Southwest’s Rapid Rewards Overhaul: The Easy Companion Pass Is Over

Southwest just announced the biggest overhaul of Rapid Rewards in years, starting January 1, 2027. New elite tiers, a new way to earn the Companion Pass, partner airline awards and lounges. Southwest calls it “more to love.” I’d call it bad news for most people, with one potential silver lining.

Quick Answers

What’s changing

• New tiers. A-List becomes Silver (35,000 tier qualifying points or 25 one-way flights), A-List Preferred becomes Gold (65,000 or 50 flights), and there’s a new Platinum tier (140,000 or 100 flights). Silver and Gold now take 25% more flights than A-List and A-List Preferred did.
• The Companion Pass moves into the tiers. 95,000 tier qualifying points or 75 flights gets you three Companion Pass trips; Platinum gets you unlimited ones. Credit card welcome bonuses, referral bonuses, anniversary points, bonus-category points and partner points stop counting.
• Every Southwest card earns status. 1 tier qualifying point per $1, no cap, including the Plus and the business cards. In 2027 only, cardholders get a one-time 10,000-point boost at 130,000.
• Higher fares earn less. Choice Preferred drops from 10 to 8 points per dollar and Choice Extra from 14 to 10. Gold gets a 60% flight bonus, down from A-List Preferred’s 100% (people who earn A-List Preferred for 2027 keep 100% through 2027). Silver goes up from 25% to 40%, and Platinum gets 120%.
• New ways to spend points. Rental cars from mid-November 2026, partner awards on Icelandair, China Airlines and Etihad from spring 2027, and seat selection with points later in 2027.
• Lounges and a premium card. The first Southwest Icon lounges (Austin, Baltimore, Honolulu and Nashville) are planned from late 2027, with access through a new premium Chase card. Fees and details haven’t been announced.

Source: Southwest: Rapid Rewards program updates. Premium cabins on partner awards were confirmed by Southwest’s head of Rapid Rewards at its October 2026 media day.

The easy Companion Pass is over

For years, the Companion Pass was one of the best deals in travel: a couple of Southwest card bonuses, timed so they posted in January, and someone flew with you for just the taxes for almost two years. I wrote a guide on exactly that timing the day before Southwest announced this. Sigh.

From 2027, card bonuses don’t count at all. Without flying, the three trips take $95,000 of spending on a Southwest card, and unlimited trips take $130,000 to $140,000. That’s not a deal for most people; it’s a reward for people who were already spending or flying at that level.

Just last weekend I was talking with a retired couple, the parents of a friend, who have had a Companion Pass almost nonstop for nearly a decade. Every two years, one of them earns a new pass with Southwest credit card bonuses, business cards included, and names the other spouse as the companion. Between the points from those bonuses and the pass, they’ve flown Southwest almost for free for nearly a decade. It’s exactly what the old rules made possible, and from 2027 it will be all but impossible for people like them, which is to say most people.

There’s still a last chance under the old rules: earn the pass by December 31, 2026 and it’s good through December 31, 2027, and a card approved by December 2, 2026 still gets its bonus counted even if the spending runs into early 2027. The plan, the cards that get you there and what Southwest hasn’t explained yet are in my updated Southwest Companion Pass guide. The Plus, Premier and Priority reviews are updated too.

The (potential) silver lining: partner awards

Southwest points have only ever been good for Southwest flights. From spring 2027 you’ll be able to use them on Icelandair, China Airlines and Etihad, and Southwest says premium cabins are included. Etihad business class to Abu Dhabi or China Airlines business class to Taipei on Southwest points would be the most interesting thing these points have ever been able to buy.

The catch is that nothing about pricing, availability or surcharges is public yet. If the prices are reasonable, this could make Southwest points a lot more useful than they are today. If they’re not, it’s a press release. I’ll update my valuations when there’s something real to value.

How a hedge fund changed Southwest

In June 2024, Elliott Management, one of the best-known activist hedge funds, bought a roughly $1.9 billion stake in Southwest. It said the airline was badly run, tried to replace most of the board, and in October 2024 settled for five of the 13 board seats. Its economic stake later peaked at about 16%.

What followed, in a little over a year: assigned seating, bag fees ($35 for the first bag from May 28, 2025), a Basic fare that boards last, flight credits that expire, the first layoffs in Southwest’s history, and now a Rapid Rewards program that’s harder to get value from. Elliott also pushed Southwest to sell planes and lease them back, and to use its balance sheet to buy back stock.

Then it started cashing out. Elliott began selling in December 2025, was down to about 9% by February 2026, and two of its directors left the board that month (three are still there).

This isn’t private equity: Elliott never owned Southwest. It bought a minority stake and used it to pressure the board, and Southwest’s own management made every one of these decisions. Some of them, like better Wi-Fi and lounges, are things plenty of customers wanted. But to me the pattern looks a lot like the private equity playbook people have come to dislike: buy in, cut the things customers valued that didn’t show up on the balance sheet, lift the share price, and sell before the long-term cost shows up. The customers who picked Southwest because it was different are the ones paying for it.

Sources: Southwest’s securities filings and board announcements, as reported in October 2024 and February 2026.

My take

These changes are bad for most people. The people who come out ahead are those who put very large amounts of spending on a Southwest card (though if that’s you, most other cards would earn you more for the same spending), and people who already fly Southwest constantly. Everyone else gets a harder Companion Pass, fewer points on the expensive fares and status that takes more flights.

It’s also part of a pattern. Since Elliott showed up, the airline has walked away from almost everything that made it unique for flyers: free checked bags, open seating, simple and generous fares, and now the Companion Pass that a couple of card bonuses could earn. Each change probably makes business sense to Southwest on its own, but put together, Southwest is becoming just like all the others, minus the long-haul flights and premium cabins the others have, and it has worn down a lot of the goodwill it spent decades building with its customers. The partner awards are the first change in a while that gives flyers something new. I hope they’re priced well, but I won’t hold my breath at this point.