earning a companion pass: all points are not qualifying points
 

When the new RR 2.0 'demo' site was rolled out (http://www.southwest.com/newRR/homeFlash.do), it appeared as though all points earned by any means would be 'qualifying points' towards earning a companion pass, just like under the old credit system where you needed 100 credits earned by any means:

How do I qualify for a Companion Pass in the All-New Rapid Rewards program?

Earn 110,000 points from any combination of Southwest Airlines flights and Rapid Rewards Partners per calendar year or fly 100 Southwest Airlines one-way qualifying flights per calendar year to qualify for a Companion Pass or earn 100 credits from Partners or flights within a rolling 12 month period prior to 12/31/2011.

However, the newly posted rules after the March 1, 2011 transition clearly state otherwise:

What are the Companion Pass Rules and Regulations?

* Companion Pass status is based on taking 100 qualifying one-way flights or earning 110,000 Qualifying Points in a calendar year. A qualifying flight for Rapid Rewards Companion Pass status is a one-way revenue flight on Southwest Airlines from an origin city to a destination city, including any intermediate stops and/or connections on Southwest Airlines. Companion Pass Qualifying Points are earned from revenue flights, points issued on Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Credit Cards, and points earned from Rapid Rewards Partners. Purchased points and points earned from program enrollment, Tier bonuses, flight bonuses, and Partner bonuses do not count toward Companion Pass status.

Sure enough, I've flown one flight under the new system and since I am A-List Preferred I got the 2x bonus. My total points came out to be 6,118 based upon a 20x multiplier of an any time $300 base fare. But my qualifying points for both A-List renewal and CP are half that: 3,059. I expected the A-List to be that way because every rules posting I've read indicates that no bonus, rental car points, etc, can be used as 'Tier Qualifying Points'. But, sure enough, Tier Bonus points earned due to A-List Preferred status also don't count towards earning a CP. I'm thinking any car rental bonus points over the standard 600 won't count either...

If this really is the case now, which would be a MASSIVE departure from what they said before the roll-out, this would be, imo, the biggest NEGATIVE thus far.

WOW!!!!! This needs to be addressed NOW. If true, I will be taking my 30+ RT's a year to Continental. Without the companion pass i have no incentive to stay.

Where is the companion pass status on the new website?
 

On the old site it would there was a link to companion pass status that would show you exactly how many credits you still needed to qualify. I've yet to find that on the new site. Can someone point me in the right direction?

Not trying to hijack, but I was planning on going for the CP pass.
I have 60ish credits from June forward so I figured I would get the rest through hotels.
Does this mean the choice 1200 per stay will count only as 600?

Also I noticed that A-list says 35000 tier points. Does this mean I can earn A-List without actually flying SW?

Thanks guys, this will determine whether I hop choice hotels for the next 30 days or not.

+1 I am here only as long as I can re-qualify for CP. If not, bye-bye.

Log into your account, click 'My Rapid Rewards', and your status towards earning a CP or A-List will be displayed. Be aware that credits and points displayed in these trackers are only as of March 1. Southwest is working to fix this problem by either displaying the correct status inside one's account on the website or by giving customers status updates in their monthly RR email updates.

Just called into the Dallas RR customer care line. After initially being told that the credit/bonus system of the old CP program was similar to the new CP program in that bonus points would count towards CP qualification, I was put on hold for 30 minutes only be told that no, the rules have changed and that bonuses earned by 'extra' points from rental cars (those in excess of 600 points) and 'tier' bonus points earned from booking flights as an A-List member would *not* count towards CP qualification.

So, regardless of your A-List status, if you book an any-time fare, for example, you will only get 10x the amount of the fare as points that will count towards CP qualification.

Yikes - once my CP expires, time to move on
 

This is really sad. I really do like Southwest but RR 2.0 is a disaster. I have a ton of upcoming trips and can't even review them online or make changes due to the site being a total cluster*.

Sorry Southwest, you're losing many of your most loyal customers. 120+ RR credits in 2010. Will be leaving once CP expires.

AA or UA?

The newRR FAQ had (at least a version of) this language from Day 1:They never bothered to define CPQP, but it was clear that not all points would count. Collective FT wisdom only managed to come up with purchased points as excluded from CPQP.

What's that sound?

A gunshot. I just shot the camel. He had a broken back.

From what I hear, only Jan 1, 2011 on counts toward CP now. So any you had from last year do not count. Maybe I am wrong? One of the Mods mentioned for the stare of RR2 they are going to look at both calendar year and rolling year for qualification of Alist, since they "value" their customers. But I am not sure if that will be the case for CP.

For A-List, those must be flown flights to get the tier points. You cant just go spend your way to it. You can however get up to 15000 tier points from the RR c/c. You get 1,500 tier for every $10k you spend.

Looks like just the bonus points dont count for CP. I agree that is really crappy.

Not exactly true. Look at the link I posted, which was still active last night, and the FAQ stated:

"Earn 110,000 points from any combination of Southwest Airlines flights and Rapid Rewards Partners per calendar year or fly 100 Southwest Airlines one-way qualifying flights". It didn't say anything about bonus points being excluded nor purchased points for that matter.

I agree, though, that common sense would have dictated that purchased points would not count.

This sucks, but it makes sense comparing it to other airlines.

On AS, I earn 100% bonus miles. So, flying PDX-SAN, I get 933 miles towards my MVPG re-qualification, but I get 1866 miles for my account. If I buy F, I get a 50% bonus. So I get 1,400 miles to MVPG.

I'm out.
I'm going to get enough points for my next std award and stop collecting sw altogether.
I am kind of bummed because I have spent a lot of time and money going for a cp only for them to change the rules.
Not the end of the world but I did like southwest credits when there were no other good hotel promos.