Putnik

I just want to check if Companion pass will work for one way flights. I am planning on flying out on Monday and returning the following thursday 10 days later. Can I just purchase 2 one way tickets, and only attach the companion to my Monday morning flight?

willywilkes

Yes, very easy to do online and no issue whatsoever.

rsteinmetz70112

That should not be a problem, in fact the conventional wisdom here is that you should always book one-way flights for a variety of reasons.

Putnik

Awesome, thanks.

dlaue

This is my advice to new companion pass holders. It is based on experience booking at least ~75 companion pass bookings per year for at least 16 years---->

1) The computer system for the companion pass bookings (on this board referred to as "CP") is very ancient and flaky. Expect anything.
THE COMPANION PASS SYSTEM HAS IMPROVED, BUT STILL REQUIRES SOME PATIENCE.

2) Your companion will NOT have his/her global entry or other trusted traveler number stored in his/her record. You must enter it each time you make a reservation.
THIS HAS BEEN FIXED

3) If you need to change or cancel your reservation, you must first cancel (cannot change) your companion's reservation and wait. Wait at least 15 minutes. Sometimes a 1/2 hour. ONLY THEN can you cancel/change your reservation.
THIS IS STILL THE CASE. THE IDEAL SYSTEM WOULD TREAT YOUR + YOUR COMPANION'S RESERVATIONS AS JUST TWO SEATS ON THE SAME RESERVATION NUMBER. THIS WOULD ALLOW YOU TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE BOOKING EASILY.

4) While you are waiting for your companion's reservation to be cancelled, ignore any responses from the Southwest system to your attempts to modify your reservation. You will get this message:

"Oops!This form has the following errors
Your reservation has been cancelled. (SW301001-EZ8hZTIwTnCbvVy1GIXkBA)":
WITH THE IMPROVEMENTS, THE FREQUENCY OF THIS BUG HAS DIMINISHED.

Your reservation has NOT been cancelled. Your reservation still exists. You must cancel or change your reservation after waiting for your companion's to be flushed from the ancient system.
STILL TRUE

5) After you have waited and have made the change to your reservation, then you must wait again until your new reservation has posted before you can add back your companion. Your companion will be assigned a new reservation number.
THIS HAS BEEN VASTLY IMPROVED. THE SYSTEM UPDATES YOUR "PENDING TRIPS" LIST VERY QUICKLY NOW....MOST OF THE TIME.

6) NEVER check the box "hold these funds for future use" for a companion reservation, unless you are an accountant who loves to keep track of stuff.
Instead, check the box "apply for a refund" for the taxes. I have never had an "application" for refund be denied.

THIS IS STILL TRUE.

7) Any time the Southwest booking system is having problems, the first system to be shut off, it appears, is the Companion Pass booking system.

THIS IS STILL TRUE

Any others?

See my edits above.

PV_Premier

I am a new CP holder thanks to the CA credit card promo last year. I am thinking about adding my companion to a WN trip booked through Concur/SWA BIZ portal. Once the ticket is issued, is there any difference of adding a CP to this flight versus one ticketed through SWA.com?

willywilkes

Nope - my partner is CP holder and books travel through WN website and Concur and in either instance it is a simple to add me as the companion from the WN website. The info above about needing to cancel companion before changing holds true though - if you need to make changes to your ticket, be it through Concur or WN, you need to cancel the companion's ticket first (or do it over the phone).

Cledaybuck

Why? If you are just canceling to refare, isn't easier to just reuse the funds for the $5.60? I know that is how I have done it in the past.

flyer4512

I only book one way flights and add companion pass to every one. As long as there are 2 open seats you will be fine.

dlaue

6) NEVER check the box "hold these funds for future use" for a companion reservation, unless you are an accountant who loves to keep track of stuff.
Instead, check the box "apply for a refund" for the taxes. I have never had an "application" for refund be denied.

If you are just doing one refare immediately, then perhaps it is easier to reuse the $5.60. However, I have experienced problems in the past with reusing these funds to pay for the taxes on a subsequent
bookings when they are held for a booking made days or weeks later. Use for taxes has been denied and/or funds have disappeared. Note that the system improvements MAY have fixed this.
Also, with just one checked box, you have dispatched with the issue, whereas with held funds you have to go through the "use funds" booking routine---PRN, Last Name. This is a pain when you are rebooking a dozen flights, or more, as I frequently do.

dlaue

I want to be sure your question is being answered --->

YES, you can book a one way ticket and add a companion to that ticket.

NO, you cannot book two one way tickets, add a companion to the outbound, and expect the system to automatically add a companion ticket to the return. You must also book a companion ticket to the one-way return leg (if you want your companion to accompany you)

NoStressHere

Or said another way. Each direction should be treated as a stand alone transaction.

You are going from one city to another. Southwest has no idea and does not care how you are getting back home, or even going someplace else.
Booking a RT is another story. Book one trip. Then book the other, on SWA, another airline, drive, walk, fly with another friend, etc. (that friend of course may not be a companion - LOL)

jeffandnicole

I just changed a reservation to reduce the number of points redeemed on the reservation. I didn't need to cancel the companion pass whatsoever for that to take effect. Are you talking about changing to a different flight, or any change whatsoever?

synergistic

I haven't had to do it recently, but I know I always used to get a message specifically telling me I needed to cancel the companion ticket before I could change my ticket. I'm 99% sure that I've tried it just for refares - but honestly I now just don't add my companion until later because it was always easier. I'd be quite happy to know that they finally made that part a non-issue.

dlaue

Any change, including a refare. However, I have not done a refare since the system was upgraded.