Up, up and away in our beautiful metal balloon!
We don’t need much of an excuse to book a flight and get out of town, but Southwest Airlines once again makes great escapes easier and more affordable than ever with their latest promotion.
(Buckle up because this is going to sound like a paid advertisement for the airline, but it’s not. We just really love how the airline really treats customers like they’re valued, unlike other airlines that charge outrageous fees to make changes, cancel flights, or even check bags—all while making us feel like we’re bothering them for keeping them in business.)
Anyway, back to the bargain of the season…
Every year the Dallas-based airline offers up the chance for a promotional companion pass where you can designate a travel buddy (or up to three different ones during the promo period) to fly anywhere you go for free. This year, they did the promo twice and we’re about to use it for all of our September travels, too.
The promotion was just announced yesterday and, as always, you have to move fast to take advantage of this smokin’ deal. Simply book a roundtrip or two one-way flights by Wednesday, August 30 to fly between now and September 30. Satisfy that simple requirement and on January 8, you’ll be awarded with a companion pass and your favorite person can jet away with you to Mexico, Hawaii or down the road for a quick weekend in San Antonio.
Check the low fare calendar to find the cheapest flights to satisfy their requirement. You could book a same-day roundtrip to Austin in September for as low as $160. That’s not much at all to get buy-one-get-one-free flights for a full two months. You’ll still pay $5.60 per one-way leg for taxes and fees on most flights for the free companion fare, but it’s still practically free, right?
Best of all, Southwest Airlines makes it so convenient. You can book all your flights now for January 8-March 8, 2024. Then as soon as January 8 hits you can designate your companion and add them to each and every reservation you’ve already booked. (Read all the fine print here.)
Want another valuable SWA hack? If you book your flights now and find them cheaper in the coming weeks and months, all you have to do is log into your Rapid Rewards account, find your reservation and click on “Change Flight.” You can reselect the lower-priced flight and the difference will be added to a travel funds account to apply for future use.
We check all of our flights every Tuesday when they issue fare sales and sometimes get hundreds of dollars back to use toward new flights in the future. It only takes a couple of minutes, but the savings can be significant, especially when you’re booking this many months in advance.
So if you want to hit the beaches of Puerto Vallarta over Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, take a date to San Francisco for Valentine’s Day, or go shopping for edibles in Portland on Groundhog Day, you can basically travel anywhere for half-price.
Because Southwest Airlines makes it cheap and easy—just like us!
Southwest Airlines Companion Pass Promotion
Book travel by Wednesday, September 30, 2023
Fly by Saturday, September 30, 2023
A companion flies with you free January 8-March 8, 2024
southwest.com
