Earn a 50K Miles With a New Southwest Credit Card!

Despite Southwest being in the news recently for its big, negative changes, the airline's suite of co-branded credit cards is still worth your attention … maybe now, more than ever. 

Carrying a co-branded card will soon be the easiest way to get a free checked bag when flying with Southwest and with the current offers, you can earn 50,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $1,000 in the first three months of card membership … no matter the card you choose.

Better yet, the sign-up bonus from any of these cards will count toward the 135,000 points needed to qualify for the Southwest Companion Pass. What's the Southwest Companion Pass? Oh, just one of the best deals in all of travel – and the timing of these bigger bonuses could allow you to earn it for nearly two full years – more on that later.

With the Southwest Companion Pass, you get to choose one person to fly free with you every time you buy a flight or redeem Southwest Rapid Rewards points. No blackout dates and no questions asked: If the flight is bookable, you can add your companion. Considering you get another 10,000 Companion Pass-qualifying points just for having a Southwest Card, you'd only need an additional 75,000 points to unlock more than a year of BOGO flights with Southwest.

Beyond the bonus points and opportunity to get close to a coveted Companion Pass, these cards come with other benefits like anniversary bonus points, early bird check-ins, upgraded boardings, and a discount on in-flight purchases.

Keep reading for everything you need to know about these Southwest credit card offers.

 

The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card

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• Anniversary Bonus: On your cardmember anniversary, you will receive 3,000 Rapid Rewards points each year.
• Earn 2x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar spent on purchases with Southwest Airlines and its hotel and rental car partners.
• Earn 2x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar spent on local transit and commuting purchases, including rideshares like Uber and Lyft. You’ll also earn 2x points per dollar spent on internet/cable, phone services, and select streaming purchases.
• Earn 1x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar on all other spending on the card.
• Get 2 Early Bird check-ins each year.
• Chase 5/24 Rule: The card will be subject to the Chase 5/24 rule, so you may not be approved for the card depending on how many credit cards you’ve opened in the last two years.
• Annual Fee: The card has an annual fee of $69, which is not waived for the first year of card membership.

 

 

Learn more about the *sw plus*.

 

The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card

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• Anniversary Bonus: On your cardmember anniversary, you will receive 7,500 Rapid Rewards points each year.
• Priority Boarding: Each year on your cardmember anniversary, you will receive four upgraded boarding positions. Simply purchase an upgrade on the day of your travel with the Priority card. You’ll receive a boarding number between A1 and A15, and be reimbursed via statement credit within eight weeks.
• Annual Travel Credit: Receive an annual travel credit of $75 to use on Southwest Airlines flights.
• 25% Back on In-Flight Purchases: Receive 25% back via statement credits for in-flight purchases. This can be used for drinks, movies, and purchasing Wi-Fi and messaging.
• Earn 3x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar spent on purchases with Southwest Airlines.
• Earn 2x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar spent on local transit and commuting purchases, including rideshares like Uber and Lyft. You’ll also earn 2x points per dollar spent on internet/cable, phone services, and select streaming purchases.
• Earn 1x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar on all other spending on the card.
• Unlimited Tier Qualifying Points can be earned towards A-List status each year.
• Chase 5/24 Rule: The card will be subject to the Chase 5/24 rule, so you may not be approved for the card depending on how many credit cards you’ve opened in the last two years.
• Annual Fee: The card has a $149 annual fee, which is not waived for the first year of card membership.

 

 

Learn more about the *sw priority*.

 

The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card

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• Anniversary Bonus: Each year, on your cardmember anniversary, you will receive 6,000 Rapid Rewards points.
• Earn 3x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar spent on purchases with Southwest Airlines.
• Earn 2x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar spent on local transit and commuting purchases, including rideshares like Uber and Lyft. You’ll also earn 2x points per dollar spent on internet/cable, phone services, and select streaming purchases.
• Earn 1x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar on all other spending on the card.
• 25% Back on In-Flight Purchases: Receive 25% back via statement credits for in-flight purchases. This can be used for drinks, movies, and purchasing Wi-Fi and messaging.
• Get 2 Early Bird check-ins each year.
• No foreign transaction fees
• Chase 5/24 Rule: The card will be subject to the Chase 5/24 rule, so you may not be approved for the card depending on how many credit cards you’ve opened in the last two years.
• Annual Fee: The card has a $99 annual fee, which is not waived for the first year of card membership.

 

 

Learn more about the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card (for full disclosure, this is not an affiliate link).

 

Easy Path to BOGO Flights 

You won't find a better deal in the world of travel than the Southwest Companion Pass: an unlimited buy-one, get-one flight pass. Even after Southwest (slightly) increased the points needed to qualify for the Companion Pass, we're still singing its praises.

Typically, the Southwest Companion Pass requires you to earn 135,000 qualifying Southwest Rapid Rewards points … or fly 100 one-way revenue flights in a calendar year.

Considering Rapid Rewards points earned through a sign-up bonus count towards the Companion Pass, you'd only need to earn an additional 85,000 points by the end of the year. But it's even less than that: Since all Southwest credit cardholders get a 10,000-point Companion Pass boost just for having a card, you'll really only need to earn an additional 75,000 points to get that coveted Companion Pass.

Once you earn all the points you need, you get your Companion Pass for the rest of the year and the entire following year. That means with the end of the year quickly approaching, now isn't the best time to earn it. But if you time your application right, there's a way to earn the sign-up bonus at the very beginning of 2025 and then have the remainder of the year to earn the additional 75,000 points needed.

But with careful planning, you could get within a few dollars before the end of the year and then make a smaller purchase right away in 2025 to finish it out. Taking this route, you'd be setting your self up for nearly two full years of BOGO flights! 

 

 

Unfortunately, you can't simply open a second Southwest personal card to get the remaining points – Chase only allows you to hold one version of their personal cards at a time. And you can't simply cancel one card and open another, either: Timing and restrictions on how often you can earn bonuses mean that won't work.

But you can easily bridge this gap with the and its current offer:

Worried about whether or not you'll qualify for a business credit card? You might be surprised to learn just what the banks consider a small business. Odds are if you've got any sort of side hustle, do consulting work, or even just buy and sell items on eBay or Facebook Marketplace, your business would qualify.

Otherwise, you could earn the remaining points you need the harder way: Simply flying with Southwest. You'll earn at least 6 points for every $1 you spend on the cheapest Southwest Wanna Get Away fares or up to 12x points on the priciest Business Select tickets. If you already do a fair amount of flying with Southwest, you might be closer than you think.

Finally, you'll also earn more Companion Pass points (and Rapid Rewards) for every $1 you spend on your Southwest credit card. 

If you don't go with the tandem of a business Southwest card, some combination of earning this big bonus, spending more on your card, and flying with Southwest could be enough to get you a Companion Pass for more than a year.

 

Are You Eligible? 

Before you hit apply, it's time to ask yourself: Are you even eligible to open one of these Chase Southwest cards?

Chase only lets you hold one Southwest personal credit card at a time. That means if you already have one Southwest credit card open, you will not be approved for a second card. On top of that, these welcome bonuses are not available if you have earned a welcome bonus on any of the three Southwest Airlines personal credit cards in the past 24 months (or two years).

 

 

These cards are also subjected to the dreaded Chase 5/24 rule, so getting approved for one of these cards may be difficult depending on how many credit cards (from any bank, not just Chase) you’ve opened in the last 24 months. If you've opened five or more credit cards with any bank in that period, you will not be approved for Chase credit cards, regardless of your credit score or history with Chase.

However, if you are eligible, these Southwest credit cards are easily among the best credit cards you can get if you are under the Chase 5/24 rule. That’s especially true with these new bonuses clearing an easier path to Southwest's Companion Pass.

Read our master guide to the Southwest Companion Pass! 

 

Pair with a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve

All three of these Southwest credit cards make great companions to either the *csr* or the *csp*. That’s because Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred to your Southwest Rapid Rewards account on a 1:1 basis, meaning 1,000 Chase points get you 1,000 Southwest Rapid Reward points. And those transfers are instant.

 

 

Learn more about the *csp*.

 

 

Learn more about the *csr*.

 

Bottom Line

Chase and Southwest are out with bonus offers to earn 50,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $1,000 in the first three months of card membership on any of the Southwest personal credit cards.

What's more, these big bonuses count toward the 135,000 points needed to earn Southwest's coveted Companion Pass.