Southwest Airlines Brings Back Companion Pass BOGO Promotion

Southwest Airlines is bringing back its Companion Pass BOGO promotion. However, there is a catch.

The airline announced the promotion, which will allow Southwest customers to choose one person to fly with them, free of airline charges. Normally, a Companion Pass is a benefit that allows you to choose one person to fly with you whenever you purchase or redeem points for a flight from Southwest, but this is a one-time BOGO deal. For both versions of the pass, however, you still have to pay taxes and fees.

To qualify for the typical Companion Pass, a customer must fly 100 qualifying one-way flights or earn 135,000 qualifying points in a calendar year. After that, a Companion Pass will be earned for the following full calendar year as well as the remainder of the year it was earned. Companion Pass Members can change their designated companion up to three times each calendar year. A Southwest page with a complete list of restrictions and tiers explains how flyers can earn points and how they can be utilized.

In comparison, this limited-time BOGO promotion won’t take as much time or effort.

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To earn the BOGO Companion Pass, CNN reports that Southwest’s Rapid Rewards members “must book one qualifying round-trip or two one-way tickets by 11:59 p.m. CT on September 5, 2024, for travel from now through November 20, 2024. The promotional pass earned will be valid between January 6, 2025, and March 6, 2025.”

Southwest Vice President of Marketing Jennifer Bridie told CBS News, “We love offering this Companion Pass promotion because it allows our members to experience one of the many benefits of our award-winning Rapid Rewards program.”

Per Stock Titan, Birdie added, “Earlier this year, we launched Cash + Points, giving our Customers extra flexibility to make their points go further. And now, for the first time, Members can use their Rapid Rewards points, a combination of cash and points, or other eligible forms of payment to book qualifying flights that count toward this Companion Pass promotion.”

This promotion was last phased in for Southwest Airlines customers in March 2024. At that time, Rapid Rewards members had to register for the promotion and purchase qualifying Southwest flights (equal to one round trip or two one-way flights).