if you see an at-boarding id check occurring, then just head to the gate agent with your credit card to upfare to the walk-up rate with a simple "wifey couldn't make it" explanation.
this really isn't that complicated or risky.

Have never seen an "at-boarding" ID check. Have seen multiple times an ID check on the plane after boarding, so well after you have a chance to approach gate agent with credit card to pay last minute fare

Simply reading the statute it's not at all clear that scenario is illegal. It is against the terms of your contract with Southwest. If you think it's illegal, please cite the statute.

It actually seems stupidly easy to do this with mobile boarding passes. Have both of them saved as screenshots in your photos app, have the gate agent scan the CP holder's, then immediately swipe to the next photo which would be your BP.

All in all, this discussion is generally interesting. Pretty sure I would not put my CP at risk with this whole thing.

On a side note - I really, really dislike when threads get sidetracked with folks that want to argue semantics regarding illegal vs against the rules or contract or policy, etc. Usually everyone agrees that the current issue is some sort of violation. In most cases, it really does not matter if it is illegal, or just against an airline rule. Okay, off my soap box.

Slightly harder than stupidly easy. Southwest doesn't allow multiple-passenger itineraries to use mobile boarding passes. To do this, the CP holder would need to screenshot their BP then send it to the companion's phone, where the companion could put it into the same folder as their BP. (This assumes two different confirmation numbers for CP holder & companion respectively. I'm not sure if that's how it works these days... if there is just a single confirmation number then it's not even possible at all due to Southwest's mobile BP implementation.)

And yes, I realize this conversation has veered wildly off track.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you but that wouldn't work. The GA isn't going to allow one person to use 2 boarding passes to board (unless one is xtra seat and that's not the case here). It's fine if there are two people standing there but when one person is scanning two passes and they are the only one of the two boarding, the GA is going to notice.

If by some remote chance they didn't, then when they do the open seat count, it's going to be off by one and they are going to have to figure out why.

For those asserting that it's OK, it's not.

It's a violation of 49 CFR 46314 to enter an aircraft in violation of security requirements. Just to make this easy, holding a valid boarding document in your own name is one of those requirements. A willful violation is a misdemeanor (up to a year in federal prison) and otherwise a civil penalty of up to $10,000.

WN would also face a civil penalty of up to $10,000 if it determined that a name mismatch had occurred and failed to resolve the matter. Thus, a 20-30 minute delay would not be out of the question.

Yes, people who have attempted boarding pass frauds are fined under the civil provisions. I'm not aware of the use of the criminal provision for fraud as opposed to more nefarious purposes.

I don't know what the most expensive WN ticket is. But, let's say it's $750 just for sake of discussion. Most people would probably pay the $750 before risking a lot more.

the things people choose to worry about are hilarious

if SWA airlines cared about this "fraud" (zero revenue loss from the couple & an extra seat available to monetize with a standby) then SWA would check the id and boarding pass at boarding.
SWA chooses not to because it doesn't care enough to spend an extra 5 minutes boarding each plane -- and then relies on the baptists to follow the "rules" and scold others with arm-chair lawyering about being sent to Leavenworth.

just hilarious.

It does matter as you can go to jail for breaking the law. You can't go to jail for violating a contract. It really irritates me whne people who don't know assert that things are illefgal when the may not be. OK off my Soap box.

Maybe they are concerned. And maybe it only happens once a day or once a week - and it just not worth worrying about during NORMAL checkin. When the count is off, they handle it. Or maybe if so infrequent, not even worth it. (even though it is against some federal rule - probably FAA or TSA). As you say, it is minimal if any revenue loss. They fly 28,000 flights a week, sometimes stuff happens.

Personal note: I would be hard pressed to try to beat this myself and risk the loss of companion pass, and maybe all points, and maybe never flying SW again. Just me.

Where in that CFR does it state that holding a boarding document in your own name is a requirement? That CFR is about screening of passengers. The passenger has already been screened for weapons, explosives, etc., and presumably had a boarding pass in their own name at that point. Matching the name to the name on the BP was always about revenue protection and for the most part, still is. If airlines truly were concerned about bp's matching ID's, they'd check ID's at the gate. That they don't suggests that the risk to them, either revenue or security related, is mostly non-existent.

Ultimately I don't think it is a zero revenue loss for a couple of reasons. First, they'd have to be able to sell that extra seat in the last few minutes before the flight left. WN doesn't overbook anymore so they can't sell it ahead of time as an overbooking. Second, if I wanted to fly A to B and my companion wanted to fly C to D, then booking my ticket C to D along with my companion, but then not showing and buying a ticket for me from A to B has resulted in lost revenue on the C to D ticket that the companion would otherwise have paid for. In other words, people could effectively never buy a ticket for their companion. That would be ok if the pass holder wasn't flying on another flight. WN is willing to let the companion fly free as long as the pass holder accompanies them. Turning a blind eye to a companion flying without the pass holder opens up a world of abuse of the program and therefore monetary loss to WN.

If Southwest were stupid enough to let Companions fly free without the CP holder on the plane, they would need to change the name of the benefit to "Friends Fly Free" (FFF instead of CP?) They would also have to double the number of flights required (possibly more) to get the FFF benefit since it's worth a lot more to the passenger.

A poll -- how many CP holders would like Southwest to be stupid and turn it into a FFF benefit but you have to take twice as many flights? Anyone???

I don’t have physical proof but this happened to my colleague in 2016.

Wife on companion pass boarded while while he did not board. They came onboard to ask her to identify herself and get her bags to come upfront. They mentioned the companion pass holder was not onboard and they will offload her. The flight was closed then so buying a ticket on the spot was not possible. The husband ended up buying a last minute ticket on UA to get her home.

There is some missing logic here. Letting the companion fly free is still the companion. It is still limited to ONE SPECIFIC person. There is no "Friends" involved at all. Nobody asked about letting a friend fly. One person BOUGHT a ticket, and was going to still PAY for the ticket even if they did not fly. The legitimate companion still wanted to fly.