A lesser-known part of the points and miles game, airline companion vouchers are like a hidden superpower to reduce the cash fare cost of a travel mate, whether that be your partner, family member, or good friend. Instead of having to pay a full-priced second ticket, a companion voucher bypasses the traditional fare and instead allows you to book the second ticket for a flat fee or, in some cases, completely free (except for the associated taxes and fees).
However, not all companion passes are created equal. Each comes with distinct minimum spend requirements, regional price charts, and specific restrictions. The three main options in Canada are Air Canada, WestJet, and Porter Airlines. Let’s break down each of these, so you know exactly how to earn them, how to avoid their pitfalls, and the exact strategies to maximize their value.
What Are Airline Companion Vouchers?
At its core, an airline companion voucher is a benefit that comes along with airline elite status or a credit card spending milestone that allows you to bring a second passenger along on the exact same itinerary for a significantly reduced cost.
Instead of paying the listed fare for two separate tickets, you pay the full price for the primary passenger’s ticket, while the companion’s ticket has its base fare locked into a predetermined discount rate.
An important note: companion passes never cover the taxes and fees associated with a ticket. This means that while a companion pass says the second passenger is “free,” there is still a cash cost associated with the taxes and fees. It goes with the age-old saying: “There is no such thing as a free lunch.”
How Are Airline Companion Vouchers Earned?
Most companion vouchers in Canada are anchored directly to airline co-branded credit card ecosystems, either deposited automatically as a perk for holding the credit card or unlocked after hitting a specific annual spending milestone. In the case of WestJet, they can also be earned as choice milestones through WestJet Rewards elite status. We will get into the specific details in each applicable section below.
Air Canada Annual Worldwide Companion Pass Explained
The Air Canada Annual Worldwide Companion Pass is one of the most underrated, yet flexible, parts of the Air Canada Aeroplan ecosystem. This is likely due to the substantial spending requirement to unlock one of these companion passes. However, if earned and redeemed correctly, it can lead to massive cash savings.
When you book a cash economy ticket on any Air Canada-operated flight, this pass allows you to bring a companion along for a fixed, tiered base fare regardless of how high seasonal market prices soar. While it has absolutely no blackout dates, you are still on the hook for taxes and fees, as we mentioned before.
Here are the fixed prices that you will be paying on the second ticket when using the Air Canada Companion Pass:
| Destination Region | Companion Base Fare (Round-Trip) |
|---|---|
| Canada & Continental United States (excluding Hawaii) | $99 CAD + taxes and fees |
| Hawaii, Mexico, Central America & Caribbean | $299 CAD + taxes and fees |
| South America, Europe, the Middle East & Africa | $499 CAD + taxes and fees |
| Asia, Australia & New Zealand | $699 CAD + taxes and fees |
How is the Air Canada Companion Pass Earned?
Earning the pass is straightforward but requires dedicated planning and spending. You must spend $25,000 in purchases within your cardmember year on an eligible premium Canadian Aeroplan credit card.
The “cardmember year” clock starts on the exact date you open the account, not on January 1st. The four $599 annual fee cards that unlock this benefit include:
| Credit Card | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
150,000 Aeroplan points Estimated value: $3,150 Ends Jul 28, 2026 |
|
 |
100,000 Aeroplan points Estimated value: $2,100 |
|
 |
90,000 Aeroplan points Estimated value: $1,890 |
|
 |
85,000 Aeroplan points Estimated value: $1,785 |
|
If hitting a $25,000 annual spending threshold feels daunting, you can leverage creative methods to bridge the gap. Check out our guide to meeting minimum spending requirements for a few ideas.
Air Canada Companion Pass Restrictions
The Air Canada Annual Worldwide Companion pass can only be used on paid fares in economy class. That means that if you wanted to make an Aeroplan point redemption for your tickets or wanted to book a business class flight with cash, you are out of luck trying to use the companion pass for your plus one’s ticket.
There are also some caveats and specific rules about keeping the pass after you have earned it. The pass gets deposited into your Aeroplan account 8-10 weeks after your cardholder anniversary. In practice, this means that you must pay the annual fee for your Aeroplan co-branded credit card in order to be able to use your pass that year. If you decide to cancel or downgrade your card to a lower-tier card, your companion pass will be revoked if you have not already redeemed it.
Best Uses for the Air Canada Companion Pass
The absolute highest-value method for using this voucher is combining it with Aeroplan elite status and eUpgrades. In short, if you book an Economy Latitude cash fare on a long-haul route, you can then apply your Annual Worldwide Companion Pass for a second ticket priced at $499. From there, you can apply your eUpgrades to both tickets to bump you into business class. This easily saves you thousands of dollars on business class flights, so you can fly in comfort and style.
WestJet Companion Voucher Explained
The WestJet Companion Voucher is a staple in the Canadian award travel landscape. Instead of relying on an international map of tiered zones, WestJet divides its vouchers based on which co-branded RBC credit card you hold and shifts the cost of using the voucher based on your choice of cabin class and target destination.
In principle, it operates like the other companion passes that we are talking about: buy a full-priced ticket for yourself with cash, and the second ticket is heavily discounted at a fixed fee (plus taxes and fees).
How is the WestJet Companion Voucher Earned?
The first, and by far the easiest, method of earning a WestJet Companion Voucher is through being approved for and spending on a WestJet co-branded credit card that is issued by RBC. You have two options here: the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard or the WestJet RBC Mastercard.
Our recommendation is to go for the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard. While you will receive your first companion voucher for free upon being approved for the card, subsequent years require a higher spending requirement of $5,000 per cardholder year to earn the voucher. The companion voucher and benefits on this card are stronger on this card compared to the alternative, justifying the higher annual fee.
The WestJet RBC® World Elite Mastercard‡ offers a World Elite Companion Voucher on approval (with the ability to earn one each anniversary year through spending), plus a first free checked bag on WestJet flights.
Earn when you apply through Frugal Flyer.
70,000 WestJet points
$5,000
$760+
$139
Yes
Nov 4, 2026
The other option is the lower-tier WestJet RBC Mastercard, which also receives a companion voucher on approval but then requires a spending requirement of $2,500 in a cardholder year for subsequent vouchers. The difference in the companion voucher is the fixed price you need to pay when redeeming the companion voucher, but we’ll get to that later.
The WestJet RBC Mastercard offers a WestJet companion voucher on approval (with the ability to earn one each anniversary year through spending), which can be used for travel in Canada and the United States.
15,000 WestJet points
$1,000
$150+
$39
Yes
Nov 4, 2026
The second way to earn a WestJet Companion Voucher is through WestJet Rewards Elite Status Milestone Rewards. Once you spend $8,000 on paid WestJet flights in a year, you unlock a companion voucher. For every $4,000 subsequently spent on paid flights, you’ll earn another companion voucher. While this is unrealistic and inadvisable to most people, the strength of earning the voucher this way is that the second ticket is $0 (plus taxes and fees).
Here is the cash cost associated with using a WestJet Companion Voucher, depending on how you earned it and the class of fare booked:
| Travel Region | WestJet RBC Mastercard Companion Voucher | WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard Companion Voucher | WestJet Rewards Elite Status Companion Voucher (Milestone Awards) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Within Canada or To/From Continental US | Basic/Econo/EconoFlex: $199 base fare Premium/PremiumFlex: $299 base fare | Basic/Econo/EconoFlex: $119 base fare Premium/PremiumFlex: $219 base fare | No base fare cost for companion |
| Rest of WestJet Network | N/A – Cannot be used outside of North America | Basic/Econo/EconoFlex: $399 base fare Premium/PremiumFlex: $499 base fare | No base fare cost for companion |
WestJet Companion Voucher Restrictions
There are a few pesky rules that you have to keep in mind when using the WestJet Companion Voucher. Here are some tips so you don’t burn yourself when redeeming it.
While you can technically apply a companion voucher to a one-way flight, doing so fully consumes the voucher. The remaining return portion is completely lost, which effectively cuts your potential savings in half. Thus, you should always aim to deploy these on true round-trip or multi-city itineraries.
While perhaps less impactful depending on where you are looking to travel, business class flights are not eligible to be booked with the WestJet Companion Voucher. The best you can get is the Premium Cabin fares, which still offer some great value and an elevated experience compared to Economy class.
WestJet’s lowest fare tier, UltraBasic, is eligible to be used for the voucher, but it comes with a severe warning. UltraBasic bookings are completely non-refundable and cannot be changed. If you need to cancel an UltraBasic flight, your companion voucher is permanently lost and will not be reinstated to your account. Besides, it is almost always unadvisable to use the companion voucher on an UltraBasic flight because the cash cost for the fare itself may not be that much higher than the cost to use the voucher.
When you are pricing out your potential redemption, always remember that the companion voucher only reduces the core base fare. Certain high-demand routes feature inflated “Other Air Transportation Charges” built into the ticket pricing by the airline. Because these are categorized alongside taxes and third-party fees, they are not reduced by the voucher, which can sometimes blunt your expected out-of-pocket savings.
Finally, the companion voucher cannot be applied to WestJet Vacations or partner flights. It can also not be combined with any discount codes/promotions. Vouchers are also non-transferable, and the guest who owns the voucher must be on the itinerary in order to use it.
Best Uses for the WestJet Companion Voucher
While there are a bunch of restrictions and rules that we just talked about, luckily, it is quite straightforward to extract the most value from your WestJet Companion Voucher. The best bang for your buck will be to use it on a round-trip Premium fare ticket.
When you are using the companion voucher, you will always want to check how much the base fare is to ensure you are getting good values. Not all routes offer the same value, and the additional surcharge you will pay to use the voucher (depending on the region of travel) should be factored into your value calculation.
Another interesting use case for the WestJet Companion Voucher is actually not to use it at all! Instead, you can trade in your companion voucher for other perks that may be of more use to you if you are routinely a solo traveller:
- Standard Voucher Trade: Exchange for 5,000 WestJet points or a 25% discount on a single Economy fare.
- World Elite Voucher Trade: Exchange for a 30% discount code for a single traveler, 2 airport lounge passes at eligible lounges, or a $200 WestJet Vacations or Sunwing Vacations credit.
Porter Airlines Companion Pass Explained
The Porter Airlines Companion Pass is my personal favourite and, in my opinion, is the strongest of the three options (at least in the first year). Instead of charging a cash price to redeem the companion pass, it actually drops the ticket down to $0 base fare cost + taxes and fees, which beats the other options we have talked about thus far.
The Porter Airlines companion pass has no blackout dates and can be used for travel that is booked within 12 months of the date of issuance.
With Porter rapidly expanding their routes across North America, the Porter Airlines Companion Pass is quite overpowered and has the ability to lead to huge savings for you and your plus one on your next trip.
How is the Porter Airlines Companion Pass Earned?
The Porter Airlines Companion Pass is directly linked to the BMO VIPorter World Elite Mastercard as one of the benefits. Earning the pass requires spending on your Porter co-branded credit card.
The BMO VIPorter World Elite Mastercard, Canada’s most valuable airline credit card*, offers benefits including VIPorter Venture membership and the opportunity to earn an annual round-trip companion pass through spending.
Earn when you apply through Frugal Flyer.
70,000 VIPorter points
$18,000
$1,175+
$199 (FYF)
Yes
Oct 31, 2026
In the first year of holding the credit card, you have to spend $9,000 to earn the companion pass, which is a very reasonable amount. Unfortunately, the companion pass gets much harder to earn in subsequent years as you need to spend $50,000 within your cardholder year.
If you can’t find yourself spending $50,000 responsibly, you can opt to get the BMO VIPorter Mastercard. By spending $25,000 per cardholder per year, you can earn a 35% discount voucher for up to 4 passengers on a cash fare.
The BMO VIPorter Mastercard offers benefits including VIPorter Passport membership and the opportunity to earn an annual 35% base fare discount voucher through spending.
Earn when you apply through Frugal Flyer.
40,000 VIPorter points
$10,000
$700+
$89 (FYF)
Yes
Oct 31, 2026
Frankly, we wouldn’t recommend going the route of the lower-tier BMO VIPorter Mastercard, as the BMO VIPorter World Elite Mastercard is a much stronger option and comes with many more tangible perks and benefits. Check out our in-depth review of the BMO VIPorter World Elite Mastercard to learn more about why it is one of the strongest credit cards on the market.
Porter Airlines Companion Pass Restrictions
Much like the Air Canada and WestJet offerings, the Porter Airlines Companion Pass cannot be used on PorterReserve fares. You should also be careful when using the companion pass on Porter Basic fares, as there is a strict no changes or cancellation policy after 24 hours from booking. You also cannot use it on any of Porter Airlines’ partners; it must be used for a flight on Porter Airlines metal.
The Porter Airlines companion pass is tied to your credit card, so if you decide to cancel your card before redeeming it, you will also say goodbye to your companion pass.
Best Uses for the Porter Airlines Companion Pass
The best use for the Porter Airlines Companion Pass is on their longer-haul flights. While Porter does not have any overseas routes (yet), they do service all major airports in Canada and many in the US.
During peak travel season, flights from Toronto to Vancouver or Calgary can cost upwards of $600. By using the companion pass on your plus one’s flight and dropping the second ticket down to $0, you instantly save hundreds of dollars on your next flight.
The same thing goes for sun destinations or Las Vegas in the US. If you find yourself wanting to travel during peak season, make sure you utilize your companion pass to unlock instant savings.
Conclusion
Airline companion vouchers represent a very strong, but under-utilized and under-appreciated tool in the points and miles world. If earned responsibly and used correctly, it can lead to thousands of dollars saved on a cash fare for your partner, family member, or close friend!
Before pursuing any voucher strategy, check your natural credit card spend velocity. Hitting a $25,000 or $50,000 threshold shouldn’t force you into unnecessary spending. If you can naturally hit the spending requirement with your personal and/or business spend, you have a direct pathway to earning a heavily discounted ticket for your plus one.
Since many of these companion vouchers have a spending requirement attached, you might be worried about meeting the requirement with just your daily spending. Do you rent or have other large expenses? If so, check out our guide on Chexy to see how you can leverage your rent and other expense payments into valuable points and an airline companion voucher.
Quentin Tsang
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