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Companion Pass qualification changes in the New Year

jclarkson
Employee
Employee

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As we began the New Year on January 1, we took the opportunity to close a loophole in our Rapid Rewards Companion Pass terms and conditions related to transferred points from our Partners. This was an effort intended to clarify qualification requirements for Companion Pass, one of the best benefits in travel, as well as to protect the integrity and value of the Rapid Rewards program. 

 

In doing so, we updated our terms and conditions which now clearly state that points transferred from hotel and car loyalty programs, and e-Rewards, e-Miles, Valued Opinions and Diners Club will no longer count toward qualification for a Companion Pass.  Members will continue to earn toward Companion Pass benefits through paid flights flown on Southwest, Points earned through spend with Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards credit cards, and base points earned through transactions with Rapid Rewards partners.

 

Many of you have reached out to us since then, and we greatly appreciate your honest and candid feedback. Because we are a Company that values our Customers and believes in doing the right thing, we are offering a limited window for Customers to earn toward Companion Pass by transferring their loyalty points from these Partners.

 

To that end, points converted from the above mentioned programs will count towards a Companion Pass until March 31, 2017. This is a hard deadline and we will not be able to make any exceptions beyond March 31. If you have points with these Partners that you wanted to transfer, please do not wait. Make the transfer before the deadline. 

 

We appreciate all of our Customers and look forward to seeing you onboard very soon!

26 Comments
dbpeaks1
Explorer C

Is this legit?  If so, Southwest customer service agents have not been informed yet -- and the Ts and Cs that changed on 1/1/17 have not been updated.

 

Please advise ASAP -- for I fear I just made a 270,000 Marriott Rewards redemption mistake.

 

 

tinagold
Explorer C

Southwest, honestly, you are an airline like no other! Wow, I have been singing your praises for the past 4 years. Your flexibility, good humor, and compassion are extraordinary.   That you extended this deal until March is quite remarkable. I have a daughter with intellectual disabilities who is able to fly on her own with you because of your wonderful disability policies. Delta, United, and American were very unsettling with their tenuous policies. Our family ALWAYS flies with you if you fly where we are going. Sometimes our trips are planned around where you fly because we love you guys so much! Thank you for being so wonderful. We would be glad to promote you in anyway, anytime!!

MrVker
Explorer C

Hello! Excellent news. I did the transfer Jan 2. Points posted yesterday. Will the system update and show the companion pass good through 2018? Thank you!!!!

LindseyD
Retired Community Manager

Hi @dbpeaks1,

 

Yes, this is legitimate, and we will continue to honor point transfers until March 31, 2017.

 

Lindsey

Moderator

Southwest Airlines Community

Anonymous3146
Explorer C

Hello,

 

I earned my CP for 2017 with my last flight in November/early December.  My understanding of this extension/grace period for those that want to transfer points is that once the points are transferred/earned, the CP will good through 12/31/2018.  Will you honor that expiration/extension for those that already earned thier CP through flights/points earned?

 

Thank you

arunnair1980
Explorer C

After praising nad promoting SW for 2 yrs with my friends circle and booking exclusively on SW, i started searching other carrier tickets reading the news about my Marriot points going almost useless. This news gives some hope - that SW is not becoming another AA or UA or DL atleast for the moment. 

jlo1
Explorer C

Look i dont expect anything from sw anymore so highly disapppinted with them since last flight when my personal things were ruined in my luggage that got soaked got no help from Sw explained im disabled cant just go out and replace these things and response was" its not our fault it rained"but they can give entire flight xbox systems and couldn't help a disabled woman go figure

ocbob
Explorer C

Thank you Southwest!  I was one of those who got caught by the closed  Companion Pass qualification path.  I wrote to several people at Southwest and received a thoughtful reply on January 5.  At first it looked like they were unable to extend the window, but as I finished reading the email I learned that the window would be open through March 31.  I had suggested January 31.

 

Southwest listens to their customers and treats them fairly and that is why Southwest is my airline of choice for both personal and business travel.  I fly about 75 flights per year.

Jschaff
Explorer C

I just transferred 1000 chase points to my RR account two days ago. It did not increment the 110k counter towards the Companion Pass

Tnflyer
Explorer C

I have been on hold to reach a support agent for two nights now (109 minutes tonight) regarding a CP issue and a discrepancy in my SW visa posting.

 

You have always been engaging and accessible in the ariports. What is happening with your support on this inquiry issue?

alexiou
Explorer B

I transferred points from Hyatt and they posted 1/5/2017 but they do not count towards Companion Pass. Do they need to be reviewed manually?

Indiana7777
Explorer C

Alexiou, did you ever get a response to your question or get the hyatt points to count towards the Companion Pass?  Thanks!

alexiou
Explorer B

Indiana7777 I eventually heard back. They told me that the points do not count because the activity date was from the end of 2016 even though they posted in 2017. 

Indiana7777
Explorer C

Thanks, Alexiou!

Brion
Explorer C

Hello - I just called SW to ask the agent about this and she wasn't able to answer. I understand 3/31 is a hard deadline but is it for booking or for completing travel?

 

Example: Can I book this trip today (before the 3/31 deadline) but for travel in July?

alexiou
Explorer B

Hi Brion,

 

I am not sure I understand the question. The original post here refers to earning companion pass via transferring hotel, car, etc points to southwest. If you book a southwest ticket that will always count towards companion pass status. 

 

Thank you. 

CVU
Explorer C

 I have spoken to several people at Soutwest and they say there is no extension until March 31st

alexiou
Explorer B

I can confirm that the points converted from Hyatt into southwest do indeed count towards companion status. 

CVU
Explorer C

They didn't and won't count my e rewards transfered Jan. 3. They did count as rewards but not the companion pass.

alexiou
Explorer B

What is the activity date for those points? 

CVU
Explorer C

Thanks for helping Alexiou.

Most of the activity was last year. They accumulate over time for taking surveys. There was not a problem transfering them last year with some being earned in 2015, all counted for a CP. When I do the next transfer there is no way to tell which were earned this year and which were earned last year.

 

I must have spoken to 6 or 7 SW employees and had my question escallated twice. Not one of them was aware of the March 31 deadline. They all quoted policy which has not been adjusted for this change. Do you know of anywhere in their policy that it has changed? The only place I can find it is in the the jclarkson article above.

 

alexiou
Explorer B

Sorry that you are unable to confirm this through the representatives. I got the confirmation of this policy by emailing customer service with a link to the article and getting a response. I am guessing that the phone representatives must go by the official rules which never really explicitly stated that point conversion from hotels stated. I would be more than happy to email u a copy of the letter if you message me. 

 

Thank you. 

CVU
Explorer C

How do I message you? Thank you

emerymee
Explorer C

How and where do I convert other loyalty points to Southwest for Companion pass?

CVU
Explorer C

 alexiou,

Thank you for all your help. I was able to get my problems resolved by sending a message to jclarkson.

RM1953
Explorer C

Good morning SWA, I was well aware of the SWA companion pass coupled with the Marriott flight & hotel packages which would allow redeeming Marriott points for 7 nights @ a Marriott property & so many SWA points. Earning 110,000 or more points would qualify for a Companion Pass. Obviously SWA modified the T&C's early last year as evidenced on this string but it appears a "selective" communication went out to RR customers informing them that the program was being modified but RR members had until 3/31/17 to take action to obtain a companion pass.

 

My disappoint is that it appears SWA did not make a general annoucement on this change because if they had I would have acted upon it.

 

I actually called the SWA RR phone line earlier this week (on 1/2/18) and spoke to a representaive and asked them a direct question about the Marriott/SWA program and he confirmed to me (verbally) that if I transferred 270,000 Marriott points I would obtain 120,000 SWA RR points and I would qualify for a CP for calendar 2018 & 2019. Obviously some of your reps are not up to speed on all of the nuances to these programs.

 

As a loyal long time SWA flyer and SWA council participant I am making this request. Because I was not made aware of these changes to the program & SWA this past week informed me that my actions would result in a Companion Pass I am requesting I qualify for a Companion Pass for calendar 2018 (I will not request 2019) as anyone who took action early last year would have gotten '17 & '18 which would have included me if I had known about this previous impending change.

 

Thank you in advance for any consideration on this matter.