Amidst all of the status extension offers already offered by Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Mlife, IHG, Best Western, Delta, United, and American Airlines, many have been wondering…. Where’s Southwest in all this?
Many earned the Southwest Companion Pass in 2019 expecting two years of use. A-Listers have also wondered what would become of their earned status.
In this article
Today, Southwest has announced their A-List status and Companion Pass extensions
- For Companion Pass holders, who earned Companion Pass benefits through December 31, 2020,
we are extending your current Companion Pass benefits through June 30, 2021. - For A-List and A-List Preferred Members who earned A-List or A-List Preferred status through December 31, 2020 and not through any type of promotion, we are extending your current earned status through December 31, 2021.
- For Members enrolled in a promotion granting promotional A-List status or challenging a Member to extend promotional A-List status such as Status Match, Tier Challenge, Tier Experience, or a Corporate Status Challenge and who met the flight requirements by the promotion end date, we are extending your current promotional status through December 31, 2021. However, for Members enrolled in any of the above promotions and who to date have not met the flight requirements, we are extending the deadline to meet the promotion’s flight requirements to October 30, 2020.
we are extending your current Companion Pass benefits through June 30, 2021.(See the full notice on Southwest’s website here.)
This is great news, although it notably leaves behind those that worked to perfectly time earning Companion Pass in the very beginning of 2020 using the credit card strategy. Those passes will still expire at the end of next year, even though you clearly won’t get much use of it in 2020. Hopefully, if this drags on much longer, they will consider a similar extension for those earning Companion Pass in 2020.
Automatic Progress Towards A-List and Companion Pass in 2020
All members will receive 15,000 tier qualifying points (TQPs), 10 qualifying one-way flight segments toward tier status, 25,000 Companion Pass qualifying points (CPQPs), and 25 qualifying one-way flight segments toward Companion Pass.
Based on that, the below table shows what you need after the boost.
Nothing being deposited above is redeemable for anything and can’t be transferred.
Travel Funds Extended
Funds that are set to expire or funds that are created between March 1, 2020 and September 7, 2020, will have an expiration date of September 7, 2022.
Previously these would have expired June 30, 2021.
Interesting: Convert Travel Funds into Rapid Rewards Points
Those Members who have travel funds that are set to expire or funds that are created between March 1, 2020 and September 7, 2020 will have the option to convert those travel funds into Rapid Rewards points at the same rate you would be able to purchase a ticket with points today.
It’s not exactly getting you any super bonus, since the value in redeeming tickets will already be factored in, but it would also mean those points won’t expire which could be very nice for someone that very rarely flies Southwest.
It would also be a nice way to even out your account if you already have some points – to have enough for a more expensive redemption.
Thoughts?
Let me know here, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group.
You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards.
New to all of this? The MilesTalk “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
