Chase has increased the offers on all three Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Credit Cards, with each offering a sign-up bonus of 60,000 points after minimum spend. This means it is possible for those under 5/24 to open two cards, meet the spend, and receive a Southwest Companion Pass. As a reminder, a Companion Pass is awarded after earning 110,000 Rapid Rewards points in a calendar year. Not all kinds of points count — see our Complete Guide to the Southwest Companion Pass for more information on this valuable benefit. More information about each offer follows. Find links to these offers and more on our Best Offers page.
The Offers
Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus
The Offer
- 60,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points after $2,000 in purchases in the first 3 months
Key details
- $69 annual fee is not waived the first year (charged on 1st statement)
- 2X on Southwest purchases and Rapid Rewards Hotel and Car Rental Partners
- 1X everywhere else
- 3,000 points on your cardmember anniversary
Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier (personal)
The Offer
- 60,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points after $2,000 in purchases in the first 3 months
Key Details
- $99 annual fee is not waived the first year (charged on 1st statement)
- 2X on Southwest purchases and Rapid Rewards Hotel and Car Rental Partners
- 1X everywhere else
- 6,000 points on your cardmember anniversary
Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business
The Offer
- 60,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points after $3,000 in purchases in the first 3 months
Key Details
- $99 annual fee is not waived the first year (charged on 1st statement)
- 2X on Southwest purchases and Rapid Rewards Hotel and Car Rental Partners
- 1X everywhere else
- 6,000 points on your cardmember anniversary
Final Thoughts
These signup bonuses are excellent and it is exciting to be able to get a Southwest Companion Pass fairly easily once again. Remember that the Companion Pass is valid for the remainder of the year in which it is earned and the entire next year. This means that if you were to earn your points in the next three months, your Companion Pass would be valid for the remainder of 2017 and all of 2018 (until December 31, 2018). While it’s obviously ideal to earn a Companion Pass as early in the year as possible, you’ll still have ~16 months of validity (give or take when you meet the spend and your statements cut), which is a great deal. The 60,000 points on each card buys more than $800 worth of Wanna Get Away airfares. If you have the Companion Pass, you can sort of imagine those points being doubly valuable if you will always travel with a partner. Remember that you can also change your companion up to three times each calendar year, so you are not limited to a single companion for the entire ~16 or so months.
All that said, these cards aren’t the most rewarding for everyday spend. As they only earn 1 Southwest point per dollar and each point is worth around 1.5 cents, the return is more similar to a 1.5% cash back card. There are more rewarding options on the market for everyday spend. Still, Southwest points are very flexible and these offers are excellent sign-up offers for each card. I’ve been a Southwest Companion Pass holder for several years and will continue to be through at least December 2018. In my opinion, it’s the best deal in domestic travel.
Those who already have a Southwest Companion Pass may still be interested in these offers as the flexibility of Southwest points adds to their value. Flights can be changed or cancelled up until shortly before the flight (I’ve cancelled the day of departure) and the points are simply returned to your account with no penalty or expiration. In my opinion, that stretches the value of these points a bit and as a result of the flexibility I prefer to reserve with points over cash whenever possible.
Keep in mind that these cards are known to be subject to the Chase 5/24 rule. If you have opened 5 or more new accounts in the past 24 months, you are extremely unlikely to be approved. However, if you are under 5/24 and have a need for Southwest points, these can be a great deal. Again, see the links above each image for more information on each card or see our Best Offers page as well.
H/T: IAD Gr8 on Twitter
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[…] 60K Southwest Rapid Rewards sign up offers on all 3 Southwest credit cards: All three Southwest credit cards are offering 60K points each. Getting two of these and meeting the spend will trigger a companion pass. This is a great time to get in on these offers if you are eligible (i.e. under 5/24) […]
[…] 60K Southwest Rapid Rewards sign up offers on all 3 Southwest credit cards: All three Southwest credit cards are offering 60K points each. Getting two of these and meeting the spend will trigger a companion pass. This is a great time to get in on these offers if you are eligible. Doctor of Credit reports that these increased bonus offers are scheduled to end this Thursday, June 29th. […]
[…] 60K Southwest Rapid Rewards sign up offers on all 3 Southwest credit cards: All three Southwest credit cards are offering 60K points each. Getting two of these and meeting the spend will trigger a companion pass. This is a great time to get in on these offers if you are eligible (i.e. under 5/24) […]
If I sign up for the Rapid Rewards Plus card and am unhappy and cancel the card, will I lose my miles? The reason I am asking is I signed up for the Costco card when they dropped American Express. I have been super unhappy with the bank associated with the Costco card and am looking to replace it. I hope this will not happen with the Rapid Rewards cards, but I want to know every detail I can think of instead of being blindsided like I was with the Costco card.
No, you won’t lose your miles for cancelling the card. Once your miles are in your Southwest account they are there. Of course, if you cancel before your statement cuts, the pending miles that have not yet gone to your Southwest account would be lost. Make sure you don’t cancel before your sign up bonus hits your Southwest account.
That said, Southwest Rapid Rewards points expired after 24 months of inactivity. As long as you have some activity (take a flight or earn points through partners) every 24 months, your miles won’t expire. But if you just leave your account to sit for years, miles will expire as they would elsewhere.
Thank You!
Sorry, above post is incorrect. It should say I have FOUR cards opened within last 24 months, one of which is Rapid Rewards Plus approve just last week . . .
So let me understand fully about the 5/24. I currently have two cards opened within the last 24 months, one of which is the Rapid Rewards Plus approved just last week. If I apply for the RR Premium now, that will put me at 5 card in the last 24 months. So am I am my max now? ie, does the 5th one get disallowed, or can you have 5 and then the 6th one gets disallowed? Many thanks for clarification!!
[…] H/T: Frequent Miler […]
[…] my site receives. So be it. Anyways, after the long intro, I just wanted to let you know that three Southwest credit cards are now up to 60k signup bonus. Note: the links lead to PUBLIC non-affiliate offers. Yep, not available with my links […]
I’m well under 5/24. How soon can I apply for two southwest cards? Any guesses how long limited time means?
No idea how long a limited time is. I’d guess at least a month, but no way to know. If you’re well under 5/24, you may be able to get both in the same day, but you’d likely have to call in for the second app (probably not instant approval). So timeframe is yup to you.
I am on 5/24 currently, and one of my card inquiry will fall of on June 24 since i got that card on June 24, 2015. I will be on 4/24 then, do you think it is possible to apply for both the southwest cards after that with good chances of approval to get the companion pass?
No. You’ll likely get approved for one, but that will bring you back up to 5/24. Then you probably wouldn’t get approved for a second card.
but I read somewhere on doctorofcredit that a lot of people got 2 cards approved by applying same day with 4/24
Can never keep all these banks straight in regards to matching a recently approved card under lesser bonus terms. Does Chase usually match via SM request?
Yes, Chase usually does. Typically, you must have applied within the last 90 days at most and it’s always YMMV, but Chase is typically good about it.
Excellent! Recently got one for 60,000 and the most recent one was only available for 40,000 and figured I’d just do some extra spending to reach the magic 110,000. This will save me a lot of work.
Thanks very much!
yes if you applied within the last 3 months