Southwest Credit Card Offers: Earn Up To 90,000 Points

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Southwest Airlines is one of the most flown airlines in the United States, thanks to its massive domestic route network, along with generally friendly service. The carrier’s co-branded credit cards are quite popular with consumers, and we’ve just seen some excellent welcome offers rolled out on the cards as well. There’s one card that I’d consider to be most worthwhile, so let’s cover all the details.

Link: Learn more about the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Card

In this post:

Big Southwest Rapid Rewards card welcome offers

For applications through July 1, 2026, the three Southwest Rapid Rewards personal credit cards are offering limited time welcome bonuses where you can earn a varying number of Rapid Rewards points. The bonus and spend requirements differ for each card, and are as follows:

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card (learn more) — earn 80,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases within the first three months
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card (learn more) — earn 85,000 bonus points after spending $2,000 on purchases within the first three months
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Card (learn more) — earn 90,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases within the first three months

I value Rapid Rewards points at 1.2 cents each, so I value the 80,000 to 90,000 points at $960 to $1,080, which is solid, and much better than the typical offers that we see. Put another way, based on my valuation, there’s a $60 difference between the value of each offer.

So I’d absolutely recommend factoring in the welcome offer into the overall math on deciding which card to apply for. And I won’t bury the lede — I think the most premium card is most worthwhile.

Eligibility for Southwest Rapid Rewards Visa cards

When it comes to getting approved for a personal Southwest Visa card, you’re not eligible for one of these cards if you are:

A current cardmember of any personal Southwest Visa Card
A previous cardmember of any personal Southwest Visa Card who received a new cardmember bonus within the last 24 months

That means the welcome offers on the cards are mutually exclusive, and you’ll want to pick which card makes the most sense for you. See this post for Southwest credit card eligibility restrictions, and see this post for Chase’s general application restrictions.

How much are Rapid Rewards points worth?

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards is a revenue-based program, meaning that the number of points required for an award redemption is roughly correlated to how much a ticket would cost in cash. However, nowadays there’s a dynamic element to this, which is to say that you’ll get a higher value per point on flights that are less in demand (the idea is that Southwest wants to minimize its costs associated with Rapid Rewards redemptions.

Big picture, I’d say you’ll get an average of around 1.2 cents of value toward airfare per Southwest point, though there is some variance.

Rapid Rewards points can come in handy for award flights

Differences between Southwest personal credit cards

The annual fees on Southwest’s co-branded credit cards range from $99 to $229. The temptation might be to go for the card with the lowest annual fee, though as I’ll explain below, the premium cards can represent a much better value, especially when you also factor in the higher value of the welcome offer.

What are the differences between these three Southwest credit cards?

Southwest credit card annual fees

The three personal Southwest Visa all have different annual fees, as follows:

The Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Card has a $99 annual fee
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Card has a $149 annual fee
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Card has a $229 annual fee

Southwest credit card anniversary bonus points

As an incentive to hold onto the Southwest Visa, you earn a certain number of anniversary bonus points every year (this happens every 12 billing cycles after you open your card):

The Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Card has a 3,000 point anniversary bonus
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Card has a 6,000 point anniversary bonus
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Card has a 7,500 point anniversary bonus

Based on my valuation of 1.2 cents per Rapid Rewards point, that means you’re getting roughly the following annual value in terms of points earned:

On the $99 annual fee Plus Card you’re earning $36 worth of points
On the $149 annual fee Premier Card you’re earning $72 worth of points
On the $229 annual fee Priority Card you’re earning $90 worth of points

Southwest credit card seat assignment benefit

Southwest no longer has its open seating policy. Instead, the airline has assigned seating, and has even broken the cabin up into three zones, with the forward zone having extra legroom. With that in mind, credit cards are the key to making sure you get the best deals on the best seats on the plane. Specifically:

The Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Card lets cardmembers and up to eight companions select standard seats at no cost within 48 hours of departure, when available
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Card lets cardmembers and up to eight companions select standard seats at no extra cost at the time of booking, and preferred legroom seats within 48 hours of departure, when available
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Card lets cardmembers and up to eight companions select preferred seats at no extra cost at the time of booking, and extra legroom seats within 48 hours of departure, when available

Southwest credit card return on spending

All three personal Southwest Airlines credit cards offer different returns on spending.

The Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Card offers:

2x points on Southwest purchases
2x points at gas stations and grocery stores on the first $5,000 in combined purchases per year
1x points on all other purchases

The Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Card offers:

3x points on Southwest purchases
2x points at grocery stores and restaurants on the first $8,000 in combined purchases per year
1x points on all other purchases
1,500 Tier Qualifying Points for every $5,000 spent on the card

The Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Card offers:

4x points on Southwest purchases
2x points at gas stations & 2x points at restaurants
1x points on all other purchases
2,500 Tier Qualifying Points for every $5,000 spent on the card

As you can see, you’ll want to get one of the two more premium cards if you want to spend your way toward Southwest status. The rewards structure also generally gets more lucrative the more premium of a card you go for.

Southwest credit card first checked bag free benefit

While Southwest no longer offers two free checked bags for all passengers, this has now become a core credit card benefits. All of Southwest’s co-branded personal cards offer one free checked bag for the primary cardmember and up to eight additional passengers on the same reservation.

Given that Southwest charges up to $45 for a first checked bag, that would be a value of up to $810 on a roundtrip itinerary (of course most people aren’t traveling with a party of nine, with everyone checking bags). The point is that there’s no differentiation between cards when it comes to this perk.

Southwest credit card early boarding benefit

All of Southwest’s co-branded personal cards offer a boarding benefit. With this, cardmembers and up to eight companions on the same reservation will board no later than Group 5, giving them earlier access to overhead bins. The “no later than” language exists because if you get assigned a more premium seat that comes with priority boarding, you can of course take advantage of that as well.

Southwest credit card 25% inflight savings benefit

All of Southwest’s co-branded personal cards offer 25% savings on inflight purchases, which basically includes savings on inflight drinks. In the past this also offered savings on inflight Wi-Fi purchases, but Wi-Fi is now free for Rapid Rewards members.

Southwest’s credit cards are potentially lucrative

Why the Southwest Priority Card is the obvious option

If you’re trying to decide which Southwest credit card to apply for, I’d highly recommend the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Card, which is the most premium card, with a $229 annual fee. Yes, the annual fee is $80-130 higher than the other two cards. However:

The card has a welcome offer that’s 5,000-10,000 points better, and I value that at an incremental $60-120 return; so it’s worth taking advantage of that, and if you decide the card doesn’t make sense after a year, you should be able to downgrade it
On an ongoing basis, the 1,500-4,500 incremental bonus points will come in handy, in helping to offset the annual fe
Ultimately if you fly Southwest with any frequency, you’re going to value the incremental seat assignment benefits, of being able to select preferred seats at the time of booking, and being able to select extra legroom seats within 48 hours of departure

So yeah, if I wanted to give one Southwest card a try, I’d go for the Priority one.

Southwest’s Premier & Performance Business cards

If you’re looking for a business credit card, you’re in luck, because Southwest has two excellent business cards:

The $149 annual fee Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card (learn more) has a welcome bonus where you can earn 60,000 points after spending $3,000 within three months
The $299 annual fee Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card (learn more) has a welcome bonus where you can earn 80,000 points after spending $5,000 within three months

Southwest’s business cards are lucrative as well

Bottom line

Southwest Airlines’ personal co-branded credit cards are offering excellent limited time welcome offers, ranging from 80,000 to 90,000 bonus points upon completing minimum spending.

Of the three cards, I think the $229 annual fee Southwest Priority Card is the best option, given the extra perks it offers, which more than justify the annual fee. From a first checked bag fee, to preferred boarding, to the potential to select extra legroom seats, the card has a very strong value proposition.

Furthermore, given that it has the biggest welcome offer, there’s merit to giving the card a try. If you decide it’s not the right fit for you, you can always cancel or downgrade it after a year.

Do you plan on picking up a Chase Southwest credit card with this offer?

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