Southwest Companion Pass Promo, Book by Feb 5
Southwest Airlines reopened a limited time path to a promotional Companion Pass for Rapid Rewards members, letting one designated companion fly on the same itinerary for only taxes and fees when the member flies. The offer is earned by registering in your Rapid Rewards account, then purchasing one round trip or two one way qualifying flights during the brief early February 2026 booking window, and completing that travel by March 31, 2026. If you qualify, the promotional Companion Pass can be used for travel from August 10, 2026, through October 7, 2026, which lines up with late summer trips, early fall city weekends, and shoulder season beach travel.
This matters more than it used to because Southwest's shift to assigned seating changes how you plan seats and boarding with a companion. For flights departing on or after January 27, 2026, Southwest issues seat assignments and offers seat selection at booking, including Extra Legroom seats on eligible fares and for eligible members.
Who Is Affected
The promotion is aimed at both new and longtime Rapid Rewards members who can realistically complete at least one round trip, or two one way flights, by March 31, 2026, and who expect to travel again between August 10, 2026, and October 7, 2026. Leisure travelers planning late summer family visits, couples planning a shoulder season getaway, and sports and festival travelers targeting early fall weekends are the obvious winners, because the pass can turn one paid trip into a two traveler trip on Southwest as long as there is award or paid inventory for the primary traveler.
Travel advisors and self planners should also flag the fine print behavior that usually decides whether this kind of offer actually works out. First, registration timing is typically decisive, bookings made before you register often do not qualify, even if the travel dates fall inside the window. Second, the offer language circulating this week varies by outlet on the exact last day to purchase, with several sources stating a February 5, 2026 cutoff, while other coverage describes February 2 through February 6, 2026, which can reflect time zone cutoffs. If you want this to count, treat February 5, 2026, as your practical deadline and do not wait for the final hours.
What Travelers Should Do
Register first, then book, and assume anything booked before registration will not be retroactively pulled in. Once you are registered, book one round trip or two one way flights that you can actually take by March 31, 2026, even if you are choosing a short positioning trip, because the value of the pass depends entirely on completing the qualifying travel.
Decide whether to rebook versus wait based on two thresholds, the closeness of your intended flights to March 31, 2026, and how tight your schedule is if irregular operations hit. If your qualifying trip is late March, or it involves a connection you cannot miss, shifting it earlier in March is often smarter than gambling on last minute reaccommodation. If you are already holding a Southwest reservation in the window, evaluate cancel and rebook only if the fare is stable enough to avoid paying significantly more, because any savings can evaporate if you chase qualification with a higher fare.
Over the next 24 to 72 hours, monitor two things inside your Rapid Rewards account, confirmation that your registration is recorded, and the eventual posting of the promotional Companion Pass after you complete the qualifying travel. When the pass becomes available, add your companion as soon as you know who will travel, because changing the designated companion is allowed but controlled, and you do not want to be fixing that at the last minute when prices and seat availability are moving. Also plan for the reality that companions still pay government taxes and fees, even though the base fare is covered.
Background
Companion Pass is a Southwest Rapid Rewards benefit that lets a member choose one person to fly with them for only taxes and fees on the same itinerary, whether the member buys a ticket with cash or redeems points. Southwest notes that the companion benefit does not include government taxes and fees, which can start at $5.60 one way on domestic itineraries, and those amounts vary by route.
Promotional Companion Pass offers like this one change traveler behavior quickly, and that creates ripple effects beyond a simple discount. The first order effect is accelerated booking in the promotion window, which can drain the lowest fares on popular weekend patterns and tighten seat availability on high demand routes. The second order effect shows up later, in this case during August and September 2026, because travelers who earned the pass often concentrate companion travel into the validity window, raising load factors on peak days, and making same day changes harder if disruptions occur. The third ripple is operational, because Southwest's assigned seating era shifts the advantage from checking in early to booking early, so travelers who wait to add the companion can end up with separated seats, especially on fuller flights.
If you are still adjusting to Southwest's new boarding reality, earlier Adept Traveler coverage explains what changed and how groups, fare bundles, and seat selection interact, see Southwest Assigned Seating Changes Boarding January 2026 and Southwest Airlines Sets January 2026 Launch for Assigned Seating.