Quick answer: You need 135,000 qualifying points in a calendar year to earn the Companion Pass, and only certain points count toward that number — card spending, welcome bonuses, and an annual 10,000-point loyalty boost on Southwest co-branded cards. Transferred Chase Ultimate Rewards points don’t count, no matter which card they came from. The single biggest lever most people miss: qualifying points post based on your statement closing date, not your purchase date, so earning your qualifying spend in January or February instead of December can nearly double how long the pass lasts.
What Actually Counts Toward the 135,000
The Companion Pass threshold only counts points that come directly from a Southwest relationship:
- Everyday spending on a Southwest Rapid Rewards co-branded credit card (personal or business)
- That card’s own welcome bonus
- A 10,000-point loyalty boost, issued automatically once per member per calendar year to Rapid Rewards cardholders
- Points earned from flying Southwest and through Southwest’s shopping and dining partner programs
What doesn’t count: any Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred in from a Sapphire card or an Ink business card. Those transfers land as spendable Southwest balance you can use for flights, but they do nothing to move you toward Companion Pass status. This is the single most common point of confusion we hear from readers — a big Ultimate Rewards transfer feels like progress, but it’s not progress toward the pass itself.
The Personal-Plus-Business Combination
Southwest evaluates its personal and business cards independently for both approval and welcome bonuses, which makes a personal-and-business pairing the standard way to reach 135,000 in a single year. You can hold one Southwest personal card and one Southwest business card simultaneously, earn a bonus on both, and business card approvals don’t count against your Chase 5/24 status.
Stacking two welcome bonuses plus the 10,000-point annual boost gets most people most of the way to 135,000 before regular spending even factors in — which is why this combination, rather than heavy day-to-day spending on a single Southwest card, is the realistic path for most applicants.
The Timing Detail That Changes Everything
Qualifying points post to your account based on your statement closing date, not the date you actually made the purchase. That distinction is easy to overlook and expensive to miss.
If you earn your qualifying spend in November or December, you’ll likely hit 135,000 late in the calendar year — and the Companion Pass you unlock will expire at the end of that same year, giving you only a few weeks of actual use.
If you shift the same spending to January or February instead, you hit 135,000 early in the year, and the pass runs through the end of the following year. Same amount of spend, nearly double the usable window. Anyone planning a Southwest card application specifically for the Companion Pass should build their application and spending timeline around this, not around whenever the current welcome offer happens to look best.
How This Fits Into a Broader Chase Strategy
If you’re already holding most of Chase’s major personal cards and Southwest is the last piece, the order matters. Pick up your Ink and Sapphire bonuses first, since neither one interferes with your Southwest eligibility, then apply for the Southwest personal-and-business combination in January specifically so the Companion Pass timing works in your favor rather than against it. Our full guide on getting Chase welcome bonuses again once you’ve already built out a Chase wallet walks through the complete sequence, including where Southwest fits relative to Sapphire and Ink.
Disclaimer: The information on RawCents is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Always consult a qualified financial professional before making decisions about your money. Card terms, bonus amounts, and program rules are set by the issuer and subject to change without notice; verify current details directly with Southwest before planning around them.