I recently earned a Southwest Companion Pass again, thanks to a credit card sign-up bonus. It had been several years since I’d last had one, so I figured I’d dust it off and start booking flights like the good ol’ days. But it turns out that a lot had changed since my last go-around with this famous travel perk. In fact, I realized I was practically a newbie again.
So on our first trip using the new Companion Pass, I found myself learning some quirks the hard way. If you’ve just earned your pass (or haven’t used one in a while), here are some things I wish someone had told me.
This one wasn’t new, but it had been a long time since I had last done it.
Adding Your Companion Isn’t as Instant as You’d Think
Once you earn the Companion Pass, you still need to go into your Southwest account and assign your companion — nothing happens automatically. Even after it says “You’ve earned Companion Pass!” with celebratory confetti on your screen, it doesn’t mean your companion is set up and ready to fly.
When you’re ready, you’ll see a big yellow button in your account that says Add Your Companion:
Clicking that brings you to a screen where you’ll need to enter all of your companion’s personal info — name, date of birth, gender, Rapid Rewards number, and so on:
Even if your companion already has a Rapid Rewards account, none of their info is pre-filled, so it’s a good idea to have their travel details on hand when you go to do this. In our case, my wife, Sharon, has the pass, so I added myself as her companion.
And once you’ve added a companion, you can make changes up to three times per year. I’m not going to worry about that because we’ll always be traveling together when using the pass.
You Can’t Book a Companion Until After You Book Yourself
Seems obvious, right? However, when you’re in planning mode and accustomed to booking for two people at once, it’s easy to forget. It’s a two-step process: you book your ticket first, and then log in to your Southwest account to officially add your companion. There’s no way to do it all in one go — and that caught me off guard the first time I tried.
Here are the quirks I mentioned.
You can either book with cash or points through the Southwest website. But you don’t have to use the Companion Pass holder’s points. Example: I have more Southwest points in my account than my wife does. I can log into my account and book her ticket using my points. Once her ticket is confirmed, I can then go into her account and add myself as a companion.
And while I’ve never tried it, I’d imagine the same would apply if booking through a third-party portal. As long as you can attach the Rapid Rewards number to the reservation, then you should be able to add a companion.
The Companion Isn’t Free
While the pass lets your companion fly with you for free, that doesn’t mean there’s zero cost. You still have to pay the taxes and fees — usually $5.60 each way for domestic flights, and more for international. Not a dealbreaker, but something to factor in, especially if you’re booking multiple flights. Still, paying the taxes is much cheaper than paying for another ticket.
It doesn’t matter what the cost of the second ticket is.
The nice thing about the Companion Pass is that it doesn’t matter what the price of the second ticket is. For example, maybe there’s only one discounted fare left on the flight and the rest are in higher fare classes. Book the cheaper ticket for the person with the pass, and you’ll still be able to add a companion, regardless of the fare and only pay the taxes.
You Need to Re-Add the Companion Every Time
Southwest doesn’t automatically attach your companion to every flight you book. Even if you’ve already added them for one trip, you’ll need to go through the process again for each new reservation. There’s no permanent toggle switch to “always add this person.” It’s manual every time.
The Pass Is Tied to Your Flights — Not the Companion’s
If you cancel your own flight, the companion’s ticket will also be canceled. And if you make changes to your flight, you’ll often have to cancel and re-book the companion’s ticket separately. The same goes for flight changes. If you want to re-book your trip, you’ll need to cancel the companion ticket, then change your own ticket, and then re-add the companion to the flight, which is a bit of a pain.
Each Passenger Has a Different PNR
Since each ticket is essentially a different reservation, you’ll have two passenger records. That’s additional information you need to keep track of, particularly when it comes to the next step.
Check-In for Flights Is a Logistical Nightmare
Since each passenger has a different PNR, you’ll need to check in separately. For most airlines, this isn’t a problem, but for Southwest, where seats are not assigned, your boarding position is determined by your check-in time (unless you pay for EarlyBird). So if you’re trying to be cheap (which is probably why you got a Companion Pass in the first place), it means either one person will have to check in on two devices simultaneously, or both of you need to be on your phones or computers at exactly the 24-hour mark.
For our 7:00 AM flights, it meant we both had to be up the day before to ensure we got a decent place in line. And the day before flying home — while on vacation — we had to stop whatever we were doing to check in for flights.
Paying for EarlyBird or getting Upgraded Boarding is great, but we don’t always want to fork out the extra cash.
Final Thought
The Southwest Companion Pass is still one of the best travel perks out there — especially if you fly Southwest regularly or live near one of their hubs. Getting to bring someone along for just the cost of taxes and fees? That’s hard to beat.
But it’s not quite as seamless as it sounds in the headlines. There are quirks, manual steps, and a little extra effort required to get the most out of it. None of it is a dealbreaker — but it’s definitely good to know what you’re in for before your first trip.
If you’re prepared for the extra steps, the Companion Pass can be a fantastic way to save money and make your points (or dollars) go twice as far.
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