While it’s anyone’s guess what comes of this, it appears that Southwest Airlines is at least considering making changes to its lucrative Companion Pass program, as flagged by Danny the Deal Guru.
In this post:
Southwest considers Companion Pass changes
Southwest has sent out a survey to select Rapid Rewards members, floating the idea of changes to the carrier’s Companion Pass offering.
For those of you not familiar with Companion Pass, it’s one of the best deals in travel, and it’s awarded to those who rack up 100 flights or 135,000 qualifying points in a calendar year. Those with Companion Pass can have a companion fly with them for just the cost of taxes, regardless of whether paying cash or redeeming points. Essentially, think of it as a two-for-one travel pass, which is otherwise pretty unheard of.
In recent times, we’ve seen Southwest change virtually everything about its business model, and Companion Pass is perhaps one of the last differentiators at the airline that hasn’t yet been touched. However, could that finally be changing?
A new survey sent out to select Rapid Rewards members talks about the idea of major loyalty program changes, with four to five tiers (rather than the existing two), and only the top tier would get unlimited Companion Pass. The second highest tier might get four one-way Companion Pass certificates, so it would essentially be a limited version of Companion Pass.
Let me of course emphasize that this is only a survey, and it’s not entirely clear how Companion Pass would change. Would it simply require more points to earn Companion Pass, would credit card sign-ups no longer count toward Companion Pass, or what?
I expect we will see some major changes
For decades, Southwest marched to the beat of its own drum, and didn’t care what competitors were doing. Now, under pressure from Elliott Investment Management, the company has changed virtually everything about its business model.
The philosophy right now is basically “we’ve done everything wrong, we need to change everything and copy the other guys, and then we’ll be super duper profitable.” This includes everything from introducing assigned and extra legroom seating, to charging for checked bags, to expiring vouchers, to devaluing Rapid Rewards points.
Given the philosophy at the company at the moment, it’s hard to envision a scenario where the airline doesn’t cut what many of us consider to be one of the best deals in travel.
I have to imagine that we’re going to see a bigger overhaul of Rapid Rewards, intended to create more incentives for engagement. It sounds like this might even include more of a direct coupling of A-List elite tiers and Companion Pass, since currently those things are sort of on separate “tracks.”
For maximizers, I think the worst change we might see is that Southwest adjusts what points qualify toward Companion Pass. As it currently stands, all points earned from Southwest credit cards (including welcome bonuses) count toward that, while I could see that no longer being the case.
So we’ll see how this develops — it’s possible that nothing changes at all, or that this only happens in the distant future. Regardless, I’m sure the change wouldn’t be good news, given the company’s direction.
Bottom line
Southwest is surveying some Rapid Rewards program updates, including changes to Companion Pass. With Companion Pass being one of the best deals in travel and a favorite feature among travelers, it’s not surprising that the airline is considering adjusting it. So we’ll mark this as “developing” for now, but don’t be surprised if there’s some news about this in the next year or so…
What kind of Companion Pass changes do you think we’ll see?
"Due to customer feedback....."
Companion Pass is toast.
Southwest is facing financial trouble. Some call it corporate greed but it is no secret that Southwest has been forced to rethink its entire business model. This is an obvious target. How to game this benefit with credit cards has been the subject of countless blog articles. And, ole Barney Fife told them to nip it in the bud.
well said.
WN's root issue is that they are flying too many seats and not doing as good of a job in filling them as other airlines - in part because they have been unable to fly the MAX 7 that they ordered a decade ago.
WN mgmt - forced by Elliott - is now realizing that the MAX 7 is not coming and WN will have to just retire their -700s when they...
well said.
WN's root issue is that they are flying too many seats and not doing as good of a job in filling them as other airlines - in part because they have been unable to fly the MAX 7 that they ordered a decade ago.
WN mgmt - forced by Elliott - is now realizing that the MAX 7 is not coming and WN will have to just retire their -700s when they run out of time and run a larger gauge airline.
The answer to filling more seats is not to keep giving away revenue that doesn't generate a profit. and that includes the companion pass.
DL made a pivot almost 2 decades ago; UA has done it within the last decade. Large airlines can successfully walk away from major parts of their former identity.
WN was once the most consistently profitable airlines in the world; they want at least to have industry-comparable levels of profitability and have set goals to be far more profitable than what AA and most of the LCC and ULCC game thinks they can accomplish.
WN has deep pockets (a very strong balance sheet) and will successfully pivot. If companion passes and free baggage make sense, they will be given to the people that can turn them into revenue and profits.
It’s obvious: they’re going to enhance the companion pass by eliminating it, based on customer feedback.
Yes! lol