You're not forced to use the airline points for the same trip as the hotel stay. You can send them to any partner airline and then spend them however you wish, subject only to the rules of the airline's rewards program.
And you're right, Southwest Airlines is a horrible program to transfer miles to. The Companion Pass is next to worthless. We FTers who've talked it up are fools for trying. Look at what it's gotten us, Southwest is now making it harder to earn. Please, nobody try for CP anymore. Send your 120,000 miles to Delta instead, where you can totally buy 5 RT tickets for a family trip to Europe in the summer.