else for the seat.

Southwest's Companion Pass page describes companion travel as free of airline charges, and states that this does not include taxes and fees from $5.60 one-way.

Note the word from. The $5.60 is a floor, not a fixed price, and itineraries leaving the United States carry higher government-imposed taxes and fees.

Your own ticket can be a cash fare or a reward booking. The benefit attaches to the reservation rather than to how you paid, as The Points Guy and other outlets document.

One structural detail is easy to miss: the companion's ticket is tied to yours rather than sold alongside it.

Southwest's terms state that if your ticket is canceled, your companion's ticket is canceled too, and that a change to your ticket has to be carried through to theirs.

Money from your own canceled ticket returns under Southwest's usual travel funds rules, and our guide to Southwest flight credits covers how long those last.

How do you designate and change your companion?

Southwest publishes the path, and it is short.

1. 1

   Cross the threshold

   Reach 135,000 Companion Pass qualifying points, or 100 qualifying one-way flights, inside the calendar year.
2. 2

   Name your companion

   Log in at Southwest.com, open the Snapshot tab, find Choose Your Companion, select Enter Companion Info, and follow the posted instructions.
3. 3

   Book your own flight first

   Your reservation has to exist before a companion can be attached to it.
4. 4

   Add the companion to the trip

   Open My Trips and use the Add Companion link on that reservation. Southwest has to have a seat available for sale on the flight.

Adding the companion at the time of booking is the safer habit, because the benefit depends on a seat being available for sale, not on one being held for you.

How does the Southwest Companion Pass work with assigned seating?

Southwest moved to assigned seating for travel on January 27, 2026 and beyond, which changed what a companion pairing means at the seat map.

Southwest's assigned seating page states that Companion Pass holders and their companions are both eligible for the most favorable seat options conferred by either the holder's or the companion's tier status, cardmember status, or fare.

• The better benefit travels to both of you. If either person holds the status, the card, or the higher fare, the pair is eligible for the seat options that come with it.
• Boarding follows the seat. Southwest assigns the boarding group from seat location or the cardmember and tier boarding benefit, whichever is higher.
• Boarding together is not promised. Southwest states that sequential boarding is not guaranteed.

That is an eligibility rule rather than a promise that two good seats are open when you go looking.

For how the seat map and the fare tiers fit together, our guide to Southwest seat assignments has the detail.

What the Companion Pass does not do

It is a benefit on the seat next to you, and its edges are worth stating precisely.

• It is not a fare guarantee. If the price of your own ticket falls after you book, the pass does nothing about that.
• It does not cover the taxes and fees. Those stay with your companion on every segment.
• It is documented for Southwest flights. Southwest's Companion Pass page does not address partner-operated itineraries, so confirm with Southwest before counting on one.

On that first point, Southwest's own route for a price drop is to cancel and rebook into travel funds, and our Southwest repricing guide walks through it.

Autopilot does not touch points or loyalty accounts, and Southwest is not one of the airlines it reprices. On cash tickets booked directly with Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue, or United, add your trip and Autopilot tracks the fare and reprices the reservation when it drops.

The 135,000 threshold has held through 2026, and the assigned-seating rules are the newest moving part of the benefit.

Before you assume a healthy points balance is doing the work, check the qualifying column. That is the number the pass counts.