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Update 12/4/23: We’ve learned that these limited-time offers on the Southwest personal cards will be ending on 12/11/23 at 9am Eastern time. Anyone who’s looking to add one before the end of the year for ’24/25 companion pass qualification should get on the ball before then.
All three of the consumer Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards credit cards are now offering increased welcome bonuses of 75,000 Rapid Rewards points after $3K in purchases within the first 3 months. These offers aren’t the best that we’ve seen over the past few years, but the timing is ideal for those interested in using the points towards a companion pass.
Referral links are showing these increased offers, so folks that can manage a household referral get even more bang for the buck.
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). Recent better offer: 75K after $3K in 3 months [Expired 12/11/23] 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 ⓘ 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. Recent better offer: 75K points after $3K spend in the first 3 months. [Expired 12/11/23] 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. Recent better offer: 75K points after $3K spend in the first 3 months. [Expired 12/11/23] 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
Although these offers aren’t historically noteworthy from a points perspective, they are ideally timed for those shooting for a 2024 companion pass. In order to get one (as a SW cardholder), you need to earn 125,000 qualifying points in a calendar year…this includes credit card welcome bonuses and points earned from card spending.
If you were to get one of these personal cards and a business card right now, then timed the spending so that it was completed in the statement that closes in January, the Companion Pass that you earn would be valid for the entirety of 2024 and 2025. This is because the pass is good for the rest of the calendar year in which you earned it and the entirety of the following year, so you’d end up with a little less than 23 months of Companion Pass use. That’s a pretty good deal.
Southwest Rapid Rewards points are worth 1.4 cents each according to our most recent Reasonable Redemption Values. That means that each of these bonuses should easily be worth more than $1000 worth of flights, regardless of which card you choose. That’s a good return on only $3,000 spend. Southwest points are nice to have as well, both for the flexibility of award bookings and because it continues to be a useful airline to trigger those pesky Amex incidental fee credits.
A couple of things to keep in mind:
- This card is subject to the Chase 5/24 rule. If you have opened 5 or more new consumer card accounts in the past 24 months, you most likely not be eligible.
- 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 in the past 24 months. You still can get 1 Southwest consumer bonus and 1 Southwest business card bonus, combining points from both towards a Southwest Companion Pass.
Which card is best?
We generally like the Priority card the best, especially for a frequent Southwest flyer. Cardholders receive 7,500 points on each anniversary (easily worth $100) and a $75 Southwest Airlines credit, effectively offsetting annual fee. It also offers reimbursement for four A1-A15 boarding positions each year (valued at $30-40 each) and 25% off inflight drinks and wifi.
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Just an FYI / data point on when you can get the card again if you’ve already had it.
I got this card back on 12/01/21 and applied for it again on 12/05/23. I was declined.
I called to find out why and they told me it was because it hadn’t been 2 years since I received the bonus, which was Feb 1 of ’22. I have to wait until Feb+ before I can get that card again.
So it’s not a matter of when you were approved for the card, it’s when you earned the bonus.
And that’s probably why I was not approved for the business card.
Back in December 2021 I had applied for the SW Priority card which at the time had a 50k bonus for $2k spend within 3 months plus another 50k bonus with $12k spend within 12 months. I ended up earning the bonus in January 2022. (woohoo) But does this mean I need to wait to apply after that date in January 2022? Or can I apply again now as long as I don’t receive the bonus until after January 2024?
ewbie here to miles/points.
I have the Southwest Priority credit card and have had said card for many years. If I cancel that credit card, when would I be eligible for the bonus for the Southwest Plus or Premiere credit card?
Thx and love the website and advice.
Mike
Historically we have applied for both the SW business card and personal in the same day (@2/24 for new cards). Is there more risk of not being approved now or is it generally the same risk?
According to what I read on DoC, it would still be two hard pulls since they’re consumer and business applications. I also read that spacing them out for 30 days would be best. I’m probably doing 3 weeks.
Waited one day. Instant approval on both (biz first then personal). But again seems very mixed on datapoints here. Wanted to provide my successful data point.
I did both the same day, and got approved. It did still result in two hard pulls.
Please correct on your post, the Plus card DOES have foreign transaction fees.
Sorry, where are you seeing that? It seems like the card display is correct and don’t think I mentioned it in the post. I’d like to get it corrected wherever you noticed it.
Oh that’s odd, now the card display is correct. It says “This card imposes foreign transaction fees.”
Ok, great. We recently changed the card displays, there could have been a caching issue or something. Still, thanks for pointing it out!
My link shows the referral expiring 12/03/23.
Priority plus the Performance Biz card is the easy way to get priority pass. And with the 2 year cycle on bonuses do this now then again in 2 years
I’m planning on doing the same thing. This would be my first southwest card. How long should I wait after applying for the first card, before applying for the second one? Also, do you know if it’s preferrable to apply for the personal card first or the business card first?
Looks like the 75K bonus is not available through card referrals. The referral still says 50K for personal and 60K for business.
I wonder if there’s any chance they’d be willing to change the offer to the higher 75K one after an application has been approved (similar to the way folks have successfully requested increased offer matches on Chase Ink Unlimited and Cash cards). Anyone ever try?
Actually, looks like referral links have been updated to reflect the 75K offer, as of today!
is the $75 annual travel credit based on calendar or on anniversary yr?
I noticed these cards now include 10k companion pass qualifying points. Do those post on Jan 1? If so, is it accurate that you’d end up with 88k companion pass qualifying points (75k signup bonus + 3k from spend + 10k annual bonus) just meeting the min spend in Jan? If so that only leaves 37k incremental spend, which isn’t terrible.
Yes, cardholders automatically get 10,000 cp-qualifying points every year (which would actually include 2023 as well, if you got the card). Effectively it means that cardholders need to earn 125,000 points in a year to get a CP, non-cardholders need to earn 135k. You likely know this, but it’s worth noting those cp-qualifying pts are not redeemable.
Ah, so it’s not 10k towards 125k, it’s 10k towards 135k (effectively 125k). So you’d need $47k incremental spend. Less appealing. Thanks!
Or 2 referrals
Yes and yes. They also offered 100k less than 2 years ago on the priority card.
My CP is expiring at the end of year so I had wife get the business card with the two bonuses. We are waiting until the end of the year to complete the spend for the second bonus so it posts in 2024. I’ll have her apply for this card right before the deadline and she will have the CP for two years. I’ve canceled my cards and will wait two years before starting over.
Good strategy!
If I get companion pass after meeting the spend requirement do I have to keep the card open to maintain the companion pass or can I downgrade it to a no AF card and keep the companion pass through 2025?
The companion pass is yours once you get it, so it won’t be affected by downgrading or cancelling a card.
All SW cards have annual fees.