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The Chase Southwest credit card offers
Here’s a look at the all current offers from Chase and Southwest. These offers vary throughout the year and can be combined and used to strategically to earn a Southwest Companion Pass = you can nominate an companion who will fly with you for just the taxes and fees. I’d suggest checking out the section of this article that illustrates how you could extract nearly 2 years of Companion Pass with an alternate strategy.
The biggest differences between the cards aside from the annual fees is derived from the annual point bonus, whether you want a Southwest travel credit ( Priority ), and either EarlyBird check-in or upgraded boarding.
Personal Cards
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
Business Cards
- Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card
- Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card
Table of Contents
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
There are three levels to Southwest cards and the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus credit card has the lowest annual fee but still provides that 10k Companion Pass boost, a 3000 point anniversary bonus, and a $69 annual fee. If you’re looking to dip your toe in the Southwest credit card pool, this could be added to your wallet with lowest annual fee.
- 2x on Southwest purchases
- 2x on transit including commuting and rideshare apps
- 2x on internet, cable, phone, and select streaming
- 3000 point anniversary bonus:
- After you account anniversary you’ll receive 3000 Southwest points
- 2 EarlyBird Check-In(R) each year
- 10k Companion Pass Point boost each year
- $69 Annual Fee
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
This is the entry level Southwest Rapid Rewards® credit card that helps ease the path to Companion Pass, earns a couple EarlyBird Check-In® passes and lowers the requirement for Companion Pass next year.
Offer:
Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$69
Points Earned
Southwest Rapid Rewards
- 2x on Southwest purchases
- 2x on transit including commuting and rideshare apps
- 2x on internet, cable, phone, and select streaming
- 3000 point anniversary bonus:
- After you account anniversary you’ll receive 3000 Southwest points
- 2 EarlyBird Check-In(R) each year
- 10k Companion Pass Point credit each year
- $69 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
For $69 you can lower the requirement for Companion Pass, earn points to hit it quicker*, get a couple EarlyBird(R) check in passes and 3k points on your account anniversary. Not too shabby for $69 and I’d argue a better deal than the midtier Premier card.
*You’ll get a 10k point credit toward Companion Pass meaning you’ll need to hit 125k instead of the normal 135k
Remember that you are ineligible for a Southwest personal card if you already hold one, and you won’t get the bonus if you’ve received a Southwest personal card bonus in the past 24 months.
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
This is the midrange Southwest Personal card that offers 2 EarlyBird Check-In® each year + 6000 Southwest points upon account anniversary, a 10k Companion Pass point boost each year, and comes with an $99 annual fee. Personally, I think the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority card is a better bang for buck if you’re going to spend more on an annual fee, but this card does add some extra benefits compared to the entry level Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus credit card.
- 3x on Southwest purchases
- 2x on transit including commuting and rideshare apps
- 2x on internet, cable, phone, and select streaming
- 6000 point anniversary bonus:
- After you account anniversary you’ll receive 6000 Southwest points
- 2 EarlyBird Check-In(R) each year
- 10k Companion Pass Point boost each year
- $99 Annual Fee
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
If you’re looking for a way to expedite your pathway to the Southwest Companion Pass the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card will undoubtedly help.
You’ll also get 2 EarlyBird Checkin® each year and 6000 Southwest Rapid Rewards on account anniversary
Offer:
Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$99
Points Earned
Southwest Rapid Rewards
- 3x on Southwest purchases
- 2x on transit including commuting and rideshare apps
- 2x on internet, cable, phone, and select streaming
- 6000 point anniversary bonus:
- After you account anniversary you’ll receive 6000 Southwest points
- 2 EarlyBird Check-In(R) each year
- 10k Companion Pass Point credit each year
- $99 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
This is the midrange Southwest Personal card that offers 2 EarlyBird Check-In® each year + 6000 Southwest points upon account anniversary and comes with an $99 annual fee
You’ll get a 10k point credit toward Companion Pass meaning you’ll need to hit 125k instead of the normal 135k
Remember that you are ineligible for a Southwest personal card if you already hold one, and you won’t get the bonus if you’ve received a Southwest personal card bonus in the past 24 months.
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
If you fly Southwest quite a bit, I would hone in on this bad boy. This is the premium Southwest credit card and offers extra perks like a $75 travel credit to use on Southwest and 4 upgraded boardings a year so you can slide into the A1-A15 boarding group and it gives you 7500 Rapid Rewards on your account anniversary. It also comes with the 10k Companion Pass Point boost each year.
- 3x on Southwest purchases
- 2x on transit including commuting and rideshare apps
- 2x on internet, cable, phone, and select streaming
- 7,500-point anniversary bonus:
- After you account anniversary you’ll receive 7500 Southwest points
- $75 annual Southwest travel credit:
- During your cardmember year, you’ll get a $75 travel credit to use on Southwest – these don’t include upgrades or inflight purchases, but the great thing is that it does count towards purchasing tickets.
- Four upgraded boardings per year ( when available ):
- Want to get in that sweet A1-A15 spot? You can use these at the ticket counter or gate to jump to the front.
- 10k Companion Pass Point boost each year
- Annual Fee $149
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is the best Southwest credit card offering an annual $75 travel credit, 4 upgraded boarding passes ( when avail ), and 7500 points each year you hold the card.
Offer:
Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$149
Points Earned
Southwest Rapid Rewards
- 3x on Southwest purchases
- 2x on transit including commuting and rideshare apps
- 2x on internet, cable, phone, and select streaming
- 7,500-point anniversary bonus:
- After you account anniversary you’ll receive 7500 Southwest points
- $75 annual Southwest travel credit:
- During your cardmember year, you’ll get a $75 travel credit to use on Southwest – these don’t include upgrades or inflight purchases, but the great thing is that it does count towards purchasing tickets.
- Four upgraded boardings per year ( when available ):
- Want to get in that sweet A1-A15 spot? You can use these at the ticket counter or gate to jump to the front.
- 10k Companion Pass Point credit each year
- Annual Fee $149
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The biggest reason you get a Southwest credit card is to help you get the enviable Companion Pass where you can bring along an extra person for just the taxes and fees of their ticket, and this card earns points that count towards earning that CP.
This is the premium Southwest credit card and offers extra perks like a $75 travel credit to use on Southwest and 4 upgraded boardings a year so you can slide into the A1-A15 boarding group and it gives you 7500 Rapid Rewards on your account anniversary.
You’ll get a 10k point credit toward Companion Pass meaning you’ll need to hit 125k instead of the normal 135k
Remember that you are ineligible for a Southwest personal card if you already hold one, and you won’t get the bonus if you’ve received a Southwest personal card bonus in the past 24 months.
Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card
Southwest has two business credit cards and this one has a lower annual fee that I’d argue is almost completely offset by the 6000 bonus points after each cardmember anniversary. Remember that the points you earn on this card, including bonuses, count toward the desirable Southwest Companion Pass. . Remember that Companion Pass is good during the year you achieve it as well as the year after…so the closer you earn to Jan/Feb the closer you’ll get it 2 years of Companion Pass
- 6,000 bonus points after your Cardmember anniversary.
- Earn 3X points on Southwest Airlines(R) purchases.
- Earn 2X points on Rapid Rewards(R) hotel and car rental partners.
- Earn 2X points on rideshare.
- 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
- 2 EarlyBird Check-In(R) each year.
- Member FDIC
Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card
If you have a small business and want to earn points that help you get a Southwest Companion Pass faster – The Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card offers a ton of bang for a $99 annual fee.
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$99
Points Earned
Southwest Rapid Rewards
- Earn 60,000 points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
- 6,000 bonus points after your Cardmember anniversary.
- Earn 3X points on Southwest Airlines(R) purchases.
- Earn 2X points on Rapid Rewards(R) hotel and car rental partners.
- Earn 2X points on rideshare.
- 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
- 2 EarlyBird Check-In(R) each year.
- Member FDIC
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
If you sign up for this card alongside a Southwest personal card they points combine and help boost you to Companion Pass.
Remember that Companion Pass is good during the year you achieve it as well as the year after. So if you can earn it during Jan/Feb you can get it for nearly 2 years.
Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card
This is the higher annual fee Southwest Business credit card, but you’ll earn 9000 bonus points after each cardmember anniversary & 4 upgraded boardings. If you sign up for this card alongside a Southwest personal card the points combine and help boost you to Companion Pass. Remember that Companion Pass is good during the year you achieve it as well as the year after. So if you can earn it during Jan/Feb you can get it for nearly 2 years.
- 3X points on Rapid Rewards® hotel + car partners
- 2X points
- rideshare
- social media and search engine advertising, internet, cable, and phone services
- 9,000 bonus points after your Cardmember anniversary
- 4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available.
- Annual Fee $199
- Member FDIC
Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card
If you have a small business and want to earn points that help you get a Southwest Companion Pass faster – The Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card could be a good card to check out.
Welcome Offer
Earn 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$199
Points Earned
Southwest Rapid Rewards
- 4X points on Southwest purchases
- 3X points on Rapid Rewards® hotel + car partners
- 2X points
- rideshare
- social media and search engine advertising, internet, cable, and phone services
- 9,000 bonus points after your Cardmember anniversary
- 4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available.
- Annual Fee $199
- Member FDIC
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
If you sign up for this card alongside a Southwest personal card they points combine and help boost you to Companion Pass.
Remember that Companion Pass is good during the year you achieve it as well as the year after. So if you can earn it during Jan/Feb you can get it for nearly 2 years.
You may be a small business and not even know it
If you have a side hustle, earn money from the gig economy, or even now what people are referring to as the creator economy…the odds are strongly in your favor that you qualify for a small business credit card. So many people earn money that isn’t W2 income, but they haven’t established formal LLCs or S-corps that have EIN ( Employer Identification Number), and they aren’t taking advantage of what that income opens the door to….but they can still apply and get approved for small business credit cards.
If you’re earning income on a 1099, you’re good to go. Some examples of those are…
- Online Coaches, tutors, etc
- Uber and Lyft drivers (assuming they still get 1099s whenever you’re reading this).
- DoorDash, GrubHub and Postmates
- Social Media income ( TikTok, Instagram, YouTube )
- Cater Waiters
- Personal Trainers
- Dog Walkers
- Freelance graphic designers and web designers
- Singers, artists, dancers, models, etc
- Virtual Assistants
- Ebay, Amazon and Facebook resellers
What is the Southwest Companion Pass?
It’s really pretty simple, and as I mentioned one of the topics I’m asked about most. Every single time you fly, whether you used cash or points to book your Southwest ticket, your companion flies with you free. In 2023, this requires earning 135k Qualifying Rapid Rewards points in a year in order to qualify. Note that the Southwest credit cards will come with a 10k Companion Pass credit each year.
- You still have to pay the companion taxes and fees
- You have to select the companion that will fly free with you while your companion pass is valid
- You can change who this is 3x in the year
- This is based on calendar year so you could change it 3x this year, and then again 3x in 2022
- You can make changes by calling this number 1-800-435-9792
- You can change who this is 3x in the year
How to get almost 1.5 to 2 years of the Southwest Companion Pass
Sometimes we Southwest offer large bonuses on their credit cards at the end of the year. It sets you up perfectly to land a Companion Pass for nearly 2 years and these offers are quite advantageous to make this work. How?
The Southwest Companion starts when you hit 135k miles and expires the year after the year you hit that threshold. So if you got a personal and business version of this card when they are offering more than 135k miles combined, you’d blow past 135k needed for the year you hit the spend threshold to earn the bonus, and you’d have that pass all the way through next year.
What miles counts towards the Companion Pass?
*If you transfer points from Chase to Southwest – they do not count towards Companion Pass
The following do count:
- 6x points whenever you fly
- All the credit cards shown up above earn miles that count towards Companion Pass
- The anniversary points count as well
- As do referral points
- Make sure your get drop you referrals on our Chase Refer-a-friend page
- The Southwest shopping portal + Dining Portal purchases count toward Companion Pass
Did you know there is a Southwest Shopping Portal where you can buy the stuff you may ordinarily buy online but earn Southwest points? Usually I’d advocate for using other shopping portals with higher rates of return, but when you’re aiming at the Companion Pass it will help you get there quicker and start saving on flights. You can go here
You can also reference this nifty chart to see where else you can earn Companion Pass qualifying miles.
How much are Southwest Points worth?
On average, I would say that Southwest Points rattle around 1.3 to 1.6c. You can see in this example that the wanna get away price is $168 or 10,527 points. That is roughly 1.6c. However, you can see the Business Select fare of $691 would cost you 51,309 or roughly 1.35c a point. That range puts 30k Southwest Points worth $390 to $480. At least twice the annual fee, not including the Companion Pass.
Don’t forget that the Companion Pass works on flights purchased with points. So the fare listed below that costs 10,527 points would actually fly two people.
Chase Ultimate Rewards
Don’t forget that you can shore up your Southwest balance by transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards 1:1 – this could be quite good value when flying with a Companion Pass. However, remember that these transfers don’t count toward earning your Companion Pass, they are only redeemable for flights.
Go here to see our favorite Chase Ultimate Reward earning credits cards.
Important Eligibility Info – Southwest Family restrictions
This is a strategy that Chase employs with their Sapphire cards as well, but with a little twist. While you can apply for and get approved for another Southwest personal credit card there are some rule you should be aware of:
- These cards all fall under Chase’s 5/24 rule – meaning if you have added more than 5 new credit cards in the last 24 months you won’t be approved. These are specific to your personal credit report, so most business credit cards don’t count.
- If you have received a Southwest bonus on ANY personal card in the last 24 months, you wont’ be eligible.
- If you’re currently holding a personal Chase Southwest card, you would be ineligible as well
If you’re under 5/24 and you haven’t received a personal SWA credit card bonus in the last 24 months, you should be good go to as long as you’re approved.
Overall
This is an increased Companion Pass offer for Southwest cards across the board – sometimes we have seen a 100k offer in the past as well.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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