Southwest Airlines’ Companion Pass is one of the best travel perks in the industry. With the pass, a friend or family member can fly with you for free (plus taxes and fees) on Southwest flights an unlimited number of times until the pass expires. While this might seem like one of those “too good to be true” scenarios, it’s completely legit and just as good as it sounds. In fact, I’ve personally been a Companion Pass holder for almost 15 years.
Once the pass is earned, it’s valid through Dec. 31 of the following calendar year (as long as it’s earned through the traditional method and not during a special promotion). This gives you up to two years to use the pass, offering many opportunities for your designated companion to fly with you on your next trip.
Related: How to earn the Southwest Companion Pass
But did you know that you don’t have to fly with the same companion on each and every flight? Southwest lets you change your companion up to three times per calendar year — and that is in addition to the initial selection of your companion. And since your pass is typically valid over the course of two calendar years, this allows up to seven people to fly with you for free.
And while changing your designated companion has always been a slight nuisance, Southwest just made it significantly easier. Up until recently, you’d have to call Southwest and request a change. But now, changing your companion can be done all on your own, right within your Southwest account.
Changing your Southwest Companion Pass
As of September, Southwest is making it significantly easier to change your companion. Initially, when you earn the pass, you have the opportunity to designate a companion. There’s no change to this process, and identifying your initial companion can be done online through your Southwest account or over the phone with Southwest directly.
However, you can now also make changes to your pass online. Previously, the only option was to call Southwest. While the actual process only took the agent a few minutes, it would typically require a lengthy wait on hold, depending on the time of day.
To change your Southwest Companion Pass online, you’ll first want to sign in to your Southwest account either through the app or online. From there, you’ll see your Companion Pass information, with the option to change your companion. Within your account, it’ll also tell you how many more times you can change your companion this year, which is incredibly helpful.
Related: How to earn and use the Southwest Companion Pass
Once you select the option to change your companion, you’ll then have to fill out your companion’s information. Again, you’ll be notified of the number of companion changes you have left for the calendar year.
However, the big issue that you’ll notice is that there’s nowhere to enter your companion’s Southwest Rapid Rewards number. Reports indicate that Southwest will automatically create a new Rapid Rewards number for the traveler, and for most, this isn’t a problem — even if they already have a Rapid Rewards account. This is because when you fly as a companion, you don’t receive points for your flights anyway, so not having the flight tied to your account isn’t a huge issue. However, your companion won’t be able to see the flight details in their account, which could be bothersome to some.
But the main issue is that if your companion has Southwest A-List or A-List Preferred status, they won’t receive any perks during your trip.
And while you can always call Southwest to have it tie the correct Rapid Rewards number to the account, reports have shown that this method requires the agent to change your designated companion again, counting toward one of your three companion changes for the year.
If you want to ensure that the correct Rapid Rewards account is tied to your new companion, your best bet is to call Southwest directly at 800-435-9792 and avoid the online process. Hopefully, the option to add your companion’s Rapid Rewards number online will be added sooner rather than later.
Related: 15 lessons from 15 years of having the Southwest Companion Pass
Things to know when switching your Southwest companion
Despite being a true no-strings-attached pass, there are some things to know along the way to set you up for success. For starters, your designated companion can repeat themselves. So let’s say Joe is your initial companion and you are looking to fly with him in January and September, but you want your friend Sarah to fly with you in between the two flights in March. You are able to change your companion to Sarah and back to Joe again, but it’ll still count as a change.
Additionally, the individual listed must be your companion both at the time of booking and at the time of travel. So, with the example above, you won’t be able to change your companion to Sarah until after your flight with Joe is complete. And, if you already added Joe as a companion to your flight later in the year, you’ll need to cancel Joe’s flight before you change your companion to Sarah. Once your flight with Sarah is complete, you can then add Joe back on as your companion.
Just be mindful that there has to be at least one seat available for purchase when it comes to booking a companion ticket. If you’re booking during peak travel times, you’ll want to add your companion as soon as possible. To ensure your companion has a seat at a later time, while you have another designated companion, you can always book the passenger a seat with points to “save” their seat and then change it to a companion booking once that passenger is designated as a companion. And in the rare situation when the flight is sold out before a companion is added to the flight, keep on checking as there’s a very high probability that a seat will ultimately become available.
Bottom line
I’m glad to see that Southwest now allows travelers to change their passes online and avoid a potentially lengthy hold time on the phone. Being able to see how many changes you are still allowed is also huge and can allow you to prepare for the year. However, there are still some kinks in the process when it comes to not being able to add your companion’s Rapid Rewards number. Hopefully, this will be fixed in the near future, but for now, there’s still the option to call if you need the correct account tied to the ticket.
