Companion Pass timing
 

Hey, looking to get your experience regarding my situation. My cc statement ends Jan 10, after which I will have earned companion pass when the sign up bonus hits. I want to take a friend on a trip Jan 31. Between bonus posting, companion pass recognized, and setting up companion, does that seem possible?

Also, assuming that works out, i want to change companion to spouse for a flight in April. There should be no issue with the flight selling out by beginning Feb for a late April flight right? CLE-LAS

Thanks

Are you saying you earned 110,000 points between approx Dec 10th and Jan 10th - including bonus points? Some serious spending there.

As some other threads have indicated, you MIGHT get the bonus points and CP this week. Sometimes that bonus hits a few days later, and sometimes next month. If it hits, you can book it. There only has to one open seat to add a companion. I assume you are already booked.

As to adding spouse, you can not do that until AFTER the Jan 31 flight is flown. There can only be one companion in the system at a time. Again, I assume you already have yourself booked for the April flight. Should not be a problem. I even had a flight sold out once and forgot to add companion. Had to keep checking every hour the day before the flight until a seat opened up.

If you're worried about the April flight selling out, just book the flight for your spouse with those 110k points you'll have sitting around. Then swap out the award flight for a companion flight once you've changed companions. I haven't done it - perhaps someone else who has can chime in - but I'm pretty sure I've read reports that you can change it with a phone call. You'll get a refund of the miles.

It's a cancel and rebook, not a swap. Your odds are not 100% if the flight is full, but they are better than if you hadn't booked the seat using points.

I'm in the middle of these steps now. 110k points have all posted to my account as of Jan 12. Account shows I have earned companion pass, but cannot add companion yet. Called and CSR says it can take up to 5 days for the system to update before companion can be added to account. Is this similar experience for others? Any workarounds?

In the past, I could add Companion about 5 days after the points post and the Companion pass shows up. I would call every day if it is urgent. My guess it will be finalized later this week and no problem booking if on 31 Jan.

As to switching companion, best to book companion with points now to hold a spot - just in case. Once the companion switch is done, cancel companion reservation and add a Companion. Not 100% sure thing, but usually no problem

Following up on this. Midday on the 3rd day after 110k points posted on account link to assign companion was available. Was able to assign and add companion for a flight tomorrow within 10mins.

BINGO!

Thanks for coming back and letting folks know. Easy stuff.

Bookmark this URL to speed up the process of checking whether you can add your companion. It is conceivable the URL could work minutes, hours, or a night or so before the link appears in your account.