With some airline credit cards there comes a benefit of a companion fare. Many of these fares come with a lot of strings. They have to be a non discounted fare, or be of a specific dollar amount or higher, or only within the lower 48. The stipulations can make these companion certificates be overwhelming to use, or less valuable than just trying to find a really good bargain. One companion fare certificate that I think might be of use is the one offered by US Airways because it allows up to 2 people to fly for $99 instead of just one. I have never taken advantage of this benefit of their card because I have a family of 4 and it seems like more of a hassle to have to also find a 4th ticket. This might not be the case, it could be quite easy. I could see a family of 6 really benefiting from this companion fare if each adult carried this card in their wallet. It used to be that finding $200 fares was no problem and so I didn't want to bother with something that only shaved 100 dollars or less off my fare. But now that fares are $300 plus more regularly in the US, the savings is more substantial.
The companion certificate that I have used, and that I would recommend using is the one from Alaska Airlines. One big benefit is that it can be used for getting to and from Alaska, Hawaii and Mexico. It's also a cinch to use as there are no stipulations on the first fare purchased, and you can book everything via their website once you log into your account.
My family recently used our companion certificates to fly to the Big Island, Hawaii and it made our trip quite affordable. We still paid around $1,100 for 4 tickets inclusive of all taxes and fees, but it was a savings of around $600, giving us some funds for a car rental and pineapple.
This is not free travel, but if you have plans to go somewhere anyway, using one of these certificates is better than paying the full fare.
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