[Not working] Southwest credit card offer available on mobile

Update: our apologies. This was published in error. We held off on publishing last night when we saw that the offer was disappearing after logging in and unintentionally published this tonight. This offer is not working.

Doctor of Credit reports a new 100K offer on the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card as shown below, but this offer is currently only available via mobile browser. Note that the offer initially looks like the current 65K offer, but see the box in red below.

The Offer

• The Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus credit card currently has a welcome bonus that is available via mobile phone browser only that is good for the following:
  • 65,000 points after $2,000 on purchases in the first 3 months
  • 35,000 additional points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 6 months
• Direct link to this offer (Note: No longer working).

Key Details

• Offer currently only shows on the mobile version of the site
• The additional 35K bonus points highlighted in the screen shot above only show up under the new cardmember offer section at the top, not within the offer terms themselves. I recommend taking a screen shot if you’re applying

Quick Thoughts

As I said recently about the 65K offers that came available via referral, the timing on a Southwest credit card is poor at the moment (See our Southwest Companion Pass Complete Guide for details about ideal timing on earning the pass). You would typically want to wait until after October 1st to open a Southwest card and then wait until after January 1st to meet the spend in order to earn the welcome bonus at the beginning of a year and have the points count toward a companion pass that is valid for the rest of that new calendar year and the entire next year.

The situation here is interesting. Southwest has eased this year’s path to a Companion Pass. Whereas the pass ordinarily requires that you earn 125K points during a single calendar year, this year they have given everyone credit for 25K points toward the goal. In other words, the 100K points from this welcome bonus would be enough to earn a Companion Pass for the rest of 2020 and all of 2021 if you complete the spend and earn the bonus in 2020.

Of course, whether that sounds attractive depends on your view of travel for the rest of 2020. With only a few months left, and likely a wait of at least a month to get the points even if you meet the spend quickly, you’d be getting a Companion Pass at a relatively poor time both in terms of the length of validity of your companion pass (you’re likely look at no more than 15.5 months of validity) and in terms of the uncertainty of travel.

If I were considering a Southwest credit card, my inclination would be to wait. When I recently reported the increased referral offers, I noted that it might be worth holding off a while on applying. At the time, I said that given the current state of travel, I wouldn’t be surprised to see either increased offers continue long enough to apply after October 1st or return in time to earn the pass earlier in 2021. If an offer like this either sticks around or comes around again with timing that enables meeting the spending requirement in January, you would position yourself to be within a stone’s throw of a Companion Pass that would be valid for the rest of 2021 and all of 2022 — a time period when it is at least more likely that travel will be closer to a state of “normal”.

On the other hand, this offer is huge. The 100K points should buy you at least $1400 worth of airfare — and since you’ll earn a Companion Pass along with that this year, you’ll potentially come out even further ahead. That’s a great deal for the required spend.

Overall, I’m always glad to see a big new offer. For those who don’t care as much about the Companion Pass, this will certainly offer a lot of travel — and potentially at least a year of Companion Pass status.

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