On October 15, 2026, Southwest announced significant changes to its Rapid Rewards loyalty program. The airline will roll out new terminology soon while revising the perks and rules of various pieces of the program, all starting on January 1, 2027.
Change often creates confusion, and this change is no exception. Southwest has switched up so many things in the last few years. Even Southwest frequent flyers may feel their heads spinning.
There are a lot of ways that the airline is marketing the changes as offering “more opportunity” for customers, and there are a few new modest perks of note.
But points and miles enthusiasts who have largely been laser-focused on maximizing status perks or earning a Southwest Companion Pass are mostly losers in the new playbook.
We’ve been hearing some common questions from TPG readers about the latest round of Southwest Rapid Rewards changes and what it means for status on the airline. Is your status changing in meaningful ways relative to your travel habits? Is the Companion Pass really dead?
Here’s what we know about the answers to these and other common questions. Plus, find out what action steps some Southwest travelers should take now to lock in a few perks before it’s too late.
What Southwest status level will I hold next year?
The new Rapid Rewards program goes into effect on January 1, 2027, meaning that program members with elite status will finish out the current year under a familiar program. For travelers who already have earned status on Southwest in 2026 (or who will before year’s end), the transition to the new system in 2027 should be seamless.
Rapid Rewards members who earn A-List status in 2026 become Silver for all of 2027 as of January 1, 2027. Similarly, those who earn A-List Preferred status in 2026 will become Gold for all of 2027. The transition won’t require any action on the part of customers.
The only truly new status that Southwest has created is Platinum, which now will include the coveted unlimited Companion Pass, and no one will start 2027 with that status. Instead, it must be earned under the new 2027 Rapid Rewards program rules.
If you want to keep the same Silver or Gold status perks beyond 2027 (or earn the new Platinum status), however, slightly modified earning rules go into effect in the new year. Those rules change the pathway to 2028 Gold and Silver status.
Will I lose (or gain) any perks or benefits in 2027 with Silver or Gold, as compared to A-List or A-List Preferred?
Once A-List members become Silver and A-List Preferred members become Gold, 2027 will look mostly the same for the vast majority of them. Status perks like free checked bags, early boarding groups, and free seat assignments will remain constant at comparable status tiers.
Silver (formerly A-List) members will even see improved earning bonuses on qualifying flight purchases in 2027 and beyond—40% extra instead of 25% that A-List received.
Gold (formerly A-List Preferred) members, however, will see their earning bonuses on flight purchases reduced, from 100% to just 60%. Thankfully, Southwest will provide a soft landing for A-List Preferred members who earn status this year. The airline’s website states, “Members who earn A-List Preferred status for 2027 based on their 2026 activity will retain their 100% flight-point earning bonus through December 31, 2027. The 60% earning bonus applies to Gold status earned under the new program terms.”
Southwest is also introducing a few intermediate thresholds (before Silver status and between Gold and Platinum) called “Milestone Rewards” that may result in a few extra perks for some members whose earnings fall between status levels.
Under the new rules, members who earn 95,000 TQPs or fly 75 qualifying one-way flights can unlock three Companion Pass trips. Each trip can cover a round-trip itinerary.
That’s a significant distinction for those of you who won’t qualify for Platinum. You can still earn limited Companion Pass benefits without reaching the highest tier.
But as with most program loyalty changes, Southwest gives with one hand and takes away with the other. Customers who purchase Southwest’s two most expensive fare types, Choice Preferred and Choice Extra, will earn fewer Rapid Rewards points on those purchases starting in 2027. Choice Preferred fares will earn 8 points per dollar spent (previously 10x), and Choice Extra fares will earn 10 points per dollar spent (previously 14x).
The combination of these changes could make the program substantially less lucrative for some types of status holders. For example, a member with A-List Preferred status currently earns 28 Rapid Rewards points per dollar spent on Choice Extra fares (14x plus a 100% bonus). By 2028, an equivalent Gold member will only earn 16 points per dollar spent on that same fare (10x plus a 60% bonus)—a mere 57% of previous earnings.
In contrast, a Silver member who regularly purchases cheaper Basic or Choice fares will end up a bit better off.
What types of points count to determine status or earn a Companion Pass?
Under Southwest’s current program, there are three types of Rapid Rewards points: those redeemable for airfare, those that also count towards A-List and A-List Preferred status, and those that also count towards Companion Pass qualification.
The new system essentially merges the final two categories into a single one: Tier Qualifying Points (TQP). Tier Qualifying Points are the primary way to unlock status (in addition to flying a set number of one-way flights), including the Platinum tier, which now awards an unlimited Companion Pass.
There are a number of ways that members will continue to earn Rapid Rewards points that can be redeemed for airfare, but that don’t award Tier Qualifying Points. Those include:
- Points earned from a co-branded credit card welcome bonus
- Credit card spending bonus categories
- Status bonuses (the multipliers applied to qualifying airfare purchases for status holders)
- Credit card referral bonuses
- Points earned from purchases with many partners (hotels, partner airlines, rental car companies, shopping and dining portals)
Many of these methods used to count towards Companion Pass qualification. They won’t in 2027.
Starting in 2027, there will be a very limited number of ways to earn Tier Qualifying Points on Southwest. The most common will be 1) points from spending on a co-branded credit card (1 TQP per dollar spent) or 2) base points earned from spending on qualifying airfare. (Group bookings, booking Getaways by Southwest, and some qualifying debit card purchases also earn TQP.)
Members will earn differently on qualifying airfare based on the fare type they purchase:
- Basic: 2 TQP points per $1 spent
- Choice: 6 TQP points per $1 spent
- Choice Preferred: 8 TQP points per $1 spent
- Choice Extra: 10 TQP points per $1 spent
Southwest may occasionally offer promotions for members to earn bonus Tier Qualifying Points. What’s unclear is what those promotions will be and whether they will be sufficiently rewarding to make up even a fraction of the loss caused now that so many kinds of points no longer count towards Companion Pass.
What happens to my existing Southwest Companion Pass?
Under the new Rapid Rewards program, going into effect on January 1, 2027, the only way to earn an unlimited Companion Pass is by achieving Platinum status. What happens to all the Rapid Rewards members who have already earned a Companion Pass through other methods?
If you have earned a Companion Pass that expires in 2026, regardless of the method you used to earn it, nothing changes. You still have the same ability to use it until the end of the year.
For travelers who earned a Companion Pass in 2026 with an expiration date of December 31, 2027, nothing changes for you either. You do not have to hit Platinum or worry about Tier Qualifying Points if you simply want to use the pass benefits until year-end 2027.
Can I still earn a Companion Pass with credit card bonuses this year?
Sometimes when airlines make loyalty program changes, the new rules go into effect immediately. That means there are no opportunities to continue taking advantage of the previous program perks.
Mercifully, that’s not the case with the upcoming Rapid Rewards changes. In fact, Southwest is giving customers a few more months to earn a Companion Pass the old-fashioned way. Anyone who applies and is approved for a co-branded credit card before December 2, 2026, will still be able to apply card welcome bonus points toward Companion Pass qualification.
Additionally, Southwest is giving customers a little more runway when it comes to using this method. Even if the customer completes the spending requirement on that card in early 2027, the welcome bonus points will continue to count towards Companion Pass qualification, as if they had been earned in 2026.
The catch is, however, that the Companion Pass awarded for new card signups in the next few weeks will only be valid until the end of 2027. If you had been planning to get one or two new credit cards this fall but were waiting to complete the minimum spend until January 2027 to earn a Companion Pass valid through 2028, that method will no longer work.
Of course, in order for any method to work at all, a Rapid Rewards member has to be able to earn the currently required 135,000 Companion Pass Qualifying Points in a very short period of time. Regular Southwest flyers or anyone who spends heavily on a Southwest credit card might be most of the way there. A single credit card welcome bonus might put them over the top.
But the road will be hard for many others. There simply isn’t a lot of time left in the year to earn under the old system. Additionally, if you’ve received a bonus on any personal Southwest credit card in the last 24 months, you might not even be eligible for a new personal card. And anyone who plans to earn most of the points through a welcome bonus on two cards—one personal and one business—might have a hard time obtaining both approvals.
So consider carefully whether there is a reasonably clear pathway available to you, particularly given that the Companion Pass will only provide one year of use.
Will there be any way to earn a Companion Pass with credit cards after January 1, 2027?
Welcome bonuses on Southwest co-branded credit cards will no longer count towards earning the Southwest Companion Pass after January 1, 2027 (with the minor exception already discussed). So is all hope lost for points and miles enthusiasts who strategically rely on credit cards after the next few months are up?
The answer to that question is still to be decided. The old method of getting the bulk of the points needed for a Companion Pass with welcome bonuses is dead.
But there is, of course, still the classic way to earn a Companion Pass by putting a massive amount of spending on a Southwest credit card—$130,000 to be exact. Earning Platinum status requires 140,000 TQPs (you get a 10,000 TQP bonus after hitting 130,000 TQPs).
The new 1 TQP awarded for each $1 spent will actually make that method a little more straightforward. But that number will be impossibly daunting for many. And with so many other rewards credit cards offering better multipliers on most kinds of credit card spending, the opportunity costs of pursuing this method to earn a Companion Pass might be pretty enormous.
In the past, Southwest also offered limited-time promotional Companion Passes. Sometimes these were awarded as a welcome bonus for a new co-branded credit card. Other times, a promotional pass was tied to registering for a promotion and purchasing and flying on Southwest flights within a defined time period.
It seems highly likely that Southwest will continue to offer promotions of this nature. So there may be other Companion Pass pathways to come, some of which might involve credit cards.
In fact, Southwest has also been sharing bits and pieces about a new premium-level co-branded credit card planned very soon. That card is confirmed to include lounge access and other perks for top spenders willing to pay a presumably hefty annual fee. It’s possible that this card might include a perk to help make it easier to earn the Companion Pass, like reduced Tier Qualifying Points or additional bonuses.
Let’s cross our fingers.
Bottom Line
Status at Southwest is changing, most significantly with the Companion Pass that has been relatively easy for many points and miles fans to earn for more than a decade. There is a limited-time pathway to getting one more Companion Pass valid through the end of 2027 for some Southwest flyers, but many more are simply out of luck.
In 2027 and beyond, everyone except the highest spenders and most frequent flyers will have to look for new ways to fly Southwest for less. Here’s to hoping the new year brings some new opportunities.
Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
Source: thepointsguy.com
