Southwest Airlines Changes: New Companion Pass Requirements, Points No Longer Expire

Applied yesterday for 80k Business card, assume I'll be approved. Now I have to decide. Do I want to waste a valued slot for a personal 40k SWA card or should I pay my taxes on Jan 1st @ a cost of $219 (1.87% x 40k). Probably taxes.

This news is a nothingburger compared to the routine and significant devaluations by the big 3. In contrast to the big 3, this is a notification with fair warning and it is transparent. How refreshing!
Yep, still spending my 120K annual miles on SWA metal. I continue to vote with my wallet and wishing them continued success. Keep up the good work!

UR Points transferred to Southwest do not count towards companion pass.

LOL @ me for apply for the cheaper business card yesterday.

The companion pass was great for me while it lasted. I had it for the last 4 years but this new change in 2020 might make it impossible for me to re- qualify. Might look to Alaska's program next.

I agree while this news is a mixed bag it's not that bad. As long as there's still a path to obtaining a companion pass with 2 cc bonuses then it doesn't change the value prop too much. One can still sign up for the 80k business card and the 40k personal card and the $5k spending between the 2 to get the bonuses in the first place will put you over the threshold.

@Giletti: 1.87% of 40k is $748.

Shza

You are correct. My bad. I'm too cheap to get off my wallet for $748 so I'll probably apply for a 40k SWA personal card. I've slots available, and another one drops off in early Jan.

This month I applied for and approved for SW Premier business 60000 (spend 3000) and in flight application priority card 50000pts (spend 2000). Now they increased requirement to 125000. Chase told me Premier Business cant be upgraded to Performance bus.
Q: How can I easily get additional 10,000 points to qualify for companion pass in January.
If I pay IRS 1040-ES $10000 using one of the cards, do these charges earn companion pass qualifying miles. (will cost me about $200 and tie up $ 10,000 till I can get it refunded)
Any other way ?
Thanks for any input.

@Rakesh I learned that Hotels booked through the SWA portal count towards CP. You may want to double check that.

@Rakesh

You have to fork out another $10k spending. The bigger question is why didn't you go for the performance card to begin with. The extra bonus more than offset the first annual fee, which you can downgrade after a year.

I am new to this so forgive my inexperience..... Monday I was approved for the 80,000 miles business credit card. I planned to qualify for the bonus points (by spending 5K) in January (so the points post then). Then, spend 25K to earn the 110,000 points to get a companion ticket for the remainder of the year, and the entire next year (2020 and 2021)..... My question is, do I now have to get to 125,000 points to earn the companion ticket? Do I still get the companion ticket for the remainder of 2020 AND 2021? Please advise - Thanks!!

hotel points count if u book thru swa hotels. easy way.

After 2020, I will switch to United and get a different credit card for purchases

So long as there is one business card that offers 80,000 points it will be ok since there is always a personal card that gives 40,000. However, if the best business card goes back to 60,000, it's going to take a lot of spending to get the companion pass.

@Davey, yes, you will need 125k points total after Jan 1. Spend 15k more, being sure bonuses post after Jan 1 and you will have CP until Dec 31, 2021.

Does anyone know if you still can get Referral points (10,000) from Chase Rapid Rewards cards? I'm thinking 70,000 pts (business card), 40,000 pts (personal), +6000 pts (spending criteria)=116000 pts....if you get 1 referral, that puts you over the 125,000 pt requirement for CP. Am I off the mark?

I have tried to maximize points earning by using Rapid Rewards shopping portal, dining, hotels, pay all bills, and upgraded to business for all flights. I have earned 156,000 pts from Jan-Oct. so I still should be good next year. I would highly recommend using as many of the Rapid Rewards partners as possible, and obviously paying with the Rapid Rewards card. As previous posts have mentioned, Southwest Hotels has been a huge help. Pick the hotels paying the most points, I stayed in one near BWI for 14,000 pts.

@giletti @Shza

You guys are both wrong.

1.87% of 40k is $748, but you get 40k SW points valued at x cpp.

Taking up a slot on 5/24 is certainly an opportunity cost so all alterative pathways must be considered. Value is subjective obviously.

@Eskimo
I applied for premier business and not the performance business because I thought it may be easier to get for a very small consulting business with no previous income and history, just a gut feeling, and it served my purpose of 110K before the change.

I have a general question.
For personal card bonus: the 24 month period is from the previous card date or the bonus grant date ?? e.g. Case
Applied/approved for a personal card 10/10/2017, received the bonus on the statement date 1/7/2018.
IF apply now (say 10/25/2019), and time the bonus to be posted on the statement date after 1/7/2020 (which will be over 24 months of bonus posting), will it qualify for a new bonus.
Note: The new application is after 24 months of old application but less than 24 months before the old bonus posting date. The new planned bonus date to be over 24 month after the previous post date.
I appreciate any opinion/data points.

I am helping a friend to get the companion pass. He has one for 2018-19

@Lucky - do we know if hotel/car rentals points earned through the SWA website will still count toward earned points for Companion pass?