The Ultimate Guide to the Southwest Companion Pass

Date last updated: 02/13/2022 – NEW PROMOTION COMPANION PASS UNTIL 3/14/22, ONLY NEED TO OPEN 1 SOUTHWEST PERSONAL CREDIT CARD AND SPEND $5K SPEND TO RECEIVE COMPANION PASS, 125k POINTS NOT REQUIRED. ONCE YOU EARN IT, THE COMPANION PASS WILL BE ACTIVE UNTIL 2/28/23

The Southwest Companion Pass is arguably the best kept not-so-secret in all of credit card churning IF you like to travel. So let’s get into it.

TLDR: Earn a Southwest Companion Pass by earning 125k points in a year. To do so, you will probably need to sign up for 2 SW credit cards and spend $8,000 on them total. But then your Companion will fly for free whenever you fly and only pay taxes (typically $5.60 each way). Once you earn the Companion Pass, it is good for the rest of that year and the entirety of the next calendar year. Ex. earn it in May 2022, you will have the pass from May 2022 until December 31 2023. I do recommend reading this post in its entirety because there are a lot of things to keep in mind.

Warning: this is a lot of information but this is everything you would ever need to know about the Companion Pass. I use referral links throughout this post. If this post has helped you in any way, please consider applying to the SW credit cards through my link, that way I can be rewarded for referring you. I would greatly appreciate it 😃.

Feel free to ask questions in the comments.

What is a Companion Pass?

Think of it like BOGO free flights, but only designated person (companion) you fly with gets the free flight.

A Companion Pass is specific to Southwest (SW) Airlines and it allows the Companion Pass holder to choose 1 Companion to fly with them for free, just add taxes ($5.60 each way domestically). Think of it like BOGO free flights, but only the designated person (companion) you fly with gets the free flight. Your Companion can be anyone, any age and you can change it up to 3 times a calendar year. You can use cash or points to book your ticket and you can add your companion by just paying the taxes by cash. There are no blackout dates or destination restrictions (yes you can take your Companion to Cabo for Christmas!). Once you earn the Companion Pass, it is good for the remainder of that calendar year AND the next full calendar year. Ideally, one would want to time the Companion Pass to be earned in January every other year. I have been a Companion Pass holder since 2018 and I have saved thousands annually using it, flying 10-20 flights a year.

Only caveat: the Companion only flies for free IF the person was flying the same flight as the Companion Pass Holder. If the Companion gets on the plane first, and the Companion Pass Holder has an emergency and can’t get on the flight, the Companion will be removed flight the flight prior to take-off unless the Companion purchases an actual ticket.

PS. You can not transfer a Companion Pass. For example, if you earned a Companion Pass and you would like to gift it to your parents so your dad can be the Companion Pass holder and your mom his Companion, it is not possible. The Companion Pass is tied to your Southwest account number and you can not gift it to someone. What you can do is have your dad open up the SW credit card(s) and you can just put the minimum spend on it and pay it off so your parents can enjoy the pass with minimum effort.

In what situations would a Companion Pass be beneficial?

First things first, are you okay with flying Southwest as much as you can for the next 2 years instead of another airline? That means counting down the seconds to 24 hours before your flight to get a good boarding position (if you don’t have Southwest A-List status), no assigned seating (you pick your seat when you get on the plane, first coke first serve), flying strictly economy, no outlet plugs, but with the benefit of 2 free checked bags per passenger per flight and free cancellations up to 10 minutes before plane departure. I think of Southwest as above Spirit and Frontier, but below Delta and United.

Before you proceed any further please check ahead and see if Southwest even flies to the airports you want to fly to.  Also check if Southwest has ideal flight times for you (non-stop or 1 stop, check the list view here) and by that I mean actually look up flights to book on the days of the week you would fly. If your main airport is not a Southwest hub but a hub for another airline, then this may not be the best option for you. My friend’s sister got a Companion Pass and then found out she lives 3 hours from the nearest Southwest serviced airport. Also keep in mind Southwest only flies internationally to Mexico (Cancun, Cozumel, San Jose del Cabo, Puerto Vallarta), Jamaica (Montego Bay), Aruba, Costa Rica (San Jose and Liberia), Puerto Rico (San Juan), Turks and Caicos, Bahamas (Nassau), Dominican Republic (Punta Cana), Cuba (Havana), Cayman Islands (Grand Cayman), Belize (Belize City). They do not fly to Canada, the closest airport is Bellingham, WA which is 50 miles from Vancouver, BC.

If you have gotten past the above 2 paragraphs, here are my 2 cents: I only recommend getting a Companion Pass if you regularly fly with the same person e.g. a significant other, child, or travel buddy. This is because you can only change your Companion 3 times per calendar year. If you or your Companion are thinking about getting a pass, make sure the person that flies the most a year is the Companion Pass Holder. I think the Companion Pass is most beneficial if you either live near a Southwest Hub and/or you plan on flying with your Companion at least 3 roundtrips a year. Southwest’s main Hubs are ATL, BWI, MDW, DAL, DEN, HOU, LAS, LAX, OAK, MCO, and PHX. There are also some minor hubs, please check the list view on this page to see what options you have at your airport. I live near BWI and I can fly non-stop to most Southwest serviced destinations. I used to in Albany (ALB) and the only non-stop flight I could really get back then was to Baltimore (BWI). As for the 3 roundtrip flights, it is a rough estimate to get at least $600 value a year; that is my cutoff since getting the pass is bit of an effort.

How do you get a Companion Pass?

You have 3 options: you need to either fly 100 qualifying one-way flights OR earn a short-term Companion Pass through a limited time promotion OR earn 125,000 qualifying points in 1 calendar year.

Flying 100 flights a year is not doable for probably 95% of people, this is like flying a round-trip flight every week. Read more on this here.

The 2nd option is to earn it through a promotion. There is currently a promotion going on right now until 3/14/22 for a companion pass that will be active until 2/28/23 (about 1 year of use)!! All you need to do is sign up for any of the Southwest personal cards using this link before end of 3/14/22 and charge $5,000 to it within 3 months.  After you meet the $5,000 threshold, you will earn your Companion Pass and 30k SW points. There is no requirement to earn 125k SW points to earn your Companion Pass. This is MUCH easier than the typical route of opening up up to 2 SW cards and needing to spend up to $95k just to earn the 125k points required! Now is absolutely the time to sign up for any of the Southwest personal credit cards so you can easily take advantage of the offer and try out the companion pass before fully committing to the more difficult route to obtain a 2 year companion pass.

Your companion pass will activate after the statement closing date of the statement in which you hit the $5,000 total spent threshold AND you will receive 30,000 SW points. This will likely be the only promotional 1 year companion you will see until next year. Don’t wait, once it is gone, it is gone! Read more on this here.

Most of us Companion Pass holders use the 3rd option, earning 125,000 qualifying Rapid Rewards RR Points. These types of RR points count towards the 125,000:

• Points earned from revenue flights (aka not booked with RR points)
• Points earned from SW credit cards. Sign-on bonus and referral bonuses are included! Referral bonuses are 20k points each right now until 6/30/2022; normally 10k each.
• Base points earned from RR partners: hotels and car rentals booked through Southwest, dining at Rapid Rewards restaurants, shopping through Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal. This can be quite lucrative, especially the hotel bookings. I have never tried getting SW points this way and I think it takes much more effort than getting points through a SW credit card. If you are short on points and  you may want to give this a try. Keep in mind it can take 8-12 weeks for some of the points to show up.

There are also types of points do not count towards Companion Pass: Read more on this here.

There are many ways to earn 125k RR Points but there is only 1 way to earn it in a zip: get 1 or 2 Southwest credit cards. You can easily earn 125,000 points by getting 1 personal Southwest credit card and 1 business Southwest credit card and earning the credit card sign-on bonuses. It is much harder now to earn the Companion Pass by only opening 1 personal SW card since only the 40k standard offer is available, you really got to have a SW business card in the mix to make it a lower spend requirement.

You can pick whichever combination of cards or solo card that works for you, as long as you earn 125,000 points in within 1 calendar year. Points earned from Southwest credit cards and sign-on bonuses are posted to your Southwest account usually within 3 days AFTER the statement closing date of your credit card. The earliest the points will show up is the day AFTER your statement closes.

Before you apply for a new credit card, please note the following 2 very important restrictions on opening a SW card and earning the sign-on bonus.

Chase Southwest Credit Card restrictions

1. 5/24 rule: Southwest credit cards are Chase credit cards and you will be flat out denied if you apply for any Chase credit card, personal or business, if you have opened 5 personal credit cards in the last 24 months. This is known as the 5/24 rule. Read more on this here.
   If you remotely think you have opened 4 or more cards in the last 2 years please check your credit report beforehand for the specific dates to make sure otherwise you will waste a hard pull on your credit report if Chase checks it (pro tip: make an excel sheet). You can apply for a new Chase credit card the day after you are under 5 credit cards opened in the last 24 months.
2. 24 month restriction
   1. Sign-on bonuses on personal SW credit cards are only available to you if you do not have any personal SW card currently and have not received a new Cardmember bonus for any personal SW card in the past 24 months.
   2. Sign-on bonuses on business SW credit cards are available to you if you do not have that same card currently and have not received a new Cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months.
   3. Read more on this here.
      This means if you currently have any personal Southwest credit card or you received a sign-on bonus from any personal Southwest credit card within the last 24 months, you can’t get another sign-on bonus for 24 months even if it is a different personal Southwest card (ex. Priority vs. Premier). However, if you have a personal card or got the bonus from a personal card in the last 24 months, you are still eligible for the sign-on bonus from the business card and vice versa. Think of personal restrictions separate from business restrictions and vice versa.

      1. If you currently have any personal Southwest credit cards and you would like to open another personal Southwest credit card, close it before you plan on opening a new one. Same goes with the business Southwest credit card if you want to open another business Southwest card.. Don’t even think about keeping it open if you want to get a Companion Pass.
      2. If you have previously opened a Southwest credit card in the last 28 months and you earned a sign-on bonus, you need to find out the exact date the bonus hit your Southwest account. Check your points activity on your Southwest account. It will give you the dates. Can’t see it? Call Southwest, ask them the date a large amount of dates hit your account. I had to call them before when I couldn’t find it online.
         1. Found the date? Great. Add another 3 days to the posting date just to be safe, and then add 2 years to that date. That is the next time you can start to apply for another Southwest card and get the sign-on bonus.
         2. Got both the personal and business card and can’t tell which card posted the bonus on which date? Go find your statement closing date in your credit card statements and line up which card it was. Southwest customer service can’t tell which card the points came from.

      

SW credit card options to get to obtain a Companion Pass

Here are the current Southwest credit card sign-on bonus options (here is a breakdown of what benefits each card has):

Only open 1 SW card

• Any one of the SW personal cards ($5k spend required). This is the most convenient option and is only available for sign up until 3/14/22 so do not wait. This only comes around once a year.
  • WARNING: this is not the full 2 year companion pass! However you can still get the full 2 years if you earn 125k points in a single calendar year. See the business card + personal card option below under “Open 2 SW cards”
  • After the statement closing date in which you met the $5k minimum spend threshold, you will earn your Companion Pass that will be active until 2/28/23 and you will get 30,000 points that never expire.
• Any one of the SW personal cards ($4k-$95k spend required). This is not a viable option for most people. They currently all have the same standard offer (40k point sign-on bonus after $1k spend within 3 months). If you only spend to the minimum spend for the bonus, you will have at a minimum of 41k RR points. I say minimum because I don’t know if your purchases was 2x or 3x points. See personal credit card chart for bonus point category information.
  • At 41k RR points, you will still need to spend another $94k 🙄 if you only make purchases in the 1x point category. So in order to meet the 125k RR points, you may actually need to spend $95k in one calendar year.
  • Or you can refer 5 friends to get any SW credit card using your link and you will receive 20k RR points for each friend when they are approved. Now you are at 141k points.
  • Or perhaps you buy do all your shopping through the SW shopping portal and you book all your hotels through SW as well. Might take LOT of shopping to get to 94k bonus points.
• SW Business Performance card ($5k-$45k spend required) – 80k point sign-on bonus after $5k spend within 3 months.
  • That means you should plan to spend another $40k on top of the minimum spend for a total of $45k in order to earn 125k points
  • Or you get the sign-on bonus for $5k spend and refer 2 friends to get any SW credit card for 20k RR points each and now you have 125k points
• SW Business Premier card ($5k-$65k spend required) – 60k point sign-on bonus after $3k spend within 3 months.
  • That means you should plan to spend another $62k on top of the minimum spend for a total of $65k in order to earn 125k points
  • Or you get the sign-on bonus for $5k spend, refer 3 friends to get any SW credit card for 20k RR points each, and spend another $5k to get to 125k points

Open 2 SW cards

• Any 2 different SW personal cards ($4k-47k spend required) You must do what is called the modified double dip (MDD) aka apply for both cards 1 day apart. This is an okay choice, I have never done it because I think MDD is risky and I don’t want to poke the bear or waste a hard pull in case the 2nd card is denied. I would only do this if I don’t have a ton of other Chase credit cards already.
  • Spend $1k on each card ($2k total), earn two 40k bonuses AND spend another $45k combined on either card, earn 45k more points. Now you have 125k points by spending $47k. This is still not doable for most people
  • Spend $1k on each card ($2k total), earn two 40k bonuses AND spend another $3k on combined on either card for 3k RR points AND refer 2 friends to get any SW credit card using your link for two 20k referral bonuses. Now you are at 125k points for $5k spend. Okay now this is doable.
  • Spend $1k on each card ($2k total), earn two 40k bonuses AND (spend more $$$$ on either SW card AND/OR do a lot of shopping using the RR shopping portal and book enough hotels through SW to make up another 43k RR points)
• Any 1 of the SW business cards and any 1 of the SW personal cards ($15k-$35k spend). You do NOT need to do the MDD for these because they follow different sign-on bonus restrictions. If you choose this route, apply for the business card first. Chase has a 1 card application per 30 day rule (known as 1/30) in order to get a business card, but not for personal cards. This is not a hard-rule but it is very likely you will be denied. I forgot about this once and I was somehow approved but I don’t want you to push your luck.
  • SW Business Premier (60k points for 3k spend) + any SW personal card (30k points for 5k spend) = 98k points
    • You still need to spend another $27k for a total of $35k spent.
    • Or refer a friend for 20k referral bonus AND spend another $7k on either card and now you have 125k points for $15k spend.
  • SW Business Performance (80k points for 5k spend) + any SW personal card (30k points for 5k spend) + 5k spend on either card = 125k points for $15k spend. This is my personal preferred option and what I have done for the past 2 Companion Passes and what I am doing for my 3rd. Usually this amounts to 125k points at only $6k spend but since offer for the personal cards are only 30k points right now, I would hold off until the promotion is over (3/14/22) if you really want it for 2 years and don’t need the Pass ASAP.
• 2 SW business cards, one of each (Premier and Performance) ($8k spend). Again, no MDD is needed because having the Business Premier card does not restrict you from getting the Business Performance card sign-on bonus and vice versa. You cannot get 2 of the same SW business card. If you choose this option, you need to space out the applications for these cards at least 30 days apart due to the 1/30 due.
  • SW Business Premier (60k points for 3k spend) + SW Business Performance (80k points for 5k spend) = 140k points for $8k spend.

Doing the math

Confused by my math? Here is how you figure out how many points you’ll earn from a credit card:

• Sign-on bonus + dollars spent = points. I know there are 2x and 3x point categories for the cards but I do not recommend putting those numbers in hypothetically to figure out your spending requirements. If you end up not spending as you expected in the 2x and 3x categories, you may fall short. So calculate your spending as all 1x category.

How do you calculate how much you have spent towards the minimum spend?

• As directly copy and pasted from the offer terms: “Purchases” do not include balance transfers, cash advances, travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, wire transfers or similar cash-like transactions, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions, any checks that access your account, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, and fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable.
• This means, DO NOT SUBTRACT RETURNS FROM YOUR CALCULATIONS. You have no idea how many people thought returns would not count towards the minimum spend and they end up accidentally spending too much right before January 1st, therefore end up with either no Companion Pass or timing the Companion pass to just December + 12 months instead of getting it for 24 months.
  • This also means, yes, you can cheat your way to the minimum spend if you just buy a lot of expensive things and just return them. Chase is not known to claw back points for returns however, don’t abuse it. Abusing things ruins it for everybody.
• So: purchases – annual fee – interest charges = how much you’ve spent. There should also be a chart showing you how much you have spent towards the sign-on bonus when you login to Chase.

How do you best time the points to get a Companion Pass early in the year?

Get the credit card(s) within 3 months before January 1st and do not meet the minimum spend for the card until you are in the statement cycle that ends in January or later. I would personally time meeting the minimum spend in the statement closing in January and change the closing date to as close to January 1st, but not before January 1st. I know points post the DAY after your statement ends but it is too risky to do a 12/31 statement closing date in case SOMETHING goes wrong. This is how you can get the SW Companion Pass for basically all of 2022 and 2023.

For 2022, I had a 1/1/22 closing date for 2 SW cards. One posted the points 1/3/22, the other 1/5/22. The Companion Pass did not kick in until 1/7/22 morning. I contacted SW to see if I can get Companion Pass on 1/5/22 but was told there is no way to rush the computer processing of it. Other people that also had 1/1/22 closing date had their points post 1/3/22 and received Companion Pass on 1/5/22.

You can start getting the credit card(s) starting in October since you have 3 months (90 days) to meet the bonus. Unofficially you usually have 115 days actually but sometimes they enforce the 90 days (you can always send a secure message to find out when you must meet the minimum spend by). Getting the credit card(s) now allow you more time to meet the sign-on bonus before January, but keep in mind to leave yourself a couple hundred dollars of threshold so you actually meet the minimum spend in the statement that closes in January. Do not only leave $50 as your threshold because chances are you may accidentally over charge your card and meet the minimum early. There are too many people that have made that mistake; leave yourself a couple hundred dollars as threshold.

Another reason to get one of the personal SW cards now is because the 100k offer ends 12/1/2021! Normally the offer is only 40k points max.

The most important thing you need to know in terms of timing is that SW points earned from credit cards post to your SW account within 3 days after statement closing (not 6-8 weeks). Even if you meet the minimum spend on day 1 of opening the card, you will not get the points until your statement closes which is typically 30 days from opening.

You must not meet your minimum spend until you are within the statement cycle that ends in January.  Statement closes January 15th and you would like it to close earlier? Just call Chase. Keep in mind they usually can’t change your current statement cycle to close earlier, however they can change FUTURE statement dates. This means that if it is December and you already had your December statement close date and you are just now calling to change your January statement close date, they will be unable to change it until February.

Didn’t get the credit card(s) before January? That’s okay, just get the card(s) and meet the 125k points as soon as you can, preferably before your next trip. It is important to get the points as early as you can in the year if you plan on getting the Companion Pass again in 2 years. Scroll down further to learn how to time it to earn another Companion Pass in 2 years.

What happens to the 125k Southwest points after you get Companion Pass?

You get to keep them! So if you do this you will get Companion Pass AND 125k points or however many more you earned. And guess what you get to use them to pay for flights, the only cash you need to fork out is the tax which is $5.60 one way for domestic flights; taxes range for international flights.

How much are Southwest points worth?

It varies. You can typically get 1.3-1.7 cents per point. The average I’ve seen is 1.48 cents per point. The higher the cents per point, the more your points are saving you cash-wise, and the better the redemption value. Anything 1.48 and above, I feel is good redemption value.

125k SW points can easily be worth $1850 if you value them at 1.48 cents per point. Obviously the value doubles to $3700 if you also use it with Companion Pass.

So how do you calculate the type of redemption value you are getting?

Example above: DCA to MCO flight costing $137.98 cash. Or 8,862 points plus $5.60 tax.

• To do the math, take the cash price, subtract the taxes you see on the points booking, then divide by the # of points. Don’t subtract the taxes you see on the cash booking because the numbers are different.
• In this case, ($137.98-$5.60)/8862=0.0149. So you are getting 1.49 cents per point redemption for this flight.

How do you decide which card to get?

Personal cards

*coverage up to $250,000 if you are approved for the Visa Platinum version instead of Visa Signature. You don’t get to choose this. This is entirely dependent on the credit limit Chase approves you with. If you get less than $5,000 credit limit you will receive Visa Platinum

** not available if you receive Visa Platinum instead of Visa Signature.

If I had to choose a personal SW card, I would pick would obviously pick the $149 option, SW Priority. $149 – $75 travel credit – $111 anniversary bonus = -$37 as in you get at least $186 value out of this card every year without even taking into account the sign-on bonus! Notice I did not put any value to the other benefits? That’s because I don’t care about them and I will never use them. Please go through and figure out what value each benefit has and if you will use it.

Business cards

If I had to choose a business SW card, I would pick would pick the $199 option, SW Performance Business. Here’s my math: $100 more annual fee than Premier Business – $296 more sign-on bonus value than Premier Business – $44.40 more anniversary bonus value – ($8×10 flights I will probably use wifi on) = -$221.40 as in I will get $221.40 more value out of this card than the Premier Business. Notice again I did not put any value to the other benefits? That’s because I don’t care about them and I will never use them. I have at least 5 other cards that give me Global Entry credit and I only have to renew my Global Entry every 5 years. Please go through and figure out what value each benefit has and if you will use it.

How to use the Companion Pass

Once you earn the 125k RR points, it may take 1-3 days for your Companion Pass to be processed through the computer system. Once you get the Companion Pass, you should see this when you are logged into SW and go to the My Account page:

Or get this email:

To set your Companion, go to My Account on SW and click on “Add your Companion”. Then this will pop up:

Make sure you don’t mistype your Companion’s name or birth date. To change your Companion, you must call Southwest by phone. Keep in mind you can only change your Companion 3 times max a year. There is no charge to this. Before you can change your Companion, you must cancel all the Companion tickets currently booked under your current Companion. Once the tickets are cancelled, you can then change your Companion. The change happens instantly after the customer service agent does it over the phone.

To add your Companion to your ticket, simply book a flight for yourself (the Companion Pass holder) and/or pull up your ticket and hit add Companion. Now you just need to pay the tax and voila! There are no blackout dates, destination restrictions or seat restrictions. Even if there is only a Business Select ticket left, you can still add a ticket for your Companion for only $5.60 each way unless it is an international flight (higher taxes).

Are you getting an error when you are trying to add your Companion to your ticket? Chances are there are no more seats left on the flight! No worries, people cancel Southwest flights ALL the time, around the clock. So just keep stalking it like every few minutes, it will eventually show up.

If you need to change your flight, you can not do so online unless you cancel your Companion ticket first. Once you finish changing your flight, just add your Companion again.

Things to know to get another 2 years of Companion Pass

Once you are in your second year of your Companion Pass, start planning ahead. Keep in mind the 2 Chase restrictions and make sure you are still eligible.

Here are some scenarios:

• You got the sign-on bonus for SW Priority personal card 1/1/2020 and you got the SW Performance Business card 1/15/20. This means you can’t sign up for another SW personal card until 1/1/2022 or for the SW Performance Business card 1/15/2022 in order to get another bonus. I would actually add another 3 days to that date just to be safe. So say you apply for SW Plus card and the SW Performance Business card 1/18/2022 and the sign-on bonuses add up to 130k points. You meet the bonus in 10 days, but your statements close 2/18/2022. You will get your new Companion Pass likely on 2/20/2022. Keep in mind if you keep doing this every 2 years, you will get the Companion Pass later and later every 2 years due to the 24 month restriction.
• You got the sign-on bonus for SW Priority personal card 6/1/2020. You only applied for 1 card and you spent a lot of money to meet the 125k points. Your Companion Pass ends 12/31/2021. You have a trip you want to take in February 2022 that you would like to take your Companion on for free. You can sign up for a new SW personal card starting 6/1/2022. You are eligible for both SW business bonuses since the business bonuses are not restricted whether or not you obtained a SW personal card bonus before. Since you want to take your companion on your February 2022 trip, you sign up for SW Premier Business and SW Performance Business cards 10/15/2021 so you can time getting the pass 1/15/2022.
• Same scenario as above, however, you do not want to get a business credit card, but you still want to get a free flight for a Companion February 2022. So, in order to get another Companion Pass, your companion decides to get the Companion Pass instead and make you their Companion. Your Companion has never had a SW card before and he/she is under 5/24 so he/she is the perfect candidate to get a Companion Pass for January 2022. This is super easy if your Companion is your spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend or sibling or parent. Not possible if your Companion is under 18 y.o. because he/she can’t get a credit card.
  • Caveat: your Companion is somewhat of a flake for travel or gets called into work last minute and tends to cancel last minute but you still like to go on the trip without your Companion. Well if your Companion is the new Companion holder, you better book your own flight on SW just in case your Companion cancels last minute so you aren’t without a flight. If you Companion goes decides to go on the trip, you can just cancel your ticket at least 10 minutes before flight departure and book a Companion Pass ticket.