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Earning Companion Pass

Meganan85
Explorer C

Question:  Received a new Southwest credit card in February worth 80 K points.  Will have no problem earning the points for a companion pass. However, I am confused as to the expiration date of my points.  I know I can earn the pass for January 1st to December 31st of 2022. However, am I able to earn pass thru 2023 if I reach 125K points that post in January 2023?

 

Thank you.

 

2 REPLIES 2

Re: Earning Companion Pass

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

When you refer to expiration I believe you are inquiring about what period of time the points need to be earned in to qualify for a companion pass.  On January 1 of every year your counter of companion pass qualifying points resets back to 0.  You don't lose the points from your Rapid Rewards account, it's just the number that qualify to earn CP for that year resets back to 0.  So, if you do earn the required number of companion pass qualifying points during the Jan 1- Dec 31 time period (with some exceptions made for end of year earning and posting dates), then you earn the companion pass.  The pass is then good for the reminder of the year in which it was earned AND the entire next year.

 

Example 1:  You earn enough points for CP on May 1, 2021.  You then have CP from May 1, 2021 until Dec 31, 2022.  On Oct 1, 2022 you again earn enough points.  Since you already have CP until Dec 31, 2022, you just add on the additional year and expiration becomes Dec 31, 2023.

 

Example 2: You earn enough points for CP on May 1, 2021.  You then have CP from May 1, 2021 until Dec 31, 2022.  In 2022 you don't earn enough points to earn CP and your CP expires on Dec 31, 2022.  On Jan 15, 2023 you earn enough point so you earn CP for the remainder of 2023 AND all of 2024.

 

In both examples, you only earned the points twice, but in example 2 you end up with CP for a longer period of time with a small gap in January until you earn enough points to earn CP.  Two questions arise, do you need a whole year to complete the earning activities to earn the points or can you time your earning such that you can quickly do it?  If you can quickly do it, do you mind having a small gap in January that you won't have CP.  If so, then earning the points quickly at the beginning of the year after just losing CP is a wise move.

 

Hopefully that helps, if I missed something or just flat out misunderstood your question let me know.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Earning Companion Pass

chgoflyer
Aviator A
Solution

@Meganan85 wrote:

Question:  Received a new Southwest credit card in February worth 80 K points.  Will have no problem earning the points for a companion pass. However, I am confused as to the expiration date of my points.  I know I can earn the pass for January 1st to December 31st of 2022. However, am I able to earn pass thru 2023 if I reach 125K points that post in January 2023?

 

Thank you.

 


 

There are three "types" of points:

-- Regular, spendable ones ("Points")

-- Tier Qualifying Points (TQP)

-- Companion Pass Qualifying Points (CPQ)

 

Note that a "point" can be more than one type. For example, points earned from credit card are regular and also CPQ (plus a small amount can be TQP). Points earned from flight purchases are all three.

 

Regular, spendable points never expire.

 

Tier Qualifying and Companion Pass Qualifying points accumulate over the course of each calendar year. On Jan. 1 they reset to zero.

 

In order to earn Companion Pass you need to earn 125,000 CPQ points in a calendar year. Once you do, you earn Companion Pass for that year plus all of the following one.

 

The 80k regular points you earned from the credit card sign-up will not expire, and they are yours to spend at any time.

 

The 80k CPQ points you earned from the credit card sign-up will disappear on Jan. 1. So you would need to start from scratch earning towards 125k again in 2022.

 

Right now you have 80k + a one-time "boost" of 25k CPQ, (given to everyone as a covid accommodation) meaning you only have to earn another 20k in 2021 to earn Companion Pass, which will be valid as soon as you earn it and through all of 2022.