Get 2 for 1 Airplane Tickets with Credit Card Companion Certificates
Airfare Booking Strategies, Credit Card Reference
One of the primary benefits of several airline-branded credit cards is an annual “companion airfare certificate”, that you can redeem for a free (or substantially discounted) second ticket on a two person reservation. Every year, a companion certificate lets two people fly for close to the price of one.
There isn’t much that we like more than a free flight, so this particular perk sounds amazing on paper. And a few of the certificates are actually pretty great. For example, if you live on the west coast, Alaska Airline’s companion certificates are fantastic, and will reliably save you hundreds of dollars per year.
Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for many of the other companion certificates. When you look at the fine-print, many of these other options turn out to be mediocre deals. Either, you’ll be blocked from redeeming it on most flights, or you will be forced to pay a higher rate for the first traveler’s tickets. Sometimes, the cost of using the companion certificate winds up being more expensive, than just buying two separate tickets. That said, there will always be circumstances where every one of the available companion benefits can deliver substantial value. Some are just easier to take advantage of, than others.
If you frequently find yourself flying on Alaska, you should get their credit card to take advantage of its $121 companion certificate. If you frequently fly on Delta, their companion certificate can also deliver good value. And if you frequently fly Southwest, their Companion deal is probably the most useful credit card benefit of them all.
For most people, signing up for credit cards, just to receive travel benefits, good reward earning rates, or lucrative signup bonuses, isn't an irresponsible thing to do. It won't kill your credit rating—it just might improve it. But, if you have a problem with credit, or you aren't organized enough to avoid unwanted credit card fees, you'll need to stick to our other strategies for discounted travel. For more information, see our Credit Cards 101 guide.
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Southwest Companion Pass
The Southwest Airline’s Companion Pass allows you to bring along a companion for free, on any paid or award trip on Southwest Airlines, and can be used over and over again. It essentially allows a couple to fly for half-price, every time they fly Southwest.
Unlike the other “Companion Certificates” discussed in this guide, it isn’t technically a benefit of getting a credit card, but rather a benefit from reaching a high-level of “activity” with Southwest Airlines. However, the easiest way to qualify for this benefit, is by signing up for two Southwest Airlines credit cards.
If you live in a city well-served by Southwest, and frequently fly domestically with another person, see our detailed article about Get 2 for 1 Travel with the Southwest Airline Companion Pass
The good
The Alaska Airlines and Delta Airlines companion certificates are a good deal for many travelers.
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The Alaska Airlines companion certificate is the only certificate that simply just works. You can travel anywhere that Alaska or Virgin America flies, including Hawaii, Mexico, and Central America. It works whenever there are any seats available, and you can book the initial ticket using any economy-class rate. You can even use it for multi-city itineraries. Companions pay $99, plus taxes. You’ll get your first companion certificate once you’ve met the initial spending requirement, and an additional certificate, each year you have the card. Guide to the Alaska Airlines Companion Certificate If you live in Alaska Airlines territory, or you are planning a trip to Hawaii, or the west coast of Mexico, this certificate provides great value. Living in Seattle (and many other cities), this is a must-have card. It also provides free checked bags on Alaska flight. $75 annual fee. | |
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The Delta companion certificate is a bit harder, but not impossible, to use. Companions can fly for free (just taxes) on coach flights in the contiguous US. The certificate can’t be used on more expensive international and Hawaii trips. While you don’t have to pay a special higher fare on the initial ticket, the certificate only works with a limited number of fare classes. Once the plane starts to fill up, you won’t be eligible to use the certificate on that flight. When tickets prices are higher than normal, and using the certificate would be most attractive, companion fares often won’t be available. Nevertheless, many people will wind up flying on Delta flights where the certificate can be used, and can save significant amounts of money. If you are well-served by Delta, and fly domestically a few times a year, you should be able to get more value out of this certificate (and card) than the $195 annual fee, but you run some risk of not having a good opportunity to use the companion certificate. You’ll get the certificate on your account anniversary (you don’t get one the first year that you have the card). Guide to the Delta Airlines Companion Certificate. |
The okay
A few other cards can be a good deal, if you frequently fly on that airline, or have already planned a specific trip.
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If you frequently fly between North America and Columbia or Central America, the Avianca Vuela card provides a valuable 50% off coupon for award travel. You’ll earn a coupon, each year you spend $12,000 on the card, and an additional coupon if you spend $24,000. Each coupon gives you 50% off the award cost of a ticket. Technically, it has nothing to do with a “companion” fare, but it still is a way to use an airline credit card to get a cheaper-than-normal flight, every year. Given the normal cost of an award ticket, this benefit dramatically increases the effective number of points you are earning from the first $24,000 points you spend with the card. However, the coupons can only be used for round trip travel on specific routes, and expire after a year, so they are primarily useful for people who will frequently fly on Avianca. | |
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If you fly transcontinental on Iberia every year, you'll get great value from the Iberia card's companion certificate. It is worth $1,000 off the cost of two tickets. In extreme cases, two people could use the certificate to fly to Europe for next to nothing. This would have easily made our list of "good" certificates, if not for two things. First, to get the certificate you'll need to spend $30,000 each year with the card. Second, there are are only a small number of flights where you can use the certificate, and many people wouldn't have a good opportunity to use the certificate before it expires. | |
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If you can fly transcontinental on Aer Lingus, you can get good value from the Aer Lingus card's companion certificate. Like many other certificates, it gives you 2-for-1 economy class tickets; but unlike most other certificates, the companion doesn't even need to pay taxes and fees. The drawbacks are the same as with its sibling Iberia card. You'll need to spend $30,000 during a calendar year to qualify for the certificate, and it can only be used on flights to and from the US that are operated by Aer Lingus. $95 annual fee. | |
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Various American Airlines cards offer a $99 companion certificate with $20-30,000 of spending. But, the certificates are limited to economy-class tickets in the continental United States. You'll need to use it for an expensive fare to save enough money to justify the required amount of spending. For example, you'll miss out on about $400 in rewards by using your Citibank Advantage card for $30,000 of spending (during anniversary year) and the companion ticket still costs $99, so the base cost is $500 for a domestic ticket. It is possible to get more value than that, but it is probably not worth needing to deal with the additional hassles. $99 annual fee. | |
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The Aviator cards offer a better deal. The spending requirement for the Aviator card is now $20,000 per anniversary, reducing the opportunity cost of acquiring the certificate to less than $300. If you upgrade to the $195 Aviator Silver card, the same amount of spending gets you a certificate that can be used for two companions (instead of one). For people who are likely to use the certificate for three people, this probably deserves to be moved up to the "good" section. | |
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When you first get the Hawaiian Airlines card, you’ll get a certificate that gives you 50% off a companion ticket on a coach ticket between North America and Hawaii. You should be able to use it on most Hawaiian Airline flights. Then, each additional year, you’ll get a certificate worth $100 off a companion fare. Because flying to/from Hawaii is usually expensive, the initial 50% certificate is typically worth $200-500 (or even more). If you know you are going to Hawaii in the next year, and can take Hawaiian Airlines (Western US and NYC), this can be a great deal. If you fly Hawaiian with someone every year, the annual $100 off certificate will offset the $89 annual fee, but not by very much. You'll also get a discount on economy class award redemptions. | |
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The Delta Reserve card provides a similar certificate to the Delta Platinum card, except that it can be used for a first-class domestic flight (assuming you can find availability). and not just coach. However, most of our readers are going to be better off paying the Platinum card’s $195 annual fee, rather than the Reserve card’s $450 annual fee. | |
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With Allegiant’s credit card, you get a free companion airfare, whenever you buy a package that has a 4-night hotel stay, or a 7-night car rental. If you want to take an expensive Allegiant flight, you should be able to get a package for less money than two airfares—and it is even better if you can take good advantage of the hotel room or the car. This can be done multiple times per year, delivering tons of value to people with the right travel patterns. $59 annual fee. | |
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With the Virgin Atlantic credit card, you’ll get a certificate for an economy companion award ticket, every year you spend $25,000 on the card. This isn’t a bad deal, if you are likely to make a Virgin Atlantic award reservation. However, because of their limited routing options and the high fuel surcharges for flights between the US and London, not that many people are likely to fit into this category. Flyers with Virgin Atlantic Elite status can use the certificates for higher classes of service and obviously fly Virgin Atlantic frequently enough to make this a very good deal. Spending is based on each anniversary year. $90 annual fee. |
The bad and the ugly
The rest of the companion certificates programs may seem like good deals at first, but usually don’t work out that way.
Most people will have a hard time finding a good opportunity to use these certificates. However, occasionally you can. If you fly on a particular airline a lot, or purchase a bunch of full-priced international business and first-class tickets every year, one of these cards may make sense for you.
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The British Airways “Travel Together” certificate is a bit of an odd duck in this list. It provides a companion ticket for an award redemption, rather than for a paid ticket. And it works on any class of service, not just coach fares. You get a certificate after spending $30,000, over the course of a calendar year, on the card. This represents a lost opportunity cost of about $300, compared to the rewards you could have earned by doing the same spending on a good general-purpose reward card. For coach trips, you are generally better off just buying tickets (or using non-BA miles). British Airways will tack on between $600-1,000, per ticket, in surcharges, making the award ticket not much less expensive, than it would cost to buy outright. For business or first-class trips, the surcharges jump to $1,200-1,500 per ticket, and the required mileage (for the first ticket) goes through the roof. However, earning and using the certificate, will almost always be a better alternative, than paying cash for a premium-cabin ticket. So, if you normally pay cash for business or first-class tickets on BA, you should get this card, spend $30,000 on it, and take advantage of the certificate. If not, you probably won’t get enough value from the certificate, to justify the cost in annual fees and lost reward points. | |
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The Aeromexico companion certificate allows a companion to fly for $99 plus taxes, but the base ticket needs to be booked at a non-discounted rate (Aeromexico’s Plus rate). Given that this rate is typically close-to, or more-than, double the price of a discounted coach seat, you may pay more (in total) when you use the companion certificate. Of course, there will be times when there are no discounted rates available, and the companion certificate will have some value. $45 annual fee, $75 annual fee for signature version. ` | |
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The Lufthansa certificate allows for a free companion in coach. Not only does Lufthansa have high fees and surcharges on the companion ticket, but the base ticket needs to be bought as a full-priced ticket. A single full-priced ticket, plus the surcharge on the free ticket, will almost always cost more than just buying two regularly priced tickets. This is generally a bad deal , even for someone who can take advantage of the limited number of Lufthansa flights from North America. |
Companion certificates tips
A few general rules and tips apply to all the credit card companion certificates.
- The entire itinerary must be operated by the respective airline. You can’t fly on a partner airline. If the airline doesn’t have service from a nearby airport, you’ll have to buy a separate ticket, to and from a gateway airport.
- You only have a limited amount of time (typically one year) to use the certificate, so a certificate can easily go to waste. Early in the year, you may be reluctant to use the certificate for a relatively inexpensive fare. Then, later in the year, you might not find an additional opportunity to use the certificate before it expires. An expired certificate is not just a lost opportunity, it is often a waste of the money you paid for the credit card's annual fee. Be realistic about the likelihood that you will be able to take advantage of a certificate over the course of the year.
- If you think you can get good value out of a certificate, and there is more than one adult in your household, don’t hesitate to get multiple cards. For families, two certificates allow four people to fly for the price of two; for couples, two certificates mean two trips a year.
- You can usually also get additional certificates via business cards. Most of these credit cards are available in both business and personal versions. If you are willing and able to get business credit cards, you can sign up for both, and receive two certificates per year.
- When you are permitted to, you can usually maximize your rewards by buying your ticket with a different card, instead of the one which gave you the certificate. To use many of the certificates, you need to buy the tickets with the associated credit card; but with other certificates, you can use whichever card you want, and you should use the card that gives you the best rewards and benefits for airline purchases.
- The companion will always pay for taxes and other fees, so they never fly completely free. Other certificates also income some sort of additional fee. For example, the Alaska Certificate usually adds an extra $99.
- Most of these certificates require booking directly with the airline. You may not be able to use them with a work-related trip, that must be booked through your organization’s travel website.
- When calculating whether these certificates are good value, remember you are typically not earning miles on the free flight. Although, this usually doesn't make that big of a difference as to whether a certificate is valuable or not.
Amex Platinum international airline program
Amex Platinum Card cardholders get airfare discounts on premium-economy, business class, and first-class tickets bought through Amex. Discounts are only available for flights that originate in the US and Canada, and can apply on up to 8 tickets. You need to call Amex to access the discounted fares, and pay an extra $39 fee. Expect to save about 10%, compared to the fares you can find elsewhere. Amex IAP Webpage.
