Ringing endorsement:
My experience with this entire process has been extremely positive. I was approved for two cards online on the same day in Nov and then was able to earn the bonus in January through a combination of my normal spending and earning points other ways (one business trip flight last week, converting some existing Choice hotels points, 1000 point bonus for a $35 birthday gift order from 1-800-flowers, and joining rapid rewards dining which netted me a couple of hundred points + another 1000 bonus.) That last 1000 points didn't seem to apply to the companion pass qualification, but it turns out I didn't even need it with so many other things netting points.
As a couple of others have noted, the companion pass didn't show up right away even though it said I was eligible, so I called customer service and she added my companion to the account as well as a couple of existing flights that I had already booked for myself. For one of my trips my companion needed to fly back earlier than I, so ~12000 points paid for that trip home (which is barely a drop in the points bucket at this point.) I am also A-list qualified for early boarding now, which means I got to get in the short line for baggage check and then again at security check and also boarded in the first group for my business trip and get the extra leg room rows which I really appreciate. I might even start bringing a rolling carry on since there will surely always be overhead bin space when I board! It just keeps getting better and better! Seriously, I can't believe anyone who can manage this and knows about it doesn't do it. My only regret is that I wish I had known about it a couple of years ago.
Good luck to everyone who is working on this, and thank you very much for posting to let us all know about it!