Southwest Airlines Credit Cards: An Option to Match Your Love for Southwest

The latest Travel Rewards Optimizer post on credit card families checks out the Southwest Airlines credit cards offered by Chase. Previous posts have looked at the following card families: Chase Freedom/Sapphire, American Express, Delta, United, American Airlines, Marriott Bonvoy, and Hilton.

This post will discuss three credit cards.

• Southwest Plus
• Southwest Premier
• Southwest Priority

Common Offer Elements for All Three Cards

Apparently, Southwest and Chase want to make this easy. The current welcome bonus is 50,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points for all three cards. These points are worth approximately $700-750. You only need to spend $1,000 within three months to earn the sign-up bonus.

The spending bonus structures for the three cards are almost identical.

• 2X or 3X for Southwest purchases (2X for the Plus card and 3X for the Premier and Priority cards
• 2X bonus on purchases with Rapid Rewards car rental partners (most major brands)
• 2X bonus on purchases with Rapid Rewards hotel partners (Hyatt, Marriott, MGM, Choice, Best Western)
• 2X on local transit, commuting
• 2X on internet, cable, phone, streaming
• 1X all other

All cards also offer a 25% discount for in-flight purchases and 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each year.

The differences in the three cards revolve around annual fees, annual Rapid Rewards point bonuses, and benefits.

Southwest Plus

This card has a $69 annual fee and cardholders get 3,000 Southwest points (worth about $45) each year upon renewal. You also get two “Early Bird” check-ins per year so that you can board earlier (Southwest seating is first come, first served).

Southwest Premier

The Premier card’s annual fee is $99 and the annual anniversary bonus is 6,000 points (worth about $90). These cardholders also get two “Early Bird” check-ins each year.

Those spending heavily on this card can get 1,500 tier qualifying points toward “A-list” status for every $5000 spent annually.
 
Southwest Priority

This highest end card in the family has a $149 annual fee and the annual bonus is 7,500 points (worth about $110-115).

The benefits of this card include four upgraded boardings per year when available. These upgraded boardings guarantee that you will be one of the first 15 people to get on the plane, so you have the best choice of seats and overhead space. You also receive a $75 Southwest travel credit.

As with the Premier card, those spending heavily on this card can get 1,500 tier qualifying points toward “A-list” status for every $5000 spent annually.

My Conclusions

Because the welcome bonus is the same for all three cards, and the cards are not that differentiated, there is a temptation to determine that the least expensive Southwest Plus card is the way to go. This approach would make sense for those who want to add Southwest points to their travel rewards mix but have no preference for Southwest.
 
From the standpoint of ongoing value, the card’s ability to pay for itself year after year increases with the annual fee. For the $69 Plus version, the annual bonus and two “Early Bird” check-ins are a break-even proposition as long as you take a trip each year and want to continue accumulating Southwest points over time. The Premier will also allow you to break even if you are taking at least one round trip on Southwest annually and are interested in accumulating their points. With the top tier Priority card, a cardholder can come out ahead with two round trips per year when using the upgraded boarding benefit. However, while cardholders who fly Southwest with some regularity can cover the annual cost of the cards, there do not appear to be the opportunities for outsized value that some other co-branded cards offer.



One caveat is that, although there is a 2X bonus for purchases with Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partners, this might not be the best option for points and miles accumulation. Many cards already offer 2X or 3X bonuses for car rental or hotels and co-branded hotel cards tend to offer much better bonuses when staying at their properties.
 
To end on a more positive note, Southwest offers a Companion Pass that allows a companion flying with you to fly for free (whether you are paying with cash or miles). You can acquire a Companion Pass by accumulating 135,000 Southwest points during a year. Because these points can come from welcome bonus points, 50,000 points is an excellent head start. That 50,000 points can also be combined with the welcome bonus for a Southwest business credit card (currently 80,000 points) to get you almost all the way there. 

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The Southwest Airlines credit cards might or might not fit into a productive travel rewards plan for you. But if flying with Southwest is a potential part of your travel mix, one of the cards discussed in this post might be appropriate. When we design a custom Travel Rewards Optimizer plan for you, we take your travel goals, travel habits, spending patterns, and preferences into account. We want to ensure that the cards we recommend for you can quickly generate free travel and provide relevant benefits while keeping your annual card fees under control.

If you have not already, please check out the previous Travel Rewards Optimizer posts on other credit card families.

We are ready to help you turn your routine credit card spending into the travel of your dreams.