Southwest Companion Pass After One Purchase Offer Now Open to All California Residents

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.

Last week, we told you about an amazing offer from Chase and Southwest: targeted Southwest Rapid Rewards members could sign up for a Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card and earn a Southwest Companion Pass after just one purchase.

This offer is incredible. Typically, in order to get the Companion Pass, you're going to have to earn 110,000 Southwest Companion Pass-eligible points from doing a ton of flying, spending on a Southwest co-branded credit card and/or shopping through the Southwest Rapid Rewards portal. The best way to shortcut this was to sign up for two Southwest credit cards at the same time and meet thousands of dollars of spending requirements.

Understandably, we received tons of comments about how to get yourself targeted. Well, it seems that Southwest heard your cries. This incredible offer is now public for all California residents, the airline confirmed to us. But, there's not much time to waste considering the offer. You must sign up by November 30th to get this offer.

However, several readers have told us that at least some Southwest and Chase representatives are not yet aware of the offer, and are still operating on the assumption that it is open only to targeted customers. In at least one case, a Chase supervisor was not aware of the expanded offer either. When we contacted a Southwest rep on the phone, we were also told you needed to be targeted, and a supervisor then repeated that message.

"Looks like we may need to communicate this offer further internally," a Southwest spokesperson replied when we emailed asking about it.

Typically, when you earn a Southwest Companion Pass, the pass will be eligible until December 31 of the year after earned. So, you might be wondering if waiting until January 1, 2018 to make the one purchase will get you the Companion Pass through December 31, 2019. That's covered in the Terms & Conditions: "Promotional Companion Pass is valid from the time promotion qualifications are met, through December 31, 2018." So, there's no reason to wait to make the purchase.

Other important terms and conditions apply to this excellent offer:

• This product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any Rapid Rewards Credit Card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of any Rapid Rewards Credit Card who received a new cardmember bonus for a Rapid Rewards Credit Card within the last 24 months.
• To qualify for this offer, (a) Member must have a valid California address listed on their application for the Rapid Rewards Credit Card, (b) Member must open a Rapid Rewards Credit Card by November 30, 2017.
• Please allow up to 15 business days after qualifying for promotional Companion Pass to receive your notification to designate your Companion.

Not a California resident? Right now, your best offer is 40,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first three months after account opening via the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card or the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card. If you have a business, you can also earn 60,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first three months on the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Credit Card.

This post has been amended to show that some Southwest and Chase representatives are not aware of the expanded offer yet.