Extended through Friday 9/25 -- Promo: Two month CP after one flight
 

On the front page of the website, book one flight between 9/22 - 9/24 for travel 9/22 - 11/15 and get a two month CP next January and February.

Did someone say status run? This is awesome. I’m totally doing this!

So if you earn CP through this promotion, do you have to wait until it is valid (Jan 6) to book your companion? I assume you could book any trips you are planning to take now and just add the companion on Jan 6. They might get a lot of calls that day for people adding companions.

A couple of thoughts.

Obviously, the CP window for the promo pass is not a popular time.

If there is another CP promo offer in the future for 2021, getting this one may cause you to not get the offer for a different one. Meaning, unless you are sure you will get good use of this CP, it may not be a good idea.

You can add the CP person online and that person was always on a separate reservation anyway.

Can you use travel funds to buy a ticket and qualify for the promo CP?

Sounds like it has to be a "revenue flight", i.e. you have to pay for it (including travel funds though as payment) but it can be a ONE WAY flight by yourself. Did I read that right? Hmm any $40 short flights remaining ?

Yes, it has to be a revenue flight, which simply means not booked with Rapid Rewards points.

Valid forms of payment for revenue flights include Credit Card, PayPal, Apple Pay (iPhone only), Cash (airport only), Southwest Gift Card, Luv Voucher, and Travel Funds.

I'm not expecting this kind of promotion is busier months. This one feels like very much a one-off - the lowest-peak travel months in an already low-travel period due to slow recovery from the pandemic. In other words, not a thing I'd be betting on for summer 2021 or even winter 2022.

We have maybe two trips where it'll save us a couple hundred bucks. I was planning on buying one $45 segment up to Chicago to retrieve a car sometime this fall anyway. I will probably do it...

Cool promo. We have CP through next year already, but I have some friends I might turn on to this.

Do you only need a one way ticket to qualify

From the T&C's:

Registration must be completed prior to booking and commencement of travel. Valid on new qualifying revenue flights booked between September 22 and 24, 2020 for travel during the Promotion Period and flown within the Promotion Period. Member’s qualifying flight must be booked through Southwest Airlines® between September 22 and September 24, 2020 for travel that must be completed during the Promotion Period. Member’s Rapid Rewards account number must be entered at the time of booking Member’s qualifying flight to earn a Promotional Companion Pass valid for use between January 6 and February 28, 2021. A qualifying flight is a one-way revenue flight on Southwest Airlines from an origin city to a destination city, including any intermediate stops and/or connections or a round trip revenue flight on Southwest Airlines from an origin city to a destination city and back to the originating airport or carrier-recognized co-terminal. Travel booked or flown prior to registration for this promotion is not eligible for the Promotional Companion Pass offer. Charter flights, group travel, Southwest Vacations® Packages and reservations made using Rapid Rewards points do not qualify for this promotion. Valid on Southwest Airlines published scheduled service. Changes made to the itinerary after purchase may eliminate qualification for promotion.

Cool promo. I don't know that I'll feel personally comfortably flying by November just for a status run (and I don't currently have any planned travel), let alone a companion who will feel comfortable flying in Jan/Feb! But it's still tempting. I have so much in travel funds right now, that booking a couple $49 flights might be worthwhile. (The only loss being that those funds will end up expiring 9/2021 instead of 9/2022 if I end up cancelling the trip).

Do folks have a sense of what intra-CA flights might have low loads right now? (From pre-Covid times, I suspect a Tues/Wed OAK-LGB might be reasonably light...)

I'm not clear on how the timing of booking the companion ticket would work. Say I book a qualifying flight today, to travel October 10. The plan is for my companion and I to take a couple of trips in January and February. When would I be able to book our January/February flight with my companion flying free? Would it be after my October 10 flight? Would it be not until January 6? Some other date?

Also, can I book our January/February flights using Rapid Rewards points and still get my companion's ticket free?

My guess is that sometime around November 16th, you'd receive notification that you have the CP. (I'm assuming it's a batch process they'd run at the end of the period, but I guess it could happen earlier...) You would add your companion's name after that, and then go into your existing reservations and add him/her as a companion.

I already have February trips booked. At some point, I'll cancel the seats for my wife, putting RR points back into my account, and then rebook companion tickets.

The only limitation is that you cannot add a companion to a flight that is already sold out, but that is highly unlikely on the flights I have booked for February.

Yes, you can fly award + companion. Just pay the $5.60 or whatever it is in taxes per segment.