I wasn’t really planning on trying for companion fare for 2023/2024. In September I had acquired the Chase Freedom Unlimited card, mostly for the 15-month zero interest intro offer (plus $200). We had some home improvements planned and the 0% on purchases would be a great benefit. But then Chase offered a 75,000 Rapid Rewards (RR) points personal card, a 60,000 RR points business card and started crediting 20,000 RR points for referral.

I obtained the personal card in mid-November 2022 and got the business card shortly thereafter. Getting approved for the personal card actually got me to the 5/24 Chase limit but I was still approved for the business card a couple days later. I should have applied for the business card first. Fortunately it worked out.

On both the SWA cards, I did most of the spending in 2022. I made sure the final spending to get me to the $3000 spend required on each card happened in early January. It isn’t clearly stated in the T+C, but even though my closing date was January 7th on one card and January 14th on the other card, I believe if I would have completed the spending in late December ( even though part of the current billing cycle), those points toward companion fare would have occurred in 2022, not 2023).

So, as of January 18th, I have companion fare for 1 year, 11 months and 13 days. I earned 135,000 RR points from sign up bonuses. Add that to my accumulated balance and I have about 275,000 points and almost 2 years to use them. Plus, referrals now earn 20,000 RR points. And if you have a Chase SWA card on account on January 1st, you get 10,000 points towards Companion fare ( but not points to use for air travel.

Let’s say you want to start now to get companion fare. A personal and a business card will get you there. Or get a personal card (75,000 RR points), the new card companion point boost (10,000 companion points), complete the $3,000 spend (3000 RR points). Get 3 referrals (20,000 RR point each) and you are there. Also, the SWA Shopping portal sometimes has some great points offers. I have seen as high as 30 points per dollar spent.
It’s a great time to get companion fare on Southwest. And if you need a referral, you can email me at [email protected] I will give you half of the referral bonus gift card value once the referral bonus hits my account. The current bonus is 20,000 RR points, which could be used for $200 in gift cards on the SWA shopping portal. I would send you $100.