Earn 50K Points With Chase’s Trio of Southwest Credit Cards

Southwest and Chase offer a trio of co-branded personal credit cards, each with an identical bonus of 50,000 Rapid Rewards points after spending $1,000 within the first three months.

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 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.

So if you've got your eye on the Companion Pass and a stash of redeemable Southwest points, nows as good of time as any to pick one of these cards up and get earning towards that companion pass.

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® Premier Credit Card

• *sw premier bonus*.
• 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 an annual fee of $99, which is not waived for the first year of card membership.

 

 

Learn more about the *sw premier*.

 

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 an annual fee of $149, which is not waived for the first year of card membership.

 

 

Learn more about the *sw priority*.

 

Get a Companion Pass For Nearly Two Years

Southwest points might be getting less valuable in the New Year, but it's the Companion Pass that travelers should really care about. And the math for that incredible perk isn't changing at all.

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, last fall, we're still singing its praises.

Once you earn all the points you need, you get your Companion Pass for the rest of the year and the entire following year. So if you time it right, these bigger bonuses make it much easier to earn one of these super-valuable companion passes for nearly two full years!

But you need to time it right. You'll need to complete the spending requirement and earn the 50,000 bonus points on one of these cards in 2024, not in 2023. This part is key. You'll need wait until after your December statement closes in order to complete the $1,000 spending requirement to ensure the bonus points hit your account in the New Year.

 

 

Come January 2024, you could have 50,000 of the Companion Pass-qualifying points you need. Unfortunately, you can't simply open a second Southwest personal card to get the remaining 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. 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 the harder way: Simply flying with Southwest in 2024. 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 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 in 2024 could be enough to get you a Companion Pass for close to two years. Just make sure you do it all once the calendar closes on 2023.

 

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 time span, you will not be approved for Chase credit cards, regardless of your credit score or history with Chase bank.

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 this new offer to earn a Companion Pass for the first year.

 

 

Open a card, meet the minimum spending requirement, and you've got 50,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points. Keep in mind, though: Credit cards are serious business. If you can't afford to charge and immediately pay off $1,000 within three months, it isn't worth digging yourself into debt.

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 currently offering 50,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $1,000 in the first three months of card membership on any of the Southwest personal credit cards. While a big stash of Southwest points never hurts, the real value here is with the card's ongoing travel perks and benefits for flying Southwest Airlines – especially since it can put you nearly halfway to earning a Companion Pass for the next two years.

If a big stash of Southwest points or the Companion Pass are on your radar, picking up any of these three cards is a no-brainer.

 

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