[Expired] Southwest 60K offers back: Companion Pass after $4K spend

The Chase Southwest Premier and Plus credit cards are back with 60,000-point signup bonuses on each, meaning it is once again possible to earn a Southwest Companion Pass with just 2 credit card signups. This time of year is probably the least desirable time to earn a Companion Pass in terms of the length of validity, but if you find yourself under 5/24 and you don’t intend to stay there long enough to wait, these offers could be worth a look. Links for both have been added to our Best Offers page. Details follow.

Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card

The Offer

• Earn 60,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $2,000 on purchases in the first 3 months

Key card details

• $69 annual fee is not waived
• 3,000 bonus points after your cardmember anniversary
• Earn 2X Southwest
• Earn 1X on all other purchases

Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card

The Offer

• Earn 60,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $2,000 on purchases in the first 3 months

Key Card Details

• $99 annual fee is not waived
• 6,000 points after your cardmember anniversary
• Earn 2X Southwest
• Earn 1X on all other purchases

Quick Thoughts

Both cards are known to be subject to the Chase 5/24 rule. This means that if you have opened 5 or more personal credit cards from any issuer in the past 24 months (including Authorized User cards), you are unlikely to be approved.

For those under 5/24, these offers make the most sense if you have or are seeking a Southwest Companion Pass. For those unfamiliar, you can earn a Southwest Companion Pass when you earn 110,000 or more Southwest Rapid Rewards points in a calendar year. The Companion Pass benefit allows the holder to bring a companion for free (paying only the taxes) an unlimited number of times throughout the validity of the pass. The Companion Pass is valid for the rest of the year in which it is earned and the entire following year. This means that if you signed up for both of these cards (or one of these cards and the Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business card, which is also currently offering 60K points for $3K spend) and met the minimum spending requirements, you would earn a companion pass good until December 31st, 2018. See our Complete Guide to the Southwest Companion Pass for more details on how the pass works.

All that said, this time of year is probably the worst time to sign up since your first statement wouldn’t cut until at least late September, meaning that you would have just over 15 months of Companion Pass time at best. It is generally most advantageous to sign up for these cards late in the year and wait until January to complete the required spend. Then, if you receive the signup bonuses in January, you would have nearly 2 years of Companion Pass.

However, with these cards being subject to 5/24, you may not be willing to hold off on other apps much longer. If you’ve got a need for the points / pass, it doesn’t get any easier than $4,000 in spend to secure it. And it’s a nice return on that spend as 124,000 Rapid Rewards points (your total after doing $2K in spending on each card) will buy you more than $1800 in Wanna Get Away fares — and you will be able to bring a second person along on those tickets for free. Hopefully, we will see this offers return again near the end of the year — but for those who were looking for the 60K offers to come back, these will be a welcome increase from the previous 40K offers on each.

H/T: Slickdeals via IAD GR8

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