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Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card—Get This Card if You Use Southwest Airlines!
Updated: Nov 20, 2021
If you are looking to fly with a major low-cost airline in the United States then Southwest Airlines may be what you are looking for! With around 100 destinations and over 700 aircrafts Southwest Airlines has carved out a name for itself—and some awesome credit cards that you don't want to overlook.
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Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
Southwest Airlines has partnered with Chase—perhaps the biggest name in the Award Travel arena—and have launched a total of five co-branded credit cards (3 personal & 2 business): Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card, and Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card.
Each product has its own features and benefits. However, if you fly Southwest Airlines at least once per year, the best card of the bunch may be the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card. Although it comes in at a heft $149 annual fee, this amount pales in comparison to the rewards and benefits that can be earned and redeemed on this card! You can apply for this card here!
The Welcome Bonus
The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card currently has a two-level welcome bonus of up to 100,000 Rapid Rewards® points! You can earn 50,000 points after you spend $2,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. You earn an additional 50,000 points after you spend $12,000 on purchases in the first 12 months from account opening.
How far will the 100,000 welcome bonus get you? If we factor in the spend ($12,000) to reach the 100,000 Rapid Rewards® points welcome bonus, we will have at least 112,000 points. If we were to plan a trip from Columbus, Ohio to Phoenix, Arizona, with our date of departure on January 31, 2022 and our date of return on February 8, 2022, we find the following nonstop itinerary:
For 20,628 points and $11.20 in fees, we can find a nonstop roundtrip itinerary. With 112,000 Rapid Rewards® points and $56 in your bank account, a family of five could take a trip to Phoenix, Arizona from Columbus, Ohio! This demonstrates the value of the welcome bonus—and we haven't even touched the other benefits! You can apply for this card here!
The first-level of the welcome bonus—$2,000 in spend within 3 months—is attainable for most of us. The second-level becomes interesting—spending an additional $10,000 within 12 months—especially when working toward the Companion Pass.
The Companion Pass is an extremely valuable benefit to have. It allows your designated traveling companion to travel for "free" with you—this includes the year the Companion Pass was earned and the following year! Your designated travel companion will only have to pay taxes on the ticket. We will get more into the Companion Pass later.
Rewards
The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card earns 3X Rapid Rewards® points in the following category:
Southwest Airlines purchases
It earns 2X Rapid Rewards® points in the following categories:
Local transit and commuting, including rideshare
Internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming
Rapid Rewards® hotel and car partners
It earns 1X on everything else.
Southwest Airlines is a transfer partner of Chase. That means your points earned from any Chase Ultimate Rewards®-earning credit card can be transferred to Southwest Airlines—provided you have a premium Ultimate Rewards®-earning credit card. (E.g. Chase Sapphire Reserve®; Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card; or the Chase Ink Business Preferred®.) In my opinion, the best travel credit card for beginners to get started with is the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. You can learn more about this card in the following post: Chase Sapphire Preferred—The Best Credit Card Just Got Better! You can apply for this card here!
Southwest Annual Travel Credit & Cardmember Anniversary Points Bonus & Annual Fee
The $75 Southwest annual travel credit and 7,500 Cardmember anniversary Rapid Rewards® points bonus offset the $149 fee. If you fly at least once per year, the annual travel credit and anniversary points bonus bring more value than $149! I assign Rapid Rewards® points a value of 1.3 cents per point. This would bring the value of these two benefits to ~$172.50. In other words, you would make ~$23.50 by just holding onto the card and not even using it!
The best travel credit cards have an annual fee. It is important to look past the annual fee and see the bigger picture—the welcome bonus, the rewards, and benefits the card brings to the table. Having a "farsighted" view as opposed to a "nearsighted" view is an important facet to develop in the Award Travel arena. There are many individuals who loose out on hundreds—even thousands of dollars—because of lacking the ability to see beyond the annual fee.
Other Benefits
The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card comes with 4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available, 25% back on inflight purchases, 1,500 Tier Qualifying Points towards A-List Status for every $10,000 in spend, and no foreign transaction fees.
In addition, Southwest Airlines in general offers the following benefits to all passengers:
First and second bags are checked free
No change fees
Unlimited reward seats with no blackout dates or seat restrictions
Rapid Rewards® points don't expire
Welcome Bonus Stipulations
The current 100,000 Rapid Rewards® points welcome bonus does come with some stipulations. One of the aforementioned requirements is that you will need to spend $2,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening to earn 50,000 points and an additional $10,000 spend on purchases in the first 12 months to earn another 50,000 points.
Additionally, you aren't eligible for the welcome bonus if you currently have a Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, or have received a new cardmember bonus within the last 24 months. This does not apply to their business and employee credit card products.
Chase's 5/24 Rule
In addition, because Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is a co-branded Chase credit card, there is what is known as "Chase's 5/24 rule." This "rule" indicates you will not be approved a Chase credit card if you have opened five or more credit cards—across all banks—within the last 24 months. (I.e. American Express, Capital One, etc.)