Can a Companion Pass be revoked because of adjustments to your credit card bill?

[realst8ace]

I just earned a companion pass based on credit card purchases for 2023. It looks like I may be cancelling a trip that was charged to my card. Will the credit amount deduct rewards points and if so could this result in the companion pass being revoked if I fall below the 135K points earned?

[dfwskier]

Once points are issued, they  are yours forever. So neither the points or the pass would be revoked.

[DancingDavidE]

---

@realst8ace wrote:

I just earned a companion pass based on credit card purchases for 2023. It looks like I may be cancelling a trip that was charged to my card. Will the credit amount deduct rewards points and if so could this result in the companion pass being revoked if I fall below the 135K points earned?

---

1) you should be fine either way if this was a typically priced flight you have one more month of earning with a closing in December to earn more points. 

2) if the flight was WGA then you won't be getting any money back - you'll have a travel credit instead so the card won't be affected. 

3) the credit for flying (6x points for WGA for example) happens when you fly, so that isn't part of your CP qualification at all. 

I think they do have some opportunity to take it back due to refunds but in this case you may be fine anyway with one more month of spending, or depending on how you cancel the flight you may not actually be getting a cash refund.

If it is important to you, when you cancel the flight choose Travel Credit instead of a cash refund if you have a BS or Anytime fare.

[realst8ace]

Thanks for your reply. My possible cancellation would be for a cruise that was charged to a RR credit card. I don't think we will have enough additional charges to offset it. That's why I am asking.

[DancingDavidE]

---

@realst8ace wrote:

Thanks for your reply. My possible cancellation would be for a cruise that was charged to a RR credit card. I don't think we will have enough additional charges to offset it. That's why I am asking.

---

And you'll get a refund to your card for the cost of the cruise if you cancel?

Was it a Southwest Vacations cruise or an independent cruise that you used the SW Visa for?

Also to clarify if it is a sign-up bonus for spending which Chase doesn't take back or if it is remaining spend over the course of the year. 

You might be flagged if the balance of the card goes negative - for a normal ebb and flow I've never heard of anything like that happening. 

If you are talking some bigger numbers here then I'm not sure. 

I'm going to just make up some numbers here and you can adjust for yourself:

• If the cruise was $2,000 = 2,000 points I don't know if that would trigger a review of the account or not.  
• In order to make 2,000 points another way you can fly a business select fare as a points run or upgrade on some other flight you were already going to take with the 12x multiplier, 1 point per dollar on Southwest.com, and 1 point per dollar you'd have to spend $150 so that's well worth it for a companion pass.
• Here are some other qualifying activity in case any are matches for things you would have done anyway: https://www.southwest.com/html/rapidrewards/eoy-tier-communication.html
• I don't think we know for sure if they would look at the refund as ineligible or not, it might be fine. As you are getting into thousands of dollars it might get more scrutiny. 
• Even a $10,000 cruise would be offset on points by a $715 of Business Select fare which if you fly a lot would still be worth it for companion pass. People talk about spending more for CP and eventually you need to consider if you are going to actually get enough free flights to make it even. 

I hope this helps. Certainly many times nothing happens, but if this cruise is a big number then it is hard to say if it might be looked at. They don't seem to take back membership bonuses, but if it was regular spending points I think they can.