The Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Performance Business card has a brand-new 120K welcome offer. Outside of the sheer volume of points, this offer could be very interesting, provided you can meet the minimum spend requirements, as it could get you a Southwest Companion Pass for nearly two years with only one card.
Complete Guide to the Southwest Companion Pass
The Offer & Key Card Details
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $1081 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates 120K points ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer 120K points after $10K spend within first 3 months your account is open (Offer Expires 10/28/2025)$299 Annual Fee This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). Earning rate: 4X Southwest ✦ 3X Rapid Rewards(R) hotel and car rental partners (ends 12/31/25) ✦ 2X hotels ✦ 2x gas and restaurants ✦ 2X rideshare ✦ 2X social media and search engine advertising, internet, cable, and phone services (ends 12/31/25) ✦ 1X on all other purchases. Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: If you earn 135,000 points in one calendar year, you'll get a companion pass good for the rest of that calendar year and all of the next year ✦ Earn 2,500 TQPs for each $5K in purchases Noteworthy perks: 9000 bonus points each year upon card renewal ✦ 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each year ✦ First bag free for cardholder and up to 8 companions ✦ Complimentary Instacart+ for 3 months (must activate by 12/31/27) ✦ $10 monthly Instacart credit ✦ Four upgraded boardings (when available) every year (ends 12/31/25) ✦ Global Entry, Nexus or TSA Pre✔ Fee Credit ✦ Up to 365 Inflight WiFi Credits (end 12/31/25) ✦ Available for flights from 1/27/26 onward: Group 5 boarding ✦ Preferred seat selection at booking (if available) ✦ Extra legroom upgrades up to 48 hours pre-departure (if available) |
Quick Thoughts
This is an excellent offer, which matches the highest that we’ve ever seen on the Southwest Performance card. It’s also perfectly timed for those looking towards a Southwest Companion Pass.
Southwest credit cardholders get a 10k annual boost to their Companion Pass Qualifying Points. So, in order to get a Companion Pass, they only need to earn 125,000 Companion Pass-Qualifying Rapid Rewards points within a calendar year. Because of that, the best time to open Southwest Airlines credit cards is usually after October 1st. This gives you the ability to time the spending requirements so that you earn the welcome offer bonus points after January 1st, which in this case would apply towards the 2026 qualifying year.
Chase tells us that this offer is good all the way until October 28th, which makes it even easier. If you wait until mid-October to apply, you’d have until mid-January to complete the $10k minimum spend. By doing the final $5k during the statement that closes in January, you’d have your 125,000 points and would get the Companion Pass for the remainder of 2026 and all of 2027. Easy-peasy.
If you don’t want to risk waiting until mid-October, you could apply before then and change the statement date to the beginning of the month, which would cause points earned in December to post in January.
For example, if you applied (and are approved) on September 20th, you’d have until 12/20 to finish the spend. If you then changed the statement date to the 5th of the month, your first statement would be 10/5, your second would be 11/5, and your third would be 12/5, and so on.
If you then finished the minimum spending between 12/6 and 12/20, the 120,000 bonus points should be awarded on January 6th, 2026, after your 1/5 statement close, which would then count towards Companion Pass qualification for 2026 instead of 2025.
Chase Application Tips
- 5/24 Rule: You most likely will not get approved for a new card if you have opened 5 or more cards (with any bank) within the past 24 months. Most business cards do not count towards that five card total. Business cards that DO count include: TD Bank, Discover and the Capital One Spark Cash Select, Spark Miles and Spark Miles Select.
- 24 Month Rule: If you’ve previously had a card before, you can only get a welcome offer on that card again if you no longer have the card AND if it has been more than 24 months since you last received a welcome offer for that card. This rule does not apply to the Sapphire Preferred and Reserve cards (see below). There can be exceptions with some business cards.
- Sapphire cards: The Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve cards no longer have a family rule that prevents you from getting one if you currently have the other. However, both now have significant limitations that may prevent you from being eligible for a welcome offer if you've previously had the same card. In that event, you'll get a pop-up window that tells you that you're not eligible before you get a credit check and will ask whether or not you want to proceed with the application without the welcome offer attached.
- Southwest "Family" Rules: Chase applies additional "family" rules to the Southwest cards. You're not eligible for the welcome offer on a personal Southwest card if you currently have one, or if you've received a welcome offer on any personal Southwest card within the last 24 months. This doesn't apply to business cards. You also can't be approved for the Southwest consumer card if you already have one open.
- IHG "Family" Rules: You're not eligible for the welcome offer if you've received a welcome offer on any personal IHG card within the last 24 months. You also can't be approved for another IHG consumer card if you already have one open. You can have both an IHG personal and an IHG business card.
- 2 per month Rule: Most applicants are limited to 2 new cards per 30 days. Business cards are usually limited to one per 30 days.
- Marriott cards: Approval for any Marriott card is governed by a labyrinthine set of unintuitive rules. You can see the full eligibility chart here.
- Card Limits: Chase doesn't have a strict limit on the number of cards that you can have, but it does place limits on the total amount of credit that they will issue you across all cards. Because of this, reconsideration can sometimes be successful by moving credit from one existing card to the new card that you want.
- Application Status: Call (888) 338-2586 to check your application status.
- Reconsideration: If denied, call (888) 270-2127 for personal cards, or (800) 453-9719 for business cards, and ask for your application to be reconsidered.
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You need to add the speculation/predictions (which Nick has discussed, I think) that the companion pass may undergo a major change for 2026. Most likely that would be a companion pass that would be tied to status, not just points earned. I think that has been Nick’s prediction and it makes sense. So if they announce a change in November in how the companion pass will be earned in 2026 (which I think is likely), getting this card won’t work. Given that in the past they usually tried to time it to make this kind of offer expire a little earlier, I’m guessing that is further evidence that earning a companion pass will be different (i.e. harder and probably tied to status) starting Jan 1 2026.
That’s some deal
“If you don’t want to risk waiting until mid-October, you could apply before then and change the statement date to the beginning of the month, which would cause points earned in December to post in January.”
Something I generally point out: In theory, any purchases posting to your Southwest CC account after the December statement drops will give points hitting in January and set you up for the 2-year CP.
However, theory and practice can differ in many ways. I don’t want to reiterate everything here, but you can search Flyertalk going back over a decade for details or any of the numerous Facebook groups covering Southwest. Maybe even here on FM, not sure.
To be 100% safe, spend on 1/1/26 or later. Good luck.
I think you need 135,000 points now to get the CP…
Not for Southwest credit cardholders (see below).
I see that now, it wasn’t in the article. That’s cool. Now all we need is for Elliott to leave this one last good thing SW had going for it alone…fingers crossed..
I think the article is incorrect about the number of points needed to earn a companion pass. It should state that you need to earn 135,000 points in a calendar year, not 125,000 points.
That’s not true for Southwest cardholders. They get a 10K annual qualifying point boost, so they only need 125,000 points.
Hi Tim. Thanks for the clarification. I just learned something new today.