92 | Not All Companion Passes Are Created Equal: Comparing Delta's and Alaska's to Southwest's

Show Notes

When people hear me talk about the Southwest Companion Pass, they sometimes say, "well I fly Delta/Alaska and they ALSO have a Companion Pass." Here's the thing... Delta's and Alaska's Companion Passes in NO WAY compare to the value you get from the Southwest Companion Pass. In this episode, I explain why.

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Want to make more family travel memories without breaking the bank? Longtime travel journalist Lyn Mettler shares her top tips to help families quickly and easily travel for less using rewards points and inspires you with ideas of where to travel on your next vacation.

Do you love to travel and

save money or do you wish

you could travel? But money is

holding you back.

You're in the right place.

Welcome to the Families Fly Free

podcast where I show you

how to fly your family free

forever using my simple fly-free

formula.

I'm your host, Lyn Mettler.

My family of four has mastered

the art of flying free as simply

as possible since 2015.

And I want to show your family how

to do it, too.

Hey, everyone.

Welcome back to the.

Families.

Fly.

Free podcast.

Can you believe we are rounding

out 2022?

We have come to the end of the year.

It has been a great year

of travel for my family.

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of our ability

to help hundreds of

families this year

now be able to fly

for free, too, and

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consider it if you want travel

to look different for your family

next year than it did this

year.

And of course, you can check more

information out about Families Fly

Free at Families Fly Free

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and be sure and go back and listen

to our past podcasts

with different members who

talk about how much they have been

able to save and the value

that it has held for their family

to be able to travel so much more

now. Today I wanted to

talk about the various

companion passes that are out

there in the world, and I

really wanted to record this one

because sometimes when I'm talking

about the Southwest Companion Pass,

which I declare to be

the best deal in travel,

I get the response from people

who don't really understand the

Southwest Companion Pass.

Oh, but we like to fly Alaska

and Alaska has a companion pass

too. Or oh, but we really

prefer to fly Delta and

we get to use Delta's companion

pass every year too.

So I want to educate you today

on the difference between Alaska's

and Delta's and Southwest's

Companion Pass

and you guys.

they're not even in the same

ballpark as Southwest.

So I just want

those of you who are out there

loving you can love another

airline for sure,

but if you really want to fly

your whole family a lot

of places and you don't want to pay

out of pocket for it, Southwest

is the airline to go with and the

companion pass is one

of the big reasons.

So I've got another

podcast scheduled in the future to

talk about addressing

these folks who just say, Oh,

I don't want to fly Southwest, so

I'm not going to do that.

It really comes down to, do you

want to fly free six times a year

and bring everyone with you or do

you want to fly Delta?

So for me, I'm going to

fly Southwest every time

to be able to fly free.

And they are a wonderful airline to

fly. They are not luxury,

but there is nothing wrong with

them. They are also not Spirit or

Frontier. So it's they're not

terrible service.

They're not, you know, bad seats,

any of that.

They are a very comfortable

airline to fly.

They go a lot of amazing places and

they really have the best

service in the industry.

But so let's delve into we're going

to talk about Alaska's and then

we're going to talk about Delta's

and then we're going to compare it

to Southwest's Companion Pass.

So Alaska's is called

the Alaska's Famous Companion

Fare.

And so if you are

hold one of Alaska Airlines

cards on one of their Visa cards

or one of their business Visa cards,

also they have if you.

All the world elite MasterCard

or Platinum Plus MasterCard as

a Canadian, this

grants you one companion

fare.

And what this means is that

you can purchase

for $99 for the

airfare, plus taxes

and fees, which are another 22.

So $121,

you can pay for someone

to fly with you for

that cost no matter what the actual

cost of the fare is.

So even if it's a $750 fare.

You're only going to pay $121

for someone to fly with you.

Using

this once-a-year companion fare, this person has to fly with you. You have to pay

in

dollars, you can't use miles for your own seat. You have to be on the same itinerary, of course, same flight, same time. And you have to book both of you at the same time on Alaska Air dot com. So this is not a freebie. Southwest is totally free except for taxes. Everyone has to pay the $5.60 per person per way fee. No getting around that, but the airfare on Southwest is totally free. This one, you're still paying. Now it's a better deal than paying a higher

priced fare, but it is

not free, so it's not that good

of a deal.

Let me note some other things.

It has to be for a new reservation

only, so you can't go back and add

someone to an existing reservation

that you've already made to

redeem your companion

fare. You'll have a code

that you will enter at checkout.

And you have to purchase your

fare, both of them yours

and the $99

companion fare with your

Alaska Airlines credit cards.

You can see there's a lot of details

and rules and regulations here.

There are for the companion pass,

too.

But again, we're going to talk about

why it's such a better deal.

You cannot combine this with any

other sales or discounts on Alaska.

The companion fare does expire

12 months after

the date of issue.

So in this case, it's a little

different on Delta, you just have to

have booked your flight by the

expiration date.

You can still travel after the

expiration date.

You just have to have it booked.

And to earn this companion

fare, like I said, you do have to

hold one of those cards and you do

have to spend a certain amount,

usually $1,000 within 90

days in order to get your first

companion fare.

And then you get one each card

anniversary.

So it takes 6

to 8 weeks to get your companion

fare code after you've

completed that minimum spend, and

they say approximately two billing

cycles.

So it's definitely not an immediate

thing.

And then every card anniversary.

So that's usually after you have

paid your annual fee, they

want to make sure you've renewed

and then two billing cycles after

you've paid your annual

fee.

So that's when you would get

your next one.

The only benefit I would say

to this one is it's easier

to earn than Southwest's Companion

Pass, because all you have to do is

spend $1,000 or

whatever the minimum spend is of

your everyday spending.

So it's easier to get, but

it is nowhere near

as valuable.

All right. Let's move on to Delta's.

So Delta's calls,

there's companion certificates.

And these also come as a perk

of holding select Delta cards.

So either they're

Platinum or Platinum Business

Amex cards or

the Delta SkyMiles Reserve

or Reserve Business Amex

cards.

If you hold one of the reserve

cards, you get

a higher class

level companion certificate so

you can fly first

class comfort plus or

the main component or main cabin.

And if you hold the platinum

cards, you have to stay

in the economy fair.

So it would just be a main

cabin certificate

that you could use.

You do have to fly domestically.

So within the U.S.

and again for the platinum, it's

just economy classes of service.

And the companion

certificate may not be

bookable on all flights.

So that means that there

is some

it's like award availability

that you see on many airlines.

Not all airfares.

Flights are bookable as award

fares.

I mean, it's the same thing with

this companion certificate.

So it doesn't really explain which

ones may or may not be restricted.

But I'm sure ones that are almost

full or on popular routes are not

going to allow you to use your

companion certificate.

Now, this companion certificate lets

you book someone for free aside

from the taxes and fees again that

we all have to pay. So that's a

little bit closer to Southwest.

But again, it's
a once-a-year only thing that you get better

than Alaska, Alaska's making you

still have to pay $99.

This one, you don't have to pay

anything.

You can't combine it

with any other offers or discounts,

which is including web fares,

sale fares and e-coupons.

But they do allow you to use

any credits that you would have with

Delta. Like if you were booking your

own flight in dollars, you could use

a credit to purchase that.

You do have to book both fares

again at the same time.

They have to be booked, of course,

on the same flights and the same

dates.

And you do have

to pay for it with your

associated Delta credit card.

So that's the same as Alaska.

Now, in terms of their expiration

date, you

do have to both book and

travel by the expiration

date listed on your companion

certificate.

There are no expiration dates

on Southwest aside

for when your companion pass ends,

which we'll talk about in a minute.

And then you get your companion

certificate each year after your

card renews, which means that you

have paid the annual fee

and it is supposed to show up in

that same month that you have paid

your annual fee.

If you are a medallion

member and

you are bringing a companion

you can upgrade

to. And you're eligible for

upgrades. You can't upgrade to a

higher class of service as long

as your companion is at least

a SkyMiles member.

So that's a nice perk as well

because you can't really do that on

Alaska Airlines.

So that outlines Delta's.

Both of these two passes

are once a year only.

So they're really one-time use.

And of course, you can only

bring one person

with you.

So let's talk about how Southwest

is 10 million times better,

shall we?

So to start with, you can

use Southwest Companion

Pass from the

time that you earn the pass until

the end of the following year.

And to me, this is the biggest

differentiating point I can

bring my companion with me on as

many free flights as I want

to while I

hold that pass.

That is completely different than I

can bring one person one time

or once a year on one flight.

I get so much more value out

of a Southwest Companion Pass if I'm

flying six times a year

and I'm holding it for almost two

years. So for my family,

if we're flying 12 times

and one of us is flying totally

free so we don't have to pay any

dollars for this companion

to be added, we don't have to pay

any points.

They just get added to a ticket

that we have purchased already.

So that saves us the cost of the

average roundtrip in the US,

which is $350.

And so over 12 flights

over two years right there alone

is 40 $200 in

savings.

So on a Delta, you're going

to save whatever you would have paid

for that ticket.

So again, average roundtrip 350.

So we'll just give that as a value

of the Delta one.

And then on Alaska, you're going to

pay $99.

So, you know, 350

-99 is 250.

So that's pretty much

the value of Alaska, but not

certainly on the Alaska one or the

Delta one. You're going to be trying

to use it on a

ticket. That's going to cost you a

lot more than that.

So you get more value out of it.

But still, I don't think anyone's

going to be paying for

a $4,000 flight

to save anywhere near as much as you

would on Southwest.

And it's not only the cost savings,

it's the number of trips that you

get out of it so that person

can fly.

I mean, more than 12 times.

That's just how often we do it.

But I've heard of people flying, you

know, ten plus times a year

with their Southwest Companion Pass.

So another

huge benefit of the Southwest

Companion Pass is you can book

your own seat in

points on Delta and

Alaska, both of those you're going

to have to pay in dollars

for your own seat.

So you're out of pocket on

that right there.

Southwest, I can book myself in

points. I can add my companion free

and no one's paying any airfare at

all. All we're paying is that $5.60

per person per way

mandatory government security

fee on Southwest.

I can also use it internationally

because Southwest they don't fly to

Europe, but they do fly to Mexico,

they fly to the Caribbean and they

fly to Costa Rica and

any other international destinations

they would add down the line.

So not just limited to domestic

flights. I can also book any flight

that has an available seat.

I can add my companion to that

ticket as long as there's a seat

available. So there's no

restrictions, there's no blackout

dates.

I can book any flight any time

with my companion.

And again, the Southwest Companion

Pass is good for almost

two years if you earn it

the way we get you on a system to

earn that pass as early as possible

in a year.

So as I'm recording this right now,

we have set up many of

our members who needed another

companion pass to get theirs in

January.

So that means they will hold it from

January 2023 all

the way through til December

2024, and then we'll have them on

our system to get their next one.

That will start January

2025 and last through

December 2026.

And on and on it goes.

You can keep earning the companion

pass over and over again,

and the simplest way to do it is to

only have to earn one every two

years. So if you find yourself, if

you're someone who does know about

the companion pass and you're trying

to earn it every year by spending

your way to the pass, I just see

that over and over and over

again of people

who are doing that.

That makes your pass only good for

you're having to earn it every

single year because you spend

your way on the Southwest card

to earn enough points

and usually you get that

accomplished toward the end of the

year and then it's good through the

end of the following year.

Well, at the end of that year

you're going to need one again.

So that same year you're going to

have to be trying to spend your way

to the companion pass.

So every year you're trying to spend

it, you need to earn beginning

January 1st, 2023,

135,000 qualifying

points to get the companion pass.

So you're trying to spend that on

your card, which is crazy hard to

do. And of course, that takes you

the better part of the year.

So please stop doing that.

If you're doing that and come join

Families Fly Free and let us show

you the easier way

to earn companion pass, which also

nets you many, many more

travel rewards, frequent flier miles

that you can go more places and let

us show you how to pay fewer points

for every flight.

All right. So some other things

about the companion pass.

You can change companions.

Once you name your companion,

you can change them three more times

that year.

And if you're pass is, you know,

good due the end of the following

year, you can change your companion

three more times.

So there's some flexibility even in

that, that it can be different

people flying with you for free

each time if you need it to be or it

can be the same person as well.

Doesn't matter. But I think you

can see that the Southwest

Companion Pass is a tremendously

better value that you will get so

much more out of.

Now it is more difficult to earn,

which makes sense that because it's

so much more valuable.

And there are, as I mentioned like

with Alaska's had a lot of rules and

details there are with companion

pass with Southwest as well.

You do have to make sure you

understand the timing, that you

understand what points qualify

and what points don't

that you understand, you

know, the best time to get it.

How to time your credit cards

if you're going to open a Southwest

card. That's the way we like to have

you get companion pass is to

earn a big chunk of points on

the Southwest card by

meeting a minimum spend and pairing

that with two Southwest cards.

So you have to understand which

cards you are eligible for

and when you can get bonuses again,

all that kind of stuff.

So that's where Families Fly

Free is so helpful.

We already know all this stuff, so

you don't have to you can

not worry about making a mistake

because we're going to tell you

exactly what to do, in what order.

And if you have any questions about

it at any time, you can ask

us and get an answer that you can

trust. That is correct.

And we're going to make sure that

you don't make a mistake if

you do happen to make a mistake

because you accidentally didn't

follow what we said.

We can still help you clean that up

and make the best of it.

So this

is what makes it easy because we

already know it and so we just

outline it for you and then you just

go and execute and

you're only having to do companion

pass once every two years.

That makes it so much easier too

than trying to earn it every single

year. That's so much more

complicated. So it is a little bit

harder to earn, but not if you do

it the way we tell you.

It's actually quite easy to get one

and to always have one, and then

you're going to be able to take one

person with you on as many flights

as you want around the

U.S., the Caribbean, wherever

Southwest flies internationally

for up to two years.

And it's amazing.

And you get even more value out of

it than that 4000 points because

a $4,000 that you've saved

on, again, I just picked six

flights a year.

But you also have the value

of the points that we help you earn

to get the pass.

So you have to earn this 135,000

points, which we show you

how to do very easily.

I know that sounds intimidating to

earn 135,000 points,

but it's actually really easy.

And so the value of those points is

another $2,000.

So Southwest Points are worth one

and a half to $0.02 each.

So if you multiply .015

times 135,000, you get

around a $2,000 value.

So you can see a Southwest Companion

Pass for a family who

flies six times a year

is worth more than $6,000.

And I will take that any

day. So I hope you see the

difference that I'm sorry,

but Delta and Alaska's companion

passes are just not even in the same

ballpark as Southwest.

They're better than nothing.

That's about all I can say.

But you won't come anywhere near

getting the value or the number of

trips out of them that you will with

Southwest. So I just want to make

sure everyone has a full

understanding of the differences

so that, you know, you're not

getting such a great deal out of

those two.

All right. So I hope everyone has

a great New Year's Eve and New

Year's Day and

we are going to be back at it in

2023.

We are ready to go.

We're ready to help show you

the best ways to fly free

in 2023.

All we're going to show you all the

places that you might want to go.

We have lots of great podcasts

coming up.

So again, if you want to fly

free so many more places

and do it the easy way, come

join us inside Families Fly Free

at Families Fly Free dot com slash

join.

We would love to help

your family be able to travel more

and it is time to put traveling

with your family back at the top

of your to-do list, especially now

that the busy holidays are done.

If you're ready to fly your family

free forever, I

invite you to join my Family's Fly

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