Chase just rolled out one of the biggest limited-time offers we've ever seen on its portfolio of Southwest co-branded credit cards. With the current offers, you can earn 85,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $3,000 in the first three months of card membership.
Better yet, the sign-up bonus from any of these cards will count toward the 135,000 points needed to qualify for the Southwest Companion Pass. What's the Southwest Companion Pass? Oh, just one of the best deals in all of travel – and the timing of these bigger bonuses is great to earn it for nearly two full years.
With the Southwest Companion Pass, you get to choose one person to fly free with you every time you buy a flight or redeem Southwest Rapid Rewards points. No blackout dates and no questions asked: If the flight is bookable, you can add your companion. Considering you get another 10,000 Companion Pass-qualifying points just for having a Southwest Card, you'd only need an additional 40,000 points to unlock BOGO flights with Southwest for up to almost two years.
Beyond the bonus points and opportunity to get close to a coveted Companion Pass, these cards come with other benefits like anniversary bonus points, early bird check-ins, upgraded boardings, and a discount on in-flight purchases.
If adding one of these Southwest cards makes sense for you, don't wait long: These offers expire on Wednesday, June 26!
Keep reading for everything you need to know about these Southwest credit card offers.
The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
- *sw plus bonus*
- Anniversary Bonus: Each year on your cardmember anniversary, you will receive 3,000 Rapid Rewards points.
- Earn 2x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar spent on purchases with Southwest Airlines and its hotel and rental car partners.
- Earn 2x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar spent on local transit and commuting purchases, including rideshares like Uber and Lyft. You’ll also earn 2x points per dollar spent on internet/cable, phone services, and select streaming purchases.
- Earn 1x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar on all other spending on the card.
- Get 2 Early Bird check-ins each year.
- Chase 5/24 Rule: The card will be subject to the Chase 5/24 rule, so you may not be approved for the card depending on how many credit cards you’ve opened in the last two years.
- Annual Fee: The card has an annual fee of $69, which is not waived for the first year of card membership.
Learn more about the *sw plus*.
The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
- *sw priority bonus*
- Anniversary Bonus: Each year on your cardmember anniversary, you will receive 7,500 Rapid Rewards points.
- Priority Boarding: Each year on your cardmember anniversary, you will receive four upgraded boarding positions. Simply purchase an upgrade on the day of your travel with the Priority card. You’ll receive a boarding number between A1 and A15, and be reimbursed via statement credit within eight weeks.
- Annual Travel Credit: Receive an annual travel credit of $75 to use on Southwest Airlines flights.
- 25% Back on In-Flight Purchases: Receive 25% back via statement credits for in-flight purchases. This can be used for drinks, movies, and purchasing Wi-Fi and messaging.
- Earn 3x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar spent on purchases with Southwest Airlines.
- Earn 2x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar spent on local transit and commuting purchases, including rideshares like Uber and Lyft. You’ll also earn 2x points per dollar spent on internet/cable, phone services, and select streaming purchases.
- Earn 1x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar on all other spending on the card.
- Unlimited Tier Qualifying Points can be earned towards A-List status each year.
- Chase 5/24 Rule: The card will be subject to the Chase 5/24 rule, so you may not be approved for the card depending on how many credit cards you’ve opened in the last two years.
- Annual Fee: The card has a $149 annual fee, which is not waived for the first year of card membership.
Learn more about the *sw priority*.
The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
- Earn 85,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Anniversary Bonus: Each year on your cardmember anniversary, you will receive 6,000 Rapid Rewards points.
- Earn 3x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar spent on purchases with Southwest Airlines.
- Earn 2x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar spent on local transit and commuting purchases, including rideshares like Uber and Lyft. You’ll also earn 2x points per dollar spent on internet/cable, phone services, and select streaming purchases.
- Earn 1x Rapid Rewards Points per dollar on all other spending on the card.
- 25% Back on In-Flight Purchases: Receive 25% back via statement credits for in-flight purchases. This can be used for drinks, movies, and purchasing Wi-Fi and messaging.
- Get 2 Early Bird check-ins each year.
- No foreign transaction fees
- Chase 5/24 Rule: The card will be subject to the Chase 5/24 rule, so you may not be approved for the card depending on how many credit cards you’ve opened in the last two years.
- Annual Fee: The card has a $99 annual fee, which is not waived for the first year of card membership.
Learn more about the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card.
Easy Path to BOGO Flights
You won't find a better deal in the world of travel than the Southwest Companion Pass: an unlimited buy-one, get-one flight pass. Even after Southwest (slightly) increased the points needed to qualify for the Companion Pass, we're still singing its praises.
Typically, the Southwest Companion Pass requires you to earn 135,000 qualifying Southwest Rapid Rewards points … or fly 100 one-way revenue flights in a calendar year.
Considering Rapid Rewards points earned through a sign-up bonus count towards the Companion Pass, you'd only need to earn an additional 50,000 points by the end of the year. But it's even less than that: Since all Southwest credit cardholders get a 10,000-point Companion Pass boost just for having a card, you'll really only need to earn an additional 40,000 points to get that coveted Companion Pass
Once you earn all the points you need, you get your Companion Pass for the rest of the year and the entire following year. That means now isn't the best time to earn it, but it also isn't the worst. With the current bonuses, getting nearly 18 months with a companion pass isn't out of the question!
Unfortunately, you can't simply open a second Southwest personal card to get the remaining 40,000 points – Chase only allows you to hold one version of their personal cards at a time. And you can't simply cancel one card and open another, either: Timing and restrictions on how often you can earn bonuses mean that won't work.
But you can easily bridge this gap by applying for the *SW Performance Biz* and earning its 80,000-point bonus after spending $5,000 in the first three months.
Worried about whether or not you'll qualify for a business credit card? You might be surprised to learn just what the banks consider a small business. Odds are if you've got any sort of side hustle, do consulting work, or even just buy and sell items on eBay or Facebook Marketplace, your business would qualify.
Otherwise you could earn the remaining points you need the harder way: Simply flying with Southwest. You'll earn at least 6 points for every $1 you spend on the cheapest Southwest Wanna Get Away fares or up to 12x points on the priciest Business Select tickets. If you've already done a fair amount of flying with Southwest this year, you might be closer than you think.
Finally, you'll also earn more Companion Pass points (and Rapid Rewards) for every $1 you spend on your Southwest credit card.
If you don't go with the tandem of a business Southwest card, some combination of earning this big bonus, spending more on your card, and flying with Southwest could be enough to get you a Companion Pass for more than a year.
What to Know Before You Apply
There are some considerations to work through before you apply. And the first comes down to whether you're even eligible to open one of these Chase Southwest cards.
Chase only lets you hold one Southwest personal credit card at a time. That means if you already have one Southwest credit card open, you will not be approved for a second card. On top of that, these welcome bonuses are not available if you have earned a welcome bonus on any of the three Southwest Airlines personal credit cards in the past 24 months (or two years).
And of course, these cards are also subjected to the dreaded Chase 5/24 rule, so getting approved for one of these cards may be difficult depending on how many credit cards (from any bank, not just Chase) you’ve opened in the last 24 months. If you've opened five or more five credit cards with any bank in that period, you will not be approved for Chase credit cards, regardless of your credit score or history with Chase.
But if you are eligible, these Southwest credit cards are easily among the best credit cards you can get if you are under the Chase 5/24 rule. That’s especially true with these big bonuses clearing a path to Southwest's Companion Pass.
Read more: The Master Guide to the Southwest Companion Pass
Pair with a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve
All three of these Southwest credit cards make great companions to either the *csr* or the *csp*. That’s because Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred to your Southwest Rapid Rewards account on a 1:1 basis, meaning 1,000 Chase points get you 1,000 Southwest Rapid Reward points. And those transfers are instant.
You can even transfer these points to Southwest to book one ticket to use with your Companion pass, paying just the taxes and fees on both tickets. It’s a great deal.
Learn more about the *csp*.
Learn more about the *csr*.
Bottom Line
Chase and Southwest are out with a new limited-time offer to earn 85,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $3,000 in the first three months of card membership on any of the Southwest personal credit cards.
This limited-time offer ends on Wednesday, June 26!