Earlier today, I broke the news on Boardingarea.com that Southwest is offering an incredible promotion to Atlanta residents. Basically, if you surf over to southwest.com/atlanta and register, just three roundtrips will net you a Southwest Companion Pass for the remainder of 2015.
Obviously, there’s news out there about Southwest’s forthcoming probably devaluation of Rapid Rewards, heard first by me at Mommy Points. While we still don’t know the true result of what’s coming in April, I don’t think it’s hard to imagine that some awards are going to cost more. But let’s get back to the topic at hand, the Southwest Companion Pass. Obviously, it depends on your travel needs, but I think a solid argument could be made that the Companion Pass is the best all around loyalty benefit in all of frequent flier land. It might not come with champagne and caviar, but it does come with free companion air fare for you plus taxes. That means that you and your companion can fly anywhere Southwest flies for your airfare, plus a few dollars in taxes for your companion. This is a real benefit for many people.
Why It Matters?
If you aren’t an Atlanta resident, this won’t make as much sense. For those of us that are, I think it’s pretty clear that Delta Air Lines carries a lot of cachet locally. In the last few weeks, Southwest has been coming on strong with local advertising and a big event held at the College Football Hall of Fame. While Atlanta isn’t the same kind of market for Southwest that it was for AirTran, it’s still important. In their words, Southwest “Hearts Atlanta!” They’re calling February a month of love. I’d say they’ve turned things up a notch in Atlanta. The question is…. will Delta respond in some way? Do they need to? Things could get cute in Atlanta real fast. I’ll be watching.
-MJ, February 13, 2015
It seems like one could spend $276 and 3 days to achieve companion pass status. Basically the lowest fare between ATL and DAL is $46 and you can do same day return.
What other benefits does companion status get you?
I am from GA. I am a former(ish) Delta fan whose status is expiring at the end of the month. I fly nearly 100% SW. And I love that SW is going for it in ATL!
I am also a little scared to see what will be forthcoming with the RR program. I just hope SW continues to #LUV those outside ATL!
I wonder what Delta’s response will be? I don’t think that I would be enticed to fly Delta even if they offered me Diamond medallion after 3 domestic trips.
“Things could get cute in Atlanta real fast.”
There’s just something about a Legacy Carrier getting punched in the nose that makes me smile…