Southwest Credit Card Offer: 65k-Point Welcome Bonus

Chase is offering an upgraded welcome bonus with any Southwest Rapid Rewards personal credit card, so we’ll help you choose the best one for you.

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If you fly Southwest Airlines regularly, you may be considering one of their co-branded credit cards for your wallet. If so, then it’s a great time to apply. Through September 14th, Chase is offering an upgraded welcome bonus of 65,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $2,000 on your Southwest credit card within the first three months. The offer applies to their three personal Southwest cards only, not the business cards.

What 65,000 Points Will Buy

Southwest Airlines has a unique loyalty program. Unlike most other airline programs, the cost of bookings using Rapid Rewards points is tied directly to the cash cost of the itinerary. Southwest values points at $1 = 78 Rapid Rewards points. Some quick math, and you’ll find that the 65,000-point welcome bonus is worth $833.

This is where it gets interesting. When Southwest has a fare sale, the lower sale fares also mean you can use fewer points to book tickets. We usually fly between Pensacola (PNS) and Nashville (BNA), where $49 fare sales have been plentiful lately (because Covid-19). You can pay with cash for about $98/roundtrip, or use just 5,928 points plus $11.20 in fees.

In short, your 65,000 point bonus will give you nearly 11 round-trips with Southwest’s best sale prices. And since you need to spend $2,000 to earn the bonus, that’s another 2,000 points minimum and a total of 67,000 Rapid Rewards points.

Southwest’s 3 Personal Credit Cards

The limited time 65,000-point welcome bonus will be the same, no matter which Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card you apply for. So let’s take a look at all three of them:

• Plus — Southwest’s most basic credit card comes with a $69 annual fee. Each year on your account anniversary, you’ll receive 3,000 Rapid Rewards points. At Southwest’s standard valuation of 78 points per dollar, the extra points are worth about $38.
• Premier — Southwest’s mid-tier card costs $99 annually, and you’ll receive 6,000 Rapid Rewards points on your account anniversary date. Those points are worth $77.
• Priority — If you fly Southwest at least twice a year, I would recommend the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority credit card. Although it carries a $149 annual fee, you’ll get the equivalent of $171 back at minimum. Card members get 7,500 Rapid Rewards points each year with their account anniversary ($96 value). Plus, they get a $75 annual flight credit to use toward their Southwest purchases. Book your flights and the credit will appear on your statement.

All three cards offer 2x points on Southwest purchases, and 2x points for Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases. The card gives you 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases.

If you’re only worried about earning Rapid Rewards points, there are better credit cards with which to book Southwest flights. I keep the Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR) card in my wallet. That card offers 3x Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points on airline purchases. It’s easy to transfer Chase UR points to Southwest Rapid Rewards on a 1:1 basis, effectively boosting my earning power by 50 percent. However, the CSR’s eye-popping $550 annual fee may well put you off. (Check THIS post to see why I think the CSR is still a good value).

BONUS: Through September 30th, card holders can register at this link to earn 5 Rapid Rewards points per $1 spent on Southwest purchases, up to $2000 in August and $2000 in September.

Companion Pass

Plenty of Southwest Airlines fans aspire to get the Companion Pass. And yes, it’s almost exactly what it sounds like.

When you fly, a companion you select can fly with you at no extra charge. All year! Just pay taxes and fees on your companion.

You can earn the Companion Pass by taking 100 Southwest flights during the year, OR you can earn 125,000 Rapid Rewards points. The good news is that credit card spend counts toward the total. Oh, and so does that 65,000-point welcome bonus.

If you opened your Rapid Rewards account before April 1, 2020, Southwest has already given you a 25,000-point boost toward the Companion Pass. The welcome bonus alone puts you at 92,000 points minimum (65,000 points + minimum 2000 points earned spending to earn the bonus). Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, it might still not be easy to earn the full 125,000 points needed in 2020. But with 92,000 points, you’d be well on your way to the Companion Pass promised land. If you are eligible for a Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance or Premier business card, Chase will let you apply for that card separately and earn a second bonus.

Foreign Transaction Fees

It’s worth mentioning that the entry-level Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus credit card gives no relief from foreign transaction fees. That’s a 3% hit for every transaction you make in foreign currency. You’ll pay it at restaurants in Canada, and online purchases originating in Europe. Doesn’t matter.

I hate foreign transaction fees! But you can avoid them with either the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier card, or the most expensive Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority credit card.

Additional Perks

A great perk with most airline credit cards is the free baggage allowance. But Southwest famously doesn’t charge baggage fees on the first two bags. Still, there are a couple of other mildly interesting perks available with these cards:

• Spend Toward A-List Status — The Premier and Priority cards will let you spend yourself closer to A-List elite status. For every $10,000 spent on these cards (up to $100k), you will earn 1,500 Tier Qualifying Points. It takes 35,000 points to reach entry level A-List status and 70,000 for A-List Preferred. So this isn’t a huge perk, but it could come in handy if you’re close to reaching the next level.
• Credit for Inflight Purchases — Priority card holders will get a 20% credit for all inflight purchases on Southwest. This included food, drinks and wifi.
• Upgraded Boardings — Priority card holders receive up to 4 Upgraded Boardings each year. You can purchase these only on the day of your flight, at check-in or at the boarding gate, and only if a slot is available. If so, you’ll purchase the upgrade with your eligible card and get a statement credit. And you’ll be among the first to board from your departure city.

Final Thoughts

Chase is offering an upgraded welcome bonus with all of its personal Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards. My pick for the best value of those three is the top-end Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority card. At $149, the annual fee is more expensive, but just two benefits justify the cost: the annual $75 travel credit with Southwest, and the 7,500 annual Rapid Rewards points. To earn the 65,000-point welcome bonus, you’ll need to spend $2,000 in spend over the first three months. That’s quite reasonable.

My wife just signed up for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority card earlier this year. The bonus was bigger at the time (75,000 points), but Chase required $5000 in spend over six months to receive the full welcome bonus. I could understand waiting for an offer like that to come along again, especially if you’re not in a hurry. Are any of us in a hurry right now with a global pandemic slowing us down?

But if you regularly fly Southwest, the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority card offers plenty of value, even before discussing the welcome bonus.

You can apply for any of the three Southwest Rapid Rewards personal credit cards at this link.

A Promise

This is not a paid post, nor will we receive a commission if you apply for any credit card through the links provided on this page. We like the Priority card for regular Southwest flyers. It pays for itself and could get you to your seat more quickly. As we move our new site forward, we will strive to give honest reviews of credit cards. We will accept credit card referral fees, but we promise to be honest in our opinions regardless. We’ll direct you toward the cards we like and steer you away from the cards we don’t. The best travel reward cards provide great value to travelers, and they can help save you money. They have a place in the overall travel discussion, and we’ll cover them when it makes sense to do so.

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