The Travel Hackers editorial team maintains this independent guide. We check program claims against linked Southwest and Chase terms, date reviews, label estimates, and disclose referral relationships. We do not claim to speak for the airline or card issuer.
How we research this guide
We start with Southwest’s program rules and Chase’s application terms. We use blogs and community posts for practical questions, then check the rules against official sources. Follow the links below to check the details for your account.
We review this guide monthly and show the date of our latest check. Some page content and personalized offers can change between checks. The offer you see when applying may differ from the one we reviewed.
Official rules and product pages
- Southwest: Companion Pass overview and qualifications
- Southwest: Rapid Rewards program terms
- Southwest: 2026 year-end qualification and posting guide
- Chase: Southwest credit-card comparison
- Chase: Southwest Plus card and offer terms
- Chase: Premier Business card and offer terms
- Chase: Performance Business card and offer terms
- Southwest: Rapid Rewards debit-card benefits
- Southwest debit card: eligibility, earning and bonus terms
- Southwest: optional travel charges and Companion bag benefits
- Southwest: Cash + Points earning rules
- Southwest: managing Companion Pass reservations
- Southwest: changing a flight and Basic fare restrictions
- Southwest: August 2026 promotional Companion Pass announcement
- Chase: July 2025 card-benefit changes
- Chase: business credit cards for sole proprietors
- Chase: filling out a business-card application
- Chase: Southwest Refer-A-Friend program
- IRS: paying taxes by card and current processor fees
How we use community information
The r/churning Companion Pass wiki helps identify practical questions about timing, application patterns and booking. We distinguish those observations from issuer policy. Community experiences don’t guarantee approval, bonus eligibility or a particular posting date. We don’t reproduce the wiki or recommend retired two-personal-card workarounds.
Examples, projections and card offers
The examples show how the points and costs add up. The calculators use your entries. Dates for 2027–2028 assume the current rules continue, so recheck them before starting a future-year plan.
The examples aren’t accounts of trips we’ve taken or savings we’ve personally earned. Some links can earn us a referral bonus; see our disclosure for details.
Review record
| Date | What was checked |
|---|---|
| October 4, 2026 | Companion Pass qualification targets, excluded points, card points-posting rules, annual credit-card boost, Chase’s five published Southwest card offers and annual fees. |
| October 4, 2026 | Chase Southwest referral link: returned HTTP 200 and loaded the Southwest Rapid Rewards credit-card offers page. |
Photography and product imagery
Travel photography is from Pexels and used under the Pexels license. The Southwest card-fan image is provided by Chase. Images are illustrative and don’t imply endorsement.
- Airplane Wing by Jaime Burung (hero photo).
- An Airplane in Flight by Jeffry Surianto (also used for the social preview image).
- Wing of Airplane Flying over Rocky Mountains by James Davis.
- Plane over a Freeway by Soly Moses.
- Southwest card-fan image from Chase.
- Commercial Airplane Flying against Blue Sky by David Brown.
When sources disagree
Follow the offer you see when applying, the terms of your promotion or booking, and the activity shown in your account. If they differ from this guide, check with Chase or Southwest before spending.