How Companion Pass has saved us $1,200 this year

As I looked over my travels of the past year, I cannot help but notice just how much money the Southwest Companion Pass has saved my family. I firmly believe that the Southwest Companion Pass is the best airfare deal and is singularly the most helpful benefit to make travel more accessible to families. This year I have been on a total of seven Southwest flights, all of which I flew as the companion, saving thousands of dollars. We got the Companion Pass as a signup bonus for the Southwest Priority Credit Card, and this article will explain just how much value we received in one year on a flight-by-flight basis.

Also, please note that I will be mentioning the cash ticket price for these tickets because that is how much money the pass saved us, not the miles value.

DCA-MSY Round Trip

We received the pass in February and used the pass for the first time a few weeks later. While my mom was the companion, my dad took her on a trip to New Orleans one weekend in March. One way, this flight would have been $150, so the pass saved $300 on that trip.

BWI-CUN One Way

For spring break, we headed south to the beaches of Mexico. The flights would have been $225 one way. Because we only flew one way on Southwest, the total for the free ticket is $225.

DCA-STL-LAX One Way

After school ended for summer last year, I followed my dad to LA when he was going on a business trip. The cost of the one way ticket would have been $270.

SNA-DEN One Way

On the way back from that same trip, my dad needed to stop in Denver before continuing home. The ticket price would have been $160.

DCA-PVD Round Trip

On a trip to Maine, we flew Southwest to Providence. Although you can regularly get this flight for $59 one way, for our flight times it ended up being $100 one way. The total price saved here was $200.

BUF-BWI One Way

For this trip, I went to upstate New York with my dad on a business trip. Before this flight I reviewed The Club Lounge at BUF. I flew into Ithaca on United, so this ticket was only one way. Fittingly, the last flight of the year that I used the companion pass was on the flight that my dad requalified for companion pass for 2020. Without the Companion Pass on this flight, it would have cost $120.

The distance of the seven flights added up to a total of 5,541 miles, all for only the cost of the taxes and fees. If I had paid for these flights without using any points, the cost would have been $1,275. Once you subtract the cost of the seven $5.60 fees for every one-way domestic segment and the $34.50 for international taxes and fees, the Companion Pass saved us roughly $1,200. There are definitely a number of flights that I would not have taken if we had not had the pass. The value of the pass in 2019 is close to $1,200. Not bad for a sign up bonus for one credit card, especially once you factor in the additional 30,000 points we earned. Unfortunately, Companion Pass as a sign up bonus is no longer an offer.

You can get a shortcut to a Companion Pass without having to get to its crazy high milestones by signing up for a credit card. The sign up bonus and the points earned on the card both count towards the 110,000 points or next year’s 125,000 points required for the pass. Checkout my article Why Southwest Companion Pass is the Best Deal in Airfare to learn more. Southwest has five cards as follows:

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Credit Card

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Credit Card

There is no limit to how much you can save with the Companion Pass. If you are a frequent business flier and decide that you want to bring your significant other with you on every trip, you could potentially save tens of thousands of dollars.