Unable to use my points for myself and companion pass

[BN2Wild]

I have flown Southwest for many years, and have enjoyed them as my main transportation for business and visiting friends and relatives, so I finall applied and received a Southwest credit card in December of 2021.
I received my bonus points by flying a loy and paying a lot of things through this card through December of 2022, and was able to qualify for my wife as a companion for 2023. I am retired now, and our goal was to be able to travel together all over starting in December of 2022 through all of 2023. 
Unfortunately, my wife's sister who lived in AZ was really sick at the beginning of 2023, and we used the points and companion pass perhaps 3 times to visit her. This became a very untimely event, and wasn't in our plans to have our dreams of traveling for pleasure ended. Sadly her sister passed away in February 2023. We used her pass one more time to fly to her funeral.
My wife has been depressed and hasn't been the same, and didn't feel like going anywhere, as it would seem wrong to celebrate anything.
We are getting to the point now that we can talk about traveling again, but I don't want to pay another fee to use a Southwest card that has no merit now, and my points are going to drop off in December of 2023.
I thought about writing to Southwest about this, to see if there is any reprieve, but I see that it is actually Chase Bank that the Card goes through, and usually banks are only about making money not about the people who pay.
I have plenty of cards with $0 balance that I can use, so I guess that is the way I'll go, it is just is disappointing to lose a year of a Companion Pass.

Any suggestions are welcome!

[kingsmatt80]

Sorry to hear about the passing of a loved one.  I know it can really put a damper on recreational travel plans also.

But the good news is that your points never expire.  So your concern about "your points are going to drop off in December 2023" is not true.  Those points will remain in your account until you use them.

Also if you want to earn another SW Credit Card signup bonus you will be eligible 24 months after you earned your last signup bonus.  You just need to cancel your current card (ideally before the 2nd year's annual fee hits).  Then wait a minimum of 30 days before re-applying for the new Southwest card.

To be safe I would wait to re-apply for the new card at some point after the 24 month anniversary of your last signup bonus.  You did not mention when you last earned the signup bonus but in context I would guess it was sometime in early 2022?  So if, for example, you received your signup bonus on your April 2022 closing statement, I would apply for the new card in May 2024.

So all is not lost and maybe you'll find this to be a bit of good news should you want to resume your travel plans with your wife!

[BN2Wild]

kingsmatt80,
Thanks for your reply and advise.

I remembered something about point usage issues, but now I think it was part of certain awarded points were not eligible for use a counting towards companion pass...

[kingsmatt80]

Yes you are correct about points "expiring" when it comes to earning companion pass again.  Your points never expire - they stay in your account forever until you use them to book a flight.

However, I should have clarified that to earn companion pass you have to earn an additional 135,000 points in a calendar year.  Once that calendar year ends (12/31), your companion pass qualifying points are reset to ZERO on January first of each year.  This does not erase points that are still in your account from the previous year and those points can still be used to book flights.

This is why I mention cancelling you SW card and getting a new one so you can take advantage of the signup bonus again to earn the 135,000 points needed for companion pass in 2024.

[dfwskier]

Remeber that Chase only allows people to earn one SW points bonus for opening a new personal card every 24 months.

[BN2Wild]

Actually cancelling the card and then reapplying doesn't work that way. I looked at the asterik* after the points being offered, and it clearly states not for anyone having their card in the last 24 months... sadly it looks like it's not going to happen for us. 😞

I actually thought about upgrading my card to the next level at a higher annual fee for 85k points, but then saw this disclamer there as well.

[dfwskier]

Actually, the rule is you cannot earn two RR bonus points buckets withn 24 months. If it hs been more than 24 months since your last RR bonus, you can cancel yur card, apply for a new card and get another RR bonus. 

[SD_Flyer]

What about switching off so your wife has the companion pass next time (with you as the companion)?

[BN2Wild]

We thought about that too!
The problem is, it wont happen this year...

The way the program works to add miles for getting a new card for her, then paying $3,000 for items needed, and waiting to get a statement that shows that, has passed by in 2023 for 2024 rewards... It has to show in your statement to receive the rewards for the following year.

[SD_Flyer]

In order to get the companion pass you need to accumulate 135,000 points in the calendar year. The companion pass lasts for the remainder of the year you obtain it and the following year. It might actually be better if your wife obtains the companion pass in early 2024 because then you will have it for 2024 and 2025.