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How I used my Southwest credit card to fly (almost) free

Kendall Little
·Senior Writer, Credit Cards
Updated 4 min read

Southwest recently announced a new welcome offer for its co-branded credit cards with Chase: For a limited time, you can earn both Companion Pass (through Feb. 2025) and 30,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 within the first three months.*

*This offer expired 3/12/24; new cardmembers can earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

This isn’t the first time Southwest Airlines has offered such a great deal. I took advantage of a similar offer just last year — and it helped me save over $600 on my summer travel plans.

Here’s how I did it, and how a travel credit card from Southwest can get you similar savings this year.

Check out Yahoo's roundup of available credit card welcome offers and bonuses

All three Southwest Rapid Rewards personal credit cards offer Companion Pass as part of their welcome bonuses, so choosing the card that best fits your needs is important.

For me, that was the Southwest Rapid Rewards? Plus Credit Card. I could get 2x rewards on regular purchases like local transit, streaming subscriptions, and my internet and phone bills. And because I don’t always travel to destinations serviced by Southwest, the lower $69 annual fee was a draw.

When the Southwest Companion Pass offer was announced last year, my partner and I were already saving for an upcoming summer trip. We’re based in New York City and we planned to fly to Denver for a wedding, then on to Portland, Oregon for a few days before returning to New York.

The trip was in June, which gave me a short window to both earn the offer and book the trip, if I wanted to book far enough in advance to avoid potential last-minute price increases.

While we don’t typically combine finances, my partner and I decided to work together to meet the spending requirement. I applied for the card, and designated him as an authorized user on the account.

We spent the next few weeks putting all of our regular spending on the card, still making sure to pay off the balances before they were due. This included everything from weekly groceries to dining out to subway rides, Ubers, and even a replacement sneaker purchase.

It was also tax season, so we put a portion of federal taxes owed onto the card, too. While this isn’t always a great choice (because of the fees associated with paying taxes with a credit card) it can be useful if you’re working toward a bonus.

In under two months, we earned the welcome offer — which meant we had over 30,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points and a Companion Pass when it was time to book airfare.

In March, I booked two one-way flights for two people: One from New York City to Denver, and another from Denver to Portland, Oregon (our final flight back home was booked in advance).

In total, we paid 26,805 Rapid Rewards points and $11.20 each for taxes and fees. So our total cost in cash was just $22.40. Not bad for a cross-country trip!

First Southwest booking
Second southwest booking

But how much did we actually save?

I’m not exactly sure of the dollar value of our flights, but the same itinerary this year is currently $347.97, with a similar points value.

southwest booking info

That’s just for one ticket, not the two we booked. The real cost without the Companion Pass bonus, would be about double, or $695.94. So looking at direct cash payments, we saved approximately $673.54. Even if you count the $69 Rapid Rewards Plus card annual fee, our savings still amount to $604.54.

Of course, we spent much more than $600 to earn this welcome offer in the first place. The key, though, was that we only made purchases we were already planning to, regardless of the new card. With that in mind, here are a few things I would recommend to anyone considering the current Southwest credit card offer:

  • Make sure you fly Southwest often: While it was great to have Companion Pass for the remainder of the year, we actually weren’t able to use it many more times after our big trip. Southwest Airlines is great for traveling throughout some parts of the U.S., but it isn’t always the best airline for our specific travel plans. As a result, we weren’t able to renew our Companion Pass for 2024.

  • Know the risks: Using two cards under one user account was a great way to pool our funds and meet the spending requirement in time. If you choose a similar route, make sure you use the card responsibly. Timely payments and a low credit utilization can help both credit scores and keep you from negatively impacting your credit history.

  • Check your budget: Before opening any new card account, make sure the spending requirement is within your budget. If scoring the welcome offer requires you to overspend — and take on a high-interest balance — it’ll likely cost you more than you’ll save over the long run.

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