Introduction
The Southwest Rapid Rewards instant-Companion-Pass credit card promotion that ran in early 2026 ended on March 18, 2026. As of April 2026, the offer is no longer available to new applicants. If you missed it, the relevant question now is what was on the table, why it was unusual, and when a similar promotion is realistic to expect again.
What the Offer Was
Chase and Southwest ran the promotion across the three personal Rapid Rewards cards through March 18, 2026. Each card paired the spend bonus with a Companion Pass valid through February 28, 2027.
The Rapid Rewards Plus Card offered the Companion Pass plus 20,000 bonus points after $3,000 in spend in the first three months, with a $99 annual fee. The Rapid Rewards Premier Card offered the pass plus 30,000 points after $4,000 in spend, also at a $99 annual fee. The Rapid Rewards Priority Card offered the pass plus 40,000 points after $5,000 in spend, with a $149 annual fee.
The Companion Pass itself worked the same on all three cards. A designated companion flew with the cardholder for taxes and fees, starting at $5.60 each way, on every Southwest flight booked through February 28, 2027.
Why It Was Unusual
Earning a Companion Pass through normal qualification requires either 100 qualifying one-way flights or 135,000 qualifying points in a calendar year. That's a meaningful spend or flying threshold for most travelers. The early-2026 promotion bypassed the threshold entirely and handed the pass over after a single welcome-bonus spend hurdle.
Cardholders who hit the spend requirement in March 2026 walked away with roughly 11 months of paired travel before the pass expired in February 2027. A traditional Companion Pass earned later in 2026 would have expired on the same date with far less runway.
What to Watch For Next
Southwest has run instant-Companion-Pass promotions before, most recently in early 2024 and again in this 2026 cycle. The pattern is loose, but the promotional windows have tended to land in the first calendar quarter, when the Companion Pass earned during the promo runs through the following February. If you're planning to apply for a Southwest card in 2026 or 2027 and the Companion Pass is the reason, the rational move is to hold the application until the next instant-pass window opens rather than apply for the standing welcome offer now.
Chase's 5/24 rule still gates these cards. Applicants need to be under five new credit cards in the prior 24 months to be approved.
What's Available Today
The three Rapid Rewards cards remain open to new applicants at their standard welcome offers as of April 2026. The instant-Companion-Pass benefit is gone for now. Southwest has not announced a successor promotion.
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