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Each of the consumer Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards credit cards are now offering increased bonuses awarding 65,000 Rapid Rewards points after $2K in purchases in the first 3 months. While these offers are definitely strong, I’d recommend that anyone interested in a Companion Pass hold off for a few months despite the increased offers.
The Offers & Key Card Details
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
50K points ⓘ Affiliate 50K points after $1K spend in the first 3 months.$69 Annual Fee After clicking through, be sure to manually select the exact Southwest card in which you are interested. This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). FM Mini Review: This card can be great for its new cardmember bonus, but its ongoing perks are worth the annual fee only if fully used each year. Earning rate: 2X local transit and commuting, including rideshare ✦ 2X internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming ✦ 2X Southwest Card Info: Visa Signature or Platinum issued by Chase. This card imposes foreign transaction 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. Noteworthy perks: 3000 bonus points each year upon card renewal. 2 EarlyBird Check-Ins each year. 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each year |
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
50K points ⓘ Non-Affiliate 50K points after $1K spend in the first 3 months.$99 Annual Fee This card is known to be subject to Chase's 5/24 rule. Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: The combination of 6,000 points plus 2 EarlyBird Checkins each year make this card a keeper for those who fly Southwest often. Earning rate: 3X Southwest ✦ 2X Rapid Rewards(R) hotel and car partners ✦ 2X local transit and rideshare ✦ 2X internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming ✦ 1X on all other purchases. Card Info: Visa Signature or Platinum 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 1,500 TQPs for each $5K in purchases Noteworthy perks: 6000 bonus points each year upon card renewal. 2 EarlyBird Check-Ins each year. 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each year ✦ 25% back on in-flight drinks, Wi-Fi, messaging, and movies. |
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
50K points ⓘ Affiliate 50K points after $1K spend in the first 3 months.$149 Annual Fee This card is known to be subject to Chase's 5/24 rule. FM Mini Review: Great for frequent Southwest flyers - this card could easily be a long-term keeper. Earning rate: 3X Southwest ✦ 2X Rapid Rewards(R) hotel and car partners ✦ 2X local transit and rideshare ✦ 2X internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming ✦ 1X on all other purchases. Card Info: Visa Signature or Platinum 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 1,500 TQPs for each $5K in purchases Noteworthy perks: ✦ 7,500 anniversary points each year ✦ $75 Southwest annual travel credit ✦ Four A1-15 boardings every year ✦ 25% back on in-flight drinks, Wi-Fi, messaging, and movies. ✦ 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each year |
Quick Thoughts
Southwest points are worth enough that you should easily get more than $800 worth of flights with whichever card you choose. That’s an excellent return on $2,000 spend. I love having Southwest points on hand for the flexibility of award bookings and because it has been a great airline for Amex airline fee incidentals.
This card is subject to the Chase 5/24 rule, so if you have opened 5 or more new consumer card accounts in the past 24 months, you will not be eligible.
Also keep in mind that you are not eligible for a new Southwest consumer card bonus if you currently have a Southwest consumer card or have earned a new welcome bonus on one of them in the past 24 months. You still can get 1 Southwest consumer bonus and 1 Southwest business card bonus, combining points from both toward a Southwest Companion Pass. The pass ordinarily requires you to earn 125,000 points in a calendar year, but Southwest has effectively shortened the path and it will only require earning 100,000 points this year.
However, the timing on these offers is unideal for anyone who is interested in earning a Southwest Companion Pass. That’s because if you were to get one of these personal cards and a business card right now, it would take you at least a couple of months to meet the spend and be awarded the bonus, so your Companion Pass is unlikely to begin before at least July. Once you earn the pass, it is good for the rest of the calendar year in which you earn it and the entire next year, so you’d get less than 18 months of Companion Pass that way.
If you instead wait until after October 1st to open any Southwest cards and then wait to meet the spending requirements for the cards until January (thus earning your intro bonus(es) in January of 2022), you could potentially work it out to earn the 125,000 points necessary in January and thus have a Companion Pass that is valid for all of 2022 and 2023. We of course don’t know what the bonuses will be in October, but I think I’d gamble on that being a better strategy if it were me.
If you are not looking to travel with a companion, these 65K bonuses are pretty solid, but I’m still not sold that now is the time. Late last year, we saw 80K bonuses on the personal cards. The “standard” increased offer has long seemed to have been 60K, so this 65K offer is better than the “normal” increased offer, but not the best.
If now actually is the right time for a Southwest card for you, I strongly believe that the Priority card is the best choice for a frequent Southwest flyer. The card comes with 7,500 points each anniversary (easily worth $100) and a $75 Southwest Airlines credit, making the card a small win before considering that it also offers reimbursement for four A1-A15 boarding positions each year (those are purchased at the airport and cost $30 for the very shortest of the short flights and $40 for all other flights).
Overall, it’s always nice to see an opportunity to earn more points and the return here is worth a lot of Southwest flying for reasonable spend, but the timing is less than perfect.
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I was planning to apply for new Southwest cards for myself and my husband and would like to take advantage of this offer. We are both under 5/24 and it has been 24 months since our last bonuses, but we both currently have Southwest cards. Does Chase have a minimum waiting period before applying for the same card? I thought I would cancel both cards now and then apply shortly before the July 14 deadline. If we refer each other, will the referral points be lost after canceling the current cards or will they credited directly to our RR account?
Hi Karen. If you can hold out until October, I would recommend waiting on this. These increased offers will come back. In October, November, or December I would recommend applying for both a Southwest business card and personal card in either your name or your husband’s name. The key here is to make sure that the bonuses on the cards don’t post until after January 1st. You will then have a brand new companion pass to use for the better part of two years. In two years when the companion pass is ready to expire have the partner that didn’t get the cards apply for them. You then have another companion pass for the next two years after that. My wife and I have been doing this for the last decade.
I appreciate your comment, but don’t have a business and I’m not comfortable trying to fake it. I’d just rather just get the bonuses on personal cards.
Can anybody tell me please how reimbursement for the A position and travel credit work on the priority card? Wondering if P2 opens the card but doesn’t travel, can I charge the priority boarding on the card as the traveler and get reimbursement ?
Yes, that would work. Both are automatic. You pay for the A1-15 and get an automatic statement credit reimbursement. The $75 credit works on basically any Southwest charge: airfare, gift card, in-flight purchase, etc.
We have a lot of family travel this summer so sooner rather than later is best for me. Thanks for the post!
Sounds good!
[…] Southwest regularly raises their offers from just 40,000 points per card. They now raised them to 65k signup bonus offers which is definitely nowhere near their best ever offers and this will not get you far toward the […]
I don’t think unideal is really a word.
But I, too, will be waiting until about November. Thanks for the post.
The dictionary disagrees 🙂
I like your strategy. I’m holding out until the end of the year. All my travel is booked for this year. Companion pass for 22-23 is the goal.