If you are like many people you may actively look at airfare prices to international destinations you hope to visit some time in the future. If you are like me, you actively look for airfare prices to these destination from many different airports. If you do this, it wont take long to figure out that some airports just have ridiculously cheap flights to certain destinations. For example, a few days before writing this post, flights from Ft Lauderdale to Medellin, Colombia were $205 roundtrip or 7000 miles + tax and fees on Jetblue. Not only is this price an exceptional deal, we both have 7000 trueblue miles to use which would bring the flight down per person to just the fees which were $68.56.
Combined that’s $137.12 for us to both go to Colombia.
Clearly this is amazing however there is one major problem, we are very far from Ft Lauderdale. This is where the companion pass comes in handy once again. Southwest often has flights from AUS to FLL for ridiculously cheap prices. It just so happens that if we take a flight from AUS to FLL on southwest we can make the flight down to Colombia with a good 4 hour layover cushion in FLL. The flight times on southwest for the date we plan to return back to AUS from FLL are also very favorable. In this case, we would have a 5 hour layover. This should be plenty of time to get through customs and change terminals.
To further illustrate how great of a deal the companion pass is, the following is a break out of the costs associated with flying from AUS to FLL.
Austin to Ft. Lauderdale
Ft. Lauderdale to Austin
As you can see above, the cost of roundtrip flights from Ft. Lauderdale would be $59+$117= $176. To add your companion, it is $5.60 each way. This would add $11.20 to your flight total.
So for two people to fly round trip from Austin to Ft. Lauderdale on these specific dates would come out to roughly $187 total or $94 a person.
This is obviously very cheap, but we made it even cheaper by booking with miles. The following is the cost breakdown associated with using miles.
As you can see above, the cost of one persons round trip from Austin to FLL would be
2,923 miles + 6,699 miles = 9,622 miles
$5.60 security fee per way x 2= $11.20 security fee.
With the companion pass, an additional person can fly with you for an additional $11.20 security fee.
That means you and your companion can fly roundtrip to Ft. Lauderdale from Austin for around $22 and 9k miles.
Lets take a look at what the total cost would be for two people to get to Colombia by utilizing the Southwest Companion pass.
2 Roundtrip flight Austin to Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip: $187
2 Roundtrip flights Ft. Lauderdale to Medellin, Colombia: $410
Total: $597
Thats $298.50 per person to fly to Colombia from Austin!
Since we had miles to use on both Jetblue and Southwest, this is what it cost us:
2 Roundtrip flight Austin to Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip: 9,622 RR miles + $22.40
2 Roundtrip flights Ft. Lauderdale to Medellin, Colombia: 14,000 trueblue miles + $137.12
Total: $159.52
That’s $79.76 per person to fly to Colombia from Austin
Unless you have 7000 trueblue miles laying around, this price isn’t realistic for most people. However, we earned most of these miles from one Jetblue flight. To be honest, all 7000 of the miles used came from 2 flights and a some promotions.
Southwest offers so many places to fly it would be hard to visit them all within the year or two window that your companion pass is valid for. This being said, there are many, not so far international destinations that a person may want to visit but can’t using southwest.
This post illustrates how the companion pass can be used in conjunction with other airlines to get a person to international destinations for a very affordable price.
If you do chose to use the companion pass in this way, make sure that the flight times and locations will work out between southwest and the other carrier you choose. Cities and airports you are unfamiliar with may offer logistical problems preventing you from making your connection flight. Since the flights are booked separately, on separate airlines, a delay from southwest on for your initial departure could result in the forfeiture of your entire trip. That’s not all bad if the connection is in a city you wouldn’t mind visiting anyways, but can definitely pose problems. To mitigate these risks, book flights with decent length layover times.