Hawaiʻi Companion Fare Deals: Southwest vs. Alaska (2026)
⏱ 5 min read
Short answer for busy kamaʻāina: if you want the most dependable everyday two-for-one on flights off-island, the Alaska and Hawaiian $99 Companion Fare is the workhorse. If you grabbed Southwest's free promotional Companion Pass earlier this year and you have flexible fall dates, that one can be the bigger saver. The honest catch is that each deal asks you to bend your trip around its rules, and the airline is the one who wrote the rules. Let me walk through how they actually stack up for those of us flying out of Honolulu.
The Southwest promo in particular has a timing rule that catches a lot of people, so I want to make sure you see it clearly before you plan around it.
The Southwest promo pass and its timing rule
Back in early February, Southwest ran one of its recurring flash promos: register your Rapid Rewards number, book one qualifying round-trip (or two one-ways) during a short February window, complete that travel by March 31, and you earned a promotional Companion Pass. Your companion then flies for just taxes and fees, starting at $5.60 each way, on your Southwest flights. It was an easy offer, a low bar to entry, all fare types counted, and you could even book with points. If you snagged one, you did the easy part.
Here is the catch. This particular pass is only valid for a two-month window, roughly August 10 through October 7, 2026. And you cannot actually attach your companion to a reservation until the pass lands in your account on August 10. That leaves you choosing between two awkward options.
- Book your own seat now to lock a good fare, then hope a companion seat is still open on that same flight once the window opens on August 10.
- Wait until August 10 to book both of you together, which guarantees two seats, but by then the fare may have climbed past what an early booking would have cost.
Book early and you risk the seat. Wait and you risk the price. This is the part worth understanding before you build a whole trip around the promo.
The full, non-promotional Southwest Companion Pass is a much bigger lift. It takes 135,000 qualifying points or 100 qualifying one-way flights in a single calendar year, though holding an open Southwest card adds a 10,000-point boost toward that total each year. Also remember Southwest now charges for checked bags and moved to assigned seating in early 2026, so the old cheapest-seat math is not quite what it used to be for our mainland hops.
The Alaska and Hawaiian $99 Companion Fare
This is the one I reach for most, and it is the steadier deal for everyday kamaʻāina travel. Through the [LINK: best cards for Hawaii travelers], you can earn a companion fare where your travel buddy flies for a flat $99 plus taxes and fees starting around $23, so figure about $122 for the second person. It works on Alaska and Hawaiian economy flights within North America, which absolutely includes our Hawaiʻi routes, and it can be used one-way or round-trip. The companion even earns points and can be upgraded. For a full picture of the program itself, see my [LINK: Atmos Rewards guide].
It is a genuinely good deal. It just keeps asking a bit more of you than it used to.
- To renew it each year, you generally need $6,000 in card spend during your prior card anniversary year. That is real money, not a casual amount.
- As of fall 2025, it no longer works on open-jaw or multi-city itineraries. Alaska called it a systems cleanup, but the practical result is simple round-trips and one-ways only for now.
- The primary ticket has to be a paid cash fare. You cannot layer the companion fare on top of an award booking.
None of that ruins it. On a pricey outbound route it can still save you hundreds. You just have to keep the card active enough to hit the spend, keep your routing simple, and pay the main seat in cash.
What about the Hawaiian card's companion discount?
Worth a quick mention, because folks mix this up. The Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard from our local Bank of Hawaii is a different animal. Its companion benefit is not a repeatable companion pass. The headline is a one-time 50 percent discount on a round-trip coach ticket between Hawaiʻi and North America, usable in the first 13 months. After that first year, the ongoing perk becomes a $100 companion discount each account anniversary, alongside the card's $99 annual fee.
So the 50 percent number you see up front is the one-time version. The ongoing yearly perk is the $100 discount. If you were getting the card anyway and already fly these routes, fine. Just do not expect a permanent half-price seat.
Which companion deal is better for kamaʻāina?
Let me put a real number on it. Say a round-trip from Honolulu to Las Vegas, our beloved ninth island, is running about $420 per person. Here is roughly what each companion deal saves you on that second seat.
Illustrative only. Assumes a $420 round-trip base fare per person; actual fares, taxes, and fees vary by route and date.
Here is my simple read on who each one fits.
- Grab the Southwest promo pass if you have flexible dates in that August to October window and you do not mind the book-first-attach-later step. On paper it saves the most, because the companion flies for almost nothing.
- Lean on the Alaska and Hawaiian $99 fare if you want a reliable, repeatable deal you can plan a real trip around, and you already put enough on the card to hit the spend.
- Use the Hawaiian card discount only if you already want the card and have one specific trip in mind, especially in that first-year 50 percent window.
The pattern across all three is the same. The savings are real, but every one of them asks for flexibility, spend, or timing before it pays off. Check the requirements before you commit to a trip based on the discount.
The best cards for Hawaiʻi residents who travel
Every one of these companion deals starts with the right rewards card in your wallet. Whether you are hopping between the islands or heading to the mainland, the right card earns you the most points on every flight. Here are our current top picks for Hawaiʻi residents.
See our top cards for Hawaiʻi residentsThis section contains links from our advertising partner CardRatings. If you apply through these links we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Advertiser Disclosure: CardRatings.com is an advertising-supported site. Offers that appear on this site are from companies from which CardRatings.com receives compensation. This compensation may affect how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they appear. CardRatings.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers.
Scottie's Take
If I could only keep one of these, it is the Alaska and Hawaiian $99 fare. It is predictable, and that is what I want from a companion deal. I know what it costs, I know it works on my Hawaiʻi routes, and I can plan around it months ahead. The Southwest promo pass is a nice freebie when the timing lines up, and I will use one if I have flexible fall dates, but I would not reshape a whole trip just to chase a companion seat that might not be there on August 10.
My honest bottom line: take the free ones when they fit your life, and lean on the steady one when they do not. Do not let a big discount number talk you into a trip you were not going to take anyway.
Did any of you pull off the Southwest promo pass this year, or did the August 10 rule catch you off guard? Drop a comment or reach out. I read every one, and I like hearing how these deals play out for real Hawaiʻi families.
A hui hou, Scottie
