Update: DEAD!
Southwest Consumer Plus Card Linky
Southwest Consumer Premier Card Linky
Southwest Business Premier Card Linky
If you have a CA address on your Southwest Rapid Rewards account and apply for a card via one of the links above with a CA home billing address you can get a Southwest companion pass after spending $1 on the card. You’ll also get 40K points after spending $1,000 on the consumer cards or 60K miles after spending $3,000 on the business card.
Note that Chase can require proof of residence, such as a utility bill, etc, in order to get approved.
The Plus card has a $69 annual fee and gives 3,000 points every card anniversary. The Premier cards have a $99 annual fee and give 6,000 points every card anniversary.
Southwest cards are subject to 5/24. That means if you have been approved for 5 or more consumer cards in the past 24 months you are very unlikely to get approved.
This offer expires 11/30/17.
“This product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any Rapid Rewards Credit Card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of any Rapid Rewards Credit Card who received a new cardmember bonus for a Rapid Rewards Credit Card within the last 24 months.”
The terms officially state, “Only the individual who received this email/offer from Southwest Airlines® is eligible for this promotion. Offer is nontransferable.” However I reached out to Southwest to ask if this is targeted only for people who received the offer via email and they confirmed that any CA resident is eligible:
Companion pass:
Normally you can get a free companion pass if you earn 110,000 points in a year from select sources, including earnings from credit card signups and credit card spending. A companion pass is normally valid until the year after its earned.
In this case you’ll earn a promotional companion pass after making your first purchase that will expire on 12/31/18 regardless of when you earn it. Of course if you earn 110K points in 2018 you’ll earn a pass valid through 12/31/19.
The pass allows you to designate a companion to bring with you for free whenever you fly Southwest, even if you are flying on a free ticket! There is no limit to the number of free companion flights that you can take.
You can change the name of your designated companion up to 3 times during a year by calling Southwest. However you can’t change your designated companion if there are outstanding flights booked with another companion. You can book a flight and then add a companion later on, as long as there are still seats available for sale on the flight.
Free changes and cancellations. Lock in low fares with no penalty:
While other mileage currencies charge up to $200 to cancel an award ticket, Southwest continues to allow you to cancel an award flight and redeposit the points in your account for future use without any penalties.
Coupled with 2 free carry-ons and 2 free checked bags per person, that’s a lot of added value. A family of 4 needing to cancel award tickets on another airline would set you back $400-$800 versus it being a free change on Southwest. A family of 4 checking 2 bags each would run $480 round-trip on another airline versus paying nothing on Southwest.
Thinking of taking a trip but not 100% sure about it? With Southwest points you can lock in a good rate and just cancel the trip free of charge at any point before the flight if you can’t make it!
You can use the points for yourself or book award tickets for anyone else you want to give a ticket to.
Southwest allows you to redeem points for any seat on any flight. There are no blackout dates or capacity controls.
You get 1 point per dollar on regular purchases and 2 points per dollar on Southwest purchases, including hotel and car rentals via Southwest.
And as always, Southwest:
-Gives 2 free checked bags per passenger.
-Does not charge change fees to switch your flight. Whether you are on a paid or an award flight you can change without penalty! In general though you should cancel a flight and rebook rather than make a change.
-Does not charge a cancellation fee to cancel your flight (you will get Southwest credit for the full amount paid, even on non-refundable wanna get away fares) or to cancel and redeposit your award flight.
-Refunds the fare or point difference if the price of your flight goes down after you buy it, just call to get the credit at any time before your flight!
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59 Comments On "California Residents: Open A Southwest Card And Get A Companion Pass Through 12/31/18!"
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means they will devalue even more very shortly
and with Hawaii coming up
Companion pass+Hawaii is pretty awesome.
Guess we’ll see when HI service actually starts though.
Dan,
Did the companion pass promo expire for NY? Or can I still sign up?
I haven’t seen an NY promo like this.
Sounds great. As a CA resident i might grab this. But ive never flown southwest or have a Southwest Rapid Rewards account.
Just look at their route network and be sure you’re OK with flying an airline that doesn’t have assigned seating 🙂
Do you think this will work if an individual has other Chase accounts with a different state already if they could also show proof of CA residency?
Just make sure the address on your Southwest account is in CA.
So chase address could still be nyc?
No, read the post please!
I heard that SW will start flying direct from EWR to LAX. Can anyone verify?
If I already have a premier card and a RR number with another address (outside CA), can I open up a plus card with a California address ( I am a resident of California)?
Your RR account also needs a CA address.
Can I call and switch the address?
I called and switched my RR account address because I actually do live in CA now. Do I have to wait to apply for the card or Can I apply now?
Why not open the card now and not make any purchase until Jan 1st 2018? Would I not essentially earn the pass until 2018 giving me an expiration of 12/31/19 by doing so? Am I missing the idea here?
Because the CP from this offer expires 12/31/18 regardless of when it’s earned.
Nice try though 🙂
If opening two cards and not hitting spending threshold until 2018 (plus spending the extra $$$ to hit 110,000 points) could I also earn a CP for 2018 that would expire in 2019?
Of course, but wait for 2x 60K offers to come back.
What does that mean? That there will eventually be 2 60k offers? Should people not jump at this offer?
If you live in CA, sure.
Otherwise, there was just a 60K offer last month:
https://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards/60k-limited-time-bonus-chase-southwest-cards-good-companion-pass-36-award-flights-600-amazon-gift-cards/
It’ll be around again.
Which card is better? The Plus or the Premier?
The post says the differences.
what happens if I make a new account on southwest and put my friends address?
Chase or Southwest can ask for proof of residency.
Just applied for business and called in with more info as requested. Got approved. Great deal! California resident, and fly ALL the time with my kids. This is a great find
Does the account holder have to be the one flying for the companion to be able to fly for free?
As in, if I get the card and add my wife as my companion… can I book a flight for someone else (say my mother in law) using my SW account and have my wife fly for free?
The account holder does need to be traveling with the designated companion.
if i signed up to the premier business a month ago, and got accepted. Am i still eligible for the companion pass offer. i called them and they had mo clue what i was talking about. @dan
Southwest wrote that you had to apply with this special link.
You can always Tweet at them and complain though.
Will the companion pass apply to any tickets bought with the card or only of the card owner flies?
Card owner.
My wife and I plan to fly in May and are applying for this card. Does it make sense to book the tickets now, and then cancel the second ticket (since SW has free cancellations) once we get the companion pass and then rebook using the companion ticket so we make sure there’s availability then? Or better just to wait? I wasn’t sure if my logic made sense. Thanks in advance!
Do you have the points to book 2 tickets now?
When using the CP, can I book three passengers, one of which is on the CP? I.e. me, wife, and kid? Or would I technically have to make two separate bookings – I.e. one for me and kid, and one for wife? That would affect whether to list the kid or wife as the companion..
When I book companion pass tickets for my husband when we fly as a family, I have to buy the tickets for myself and my children. Then make a second reservation for my husband’s free companion pass ticket. I do this online without the help of a rep. Maybe a rep can add them all on one?
You book 2 tickets, one for you, and one for the person not listed on the CP. You will then add your companion to your specific itinerary in the “My Trips” section as long as there’s an open seat on the plane at the time of adding your companion.
BTW if anyone applied for the 2 cards when they had the 60,000 promotion for everyone until about 2 weeks ago and got denied, call the number on the denial letter. They told me I was denied because of applying for 2 cards at once but were able to reconsider and approve me for both. I got the original promo even though it’s not available anymore.
Is there a way to check if I had the SW card before? Also, easy way to check if I’m over 5/24? Thx
(ii) previous cardmembers of any Rapid Rewards Credit Card who received a new cardmember bonus for a Rapid Rewards Credit Card within the last 24 months.”
Emphasis on “who have received a new cardmember bonus… within the last 24 months”
You’re fine as long as you haven’t earned the bonus in the last 2 years.
As for 5/24, Chase will show you through their credit journey tool. You should be able to do this from memory though.
Live in Houston and have CP it’s awesome! Why would they give a free companion pass? And only to CA residents? What’s the catch?
So to understand how it works: say I apply for the card and my wife apply for the card separate. In case both of us got approved, two of our children could fly free when me and my wife by tickets?
Yes.
Awesome, thanks
I called and switched my RR account address because I actually do live in CA now. Do I have to wait to apply for the card or Can I apply now?
Does the companion pass kick in right away after I spend a dollar or do I have to wait 3 month or even a billing cycle for it to kick in
just got denied for 5/24. anyway around this?
Ok, I got my card yesterday and spent my first $1. How do I make sure I got the companion pass?
Second that question. How do we get the companion pass, once we fulfill the requirements?
I’ve actually called SW and they transferred me to Chase: their representative told me it would take up to 8 weeks for the ComPanion pass to get approved (I guess the chase need to wait to the end of the closing statement date and then transfer approval to SW) but then on the SW side it will also take up to 15 days to designate the Companion. BTW it’s all in the small letters on the CC terms and conditions when you applied. So basically we will not see CP before 2018 start. I read on another forum that some people are trying to call Chase to try to move the statement closing date sooner and then pay it off to expedite the process and then call SW and ask to expedite the CP on SW side – not sure if it works.
Unfortunately, my CP ends 12/31/17. I would like to get it again but would not be able to do so with the credit cards process because i have both cards already. Besides buying airline tickets, any other way to get that $110,000 points for the CP for 2018.
Thanks for this. We got the card. My q is when you add a secondary card does that card also earn points? Also, supposedly Southwest is flying to more exotic places (Mexico, Caribbean, Hawaii?) now but I can’t seem to find those flights – any idea why?
Got my companion pass today.
Thanks for your post!
same here – got companion pass when first statement closed
I see that the offer ends 11/30. I applied , but do i need to spend a 1$ before 11/30 or just to have applied for the card by then to recieve the companion pass?
Thanks Dan, I got my wife and I approved…Children will have fun with us 🙂
I forgot about this and applied at 5:15am PT this morning with DD’s link. The southwest link with the cc application still works but my app is under further review. Hopefully, I can still get the companion pass.
@dan somehow is this offer still available
regarding free companion pass if you earn 110,000 points in a year from select sources, does the annual fee count towards the 110,000?