Get the Southwest Companion Pass for a Limited Time by Signing Up for a Southwest Credit Card

In the world of credit card rewards, point-obsessed "travel hackers" have long coveted one perk in particular: the Southwest Companion Pass.

Having this pass essentially gets you a year of free plane tickets for a travel partner on any Southwest flight. It sounds too good to be true, but that's because up until now, it was pretty hard to get. The only way to get the Companion Pass has been to earn 110,000 Southwest points within a single calendar year, and accruing that kind of mileage in 12 months is really only possible for frequent business travelers.

All of that just changed. Chase and Southwest announced a new lucrative sign-up bonus on Thursday for all of their co-branded credit cards that might be their best offer to date -- and it makes obtaining the prized Southwest Companion Pass much easier.

What exactly is the Southwest Companion Pass?

The Southwest Companion Pass, put very simply, allows you to select a travel companion who will get to accompany you on any Southwest flight free of charge for about a year. Of course, as with any credit card offer, there's a little more to it than that.

First, you can't just hand a free plane ticket to anyone you'd like. You have to designate a specific travel companion, and you can only make changes to who your companion is a few times each year. They also have to pay taxes and fees associated with their flight, so it technically isn't completely free. Luckily Southwest is known for its minimal fees, and the surcharges in this case can be as low as $5.60 each way.

Finally, the companion pass isn't valid for exactly one year. When earned the traditional way, it's actually valid for the remainder of the year in which you earn it as well as the following calendar year. If you take advantage of this new offer, which makes the pass easier to earn, it's only valid for the remainder of 2019. This means that if you don't earn the pass until April, you'll only get to use it for about eight months.

That being said, if Southwest offers a lot of attractive flights from your home airport and you have a travel partner, the Companion Pass can still save you hundreds of dollars, even if you only get to use it for a portion of the year.

Chase and Southwest's limited-time offer and how to get it

The new sign-up bonus is available until Feb. 11, 2019 and applies to all of Chase's co-branded Southwest credit cards. If you open one of these Southwest credit cards and spend at least $4,000 in the first three months, you'll earn 30,000 Southwest points and a Companion Pass.

That's right -- no frequent flying required. All you have to do is hit the minimum spending requirement, and the Southwest Companion Pass is yours for the rest of the calendar year. This opens up the possibility of obtaining the pass to a whole new group of consumers who don't currently travel often enough to earn it through frequent flying.

There are some restrictions involved that you should consider before jumping on this deal. If you currently hold one of Southwest's Rapid Rewards Credit Cards, this offer isn't available to you. Furthermore, if you've earned a new cardmember bonus for one of Southwest's cards in the past 24 months, you also won't qualify for the offer, even if you've since canceled the card.

The 30,000-point portion of the sign-up bonus shouldn't be ignored either. Given the affordability of Southwest flights, 30,000 Southwest points is enough to get you nearly two round-trip domestic flights on some routes.

Which Southwest credit card is right for you?

If you're sold on this new sign-up bonus, you still have to pick a card. Chase offers three co-branded Southwest personal credit cards: the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, and the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card. All of these cards are currently offering the deal described above. However, they do differ quite a bit in both fees and perks.

The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card comes with the lowest annual fees and the most minimal rewards. You'll have to pay a $69 annual fee that's not waived the first year. The card gets you 3,000 Southwest points every year on your card anniversary, 2 points for every $1 you spend on Southwest Airlines, and 1 point for every $1 spent on other purchases.

Southwest's middle-of-the-road option, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, costs $99 per year. With this credit card, you'll get 6,000 Southwest points on each cardmember anniversary, and it doesn't have any foreign transaction fees. You'll still earn 2 points on Southwest Airlines purchases and 1 point for all other purchases.

Finally, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card has an annual fee of $149 that also isn't waived the first year. It sounds steep, but in return, you'll get a $75 annual Southwest travel credit, four upgraded boardings per year (dependent on availability), 20% off of in-flight drinks and Wi-Fi, and 7,500 Southwest points on every cardmember anniversary.

Although it sounds spendy, this last card is the clear winner for most travelers. By offering a $75 Southwest travel credit each year, the annual fee is already cut in half. This means that the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is actually the cheapest card, as long as you make use of its perks -- and given that you could earn the Companion Pass, you'll probably be traveling with Southwest enough to do so.

That being said, if paying a three-figure annual fee scares you away from the card, the other two are still some of the best airline credit cards, offering a lot of value to cardholders who achieve the sign-up bonus. With a Companion Pass in hand, you can expect 2019 to be a year filled with travel that won't break the bank.