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The Chase Southwest credit card offers

Here’s a look at the 3 current offers from Chase and Southwest and how they could be used to hit the enviable Southwest Companion Pass. The biggest differences between the cards comes from the annual point bonus, whether you want a Southwest travel credit ( Priority ), and either EarlyBird check-in or upgraded boarding.

50k Southwest Rewards Plus Offer

• Earn 50k points after $1k spend in 3 months
• 3x 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
• $69 Annual Fee

50k Southwest Rewards Premier Offer

• Earn 50k points after $1k spend in 3 months
• 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 3000 Southwest points
• 2 EarlyBird Check-In(R) each year
• $99 Annual Fee

50k Southwest Rewards Priority Offer

• Earn 50k points after $1k spend in 3 months
• 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.
• Annual Fee $149

80k Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Credit Card

Note that this card does not have a Companion Pass included

• Earn 80k points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
• 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.
• Global Entry or TSA Pre✔® Fee Credit
• Annual Fee $199

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. This requires earning 125k Qualifying Rapid Rewards points in a year in order to qualify.

• 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

How to get almost 1.5 to 2 years of the Southwest Companion Pass

This is a SUPER COOL aspect of this offer – the timing. It sets you up perfectly to land a Companion Pass for nearly 2 years.

The Southwest Companion starts when you hit 125k miles and expires the year after the year you hit that threshold. So if you got a personal and business version of this card, you’d earn 155k Southwest miles after minimum spend, blow past 125k needed for this year, 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

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:

1. 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.
2. If you have received a Southwest bonus on ANY personal card in the last 24 months, you wont’ be eligible.
3. 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 the standard offer for Southwest cards across the board, but you should know that the best offer on any of these cards is 100k.