I love Southwest Airlines.
We live about 20 minutes away from Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI), one of Southwest's “hubs,” and the vast majority of our flights are on Southwest Airlines.
When it comes to an airline's rewards credit cards, I'd argue that there are few cards are generous as the Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card issued by Chase. We've had the Premier version of the card for many years and every single year we're able to renew our Companion Pass, a perk that lets my wife fly whenever I fly.
One of the reasons why the card is so powerful has to do with the signup bonus. It's usually a whopping 50,000 points after spending just $2,000 in the first three months. We put all of our spending on it and with a family of four (OK, it's really just daycare), it's not hard to spend $2,000 in the time limit.
The promotion, like many promotions, comes and goes. Southwest and Chase periodically try different amounts, different structures, so we'll keep this page updated with the latest information.
The Best Southwest Offer is…
The current status of the signup offer is only up to 75,000 points! 🙂
This is the highest total bonus I've ever seen. (previously 60,000)
Here are the best offers on those cards (currently the bonus is all the same):
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card – Get 40,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Get an additional 35,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first six months. ($99 annual fee)
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card – Get 40,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Get an additional 35,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first six months. ($69 annual fee)
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card – Get 40,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Get an additional 35,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first six months. ($149 annual fee)
Other Things to Remember
For as long as I've been tracking this, 60,000 points is the best offer they've ever promoted.
This is the first time I've seen them offer 75,000 Rapid Rewards points.
Historically, Southwest will pop up 60,000 point offer for $X,XXX in spend like it did for a brief period in 2017 and early 2019. Sometimes, it'll be over two tiers. Also, from time to time, they only offer 40,000 or even as little as 25,000 points. 40,000 points is OK, especially if you're trying to make Companion Pass, but 25,000 points is terrible. Don't go for that one.
What to do based on the offer you see:
- CP + 30,000 RR points: This active offer is the first time I've ever seen it. I don't see why you wouldn't go for it since you get Companion Pass this year.
- 60,000 RR points: If you see a 60,000 point or more offer, snatch that up quickly. It's not worth waiting for it because it's hard to say when it will return.
- 50,000 RR points: This used to be the most common offer, usually by referral but sometimes without.
- 40,000 RR points: Unless you have a compelling reason to take it right now, wait until the most common 50,000 point offer or better appears. The 40,000 offer is looking like the most common base offer these days.
- 25,000 RR points: This is a hard pass. If you only see the 25,000 point offer, definitely wait. The 50,000 points is the most common and that's twice as many points!.
Personally, I believe anything 50,000 points or more is good enough to take but that'll depend on your needs.
Plus vs. Premier vs. Priority Southwest Cards
There are three credit cards linked to the Rapid Rewards program – the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card, the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card, and the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card. They are very similar.
Which one should you take? (these promotional details below show the old offer, I'm waiting to see if Chase and Southwest extends the CP + 30k offer beyond 2/11/2019 before I update it)
Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card
- Sign-up Promotion: Earn 40,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Get an additional 35,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first six months.
- Anniversary points:3,000
- Foreign Transaction Fee: 3%
- Tier Qualifying Points: 0
- Annual Fee: $69
Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card
- Sign-up Promotion: Earn 40,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Get an additional 35,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first six months.
- Anniversary points:6,000
- Foreign Transaction Fee: 0
- Tier Qualifying Points: 1,500 towards A-List
- Annual Fee: $99
Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card
- Sign-up Promotion: Earn 40,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
- Anniversary points:7,500
- Foreign Transaction Fee: 0
- Tier Qualifying Points: 1,500 towards A-List
- Annual Fee: $149 (you get a $75 travel credit)
As you can see, the big difference between Plus and Premier is the anniversary points and annual fee. You get the anniversary points on your account's anniversary date, which coincides with when the annual fee is assessed. 3,000 points is worth about $48 so that covers the $30 difference in the annual fee, assuming you use your points regularly. The 1,500 points towards A-List is a nice little bump too, as you need 35,000 TQP to get A-List.
The foreign transaction fee perk matters if you travel a lot. The Premier Card is a Visa Signature card, which does not charge a foreign transaction fee. Those are assessed on many cards when you make a purchase in another currency. You get the prevailing exchange rate but the fee is added on afterwards. Not having to pay is better than paying. 🙂
The Priority Card is a newer entrant and in a slightly higher category. We do a deeper dive into the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card but there's a higher annual fee plus a travel credit in addition to the larger bonus for a greater spend.
Unfortunately, you can no longer apply for all the cards and get points.
On April 5th, 2018, Chase added new language to the terms of the landing page of the promotions:
This product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of this credit card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of this credit card who received a new Cardmember bonus for this credit card within the last 24 months. To qualify for your bonus points, you must make Purchases totaling $1,000 or more during the first 3 months from account opening. Please allow up to 8 weeks for bonus points to post to your Rapid Rewards® account. (“Purchases” do not include balance transfers, cash advances, travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, wire transfers or similar cash-like transactions, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions, any checks that access your account, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, and fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable.) To be eligible for this bonus offer, account must be open and not in default at the time of fulfillment.
Is the 60,000+ RR Points Offer Worth It?
Yes. If you estimate that each Rapid Reward point is worth 1.6 cents, then 60,000 points is worth $960 in flights. This is 1.6 cent valuation is based on the dollar cost and point cost of Wanna Get Away fares, the most affordable rates on Southwest.
While you get the 60,000 points for spending $2,000 on purchases in the first three months, you do have to pay an annual fee on your first statement. You get $960 in points but pay $69 or $99 in an annual fee, depending on which card you choose.
How much are Rapid Rewards Points worth?
The easiest way to figure out the value of each point, which I always think of as ~1.6 cents each, is to compare a flight cost in dollars and in points.
Let's say I look at this flight from BWI to SFO in dollars:
Now points:
Let's compare:
- The Wanna Get Away Fares for Flight 2031/1731 at 6:15am costs $320 or 20,445 – 1.56 cents per point.
- For Flight 1731 at 7:40am, they cost $316 or 20,445 – 1.54 cents per point.
- Bump up to Anytime flights and a $543 flight will cost you 48,342 – 1.1 cents per point.
- Lastly, Business Select is the least valuable – $575 flight for 61,173 – 0.93 cents per point.
It's also best to calculate it with the flights you take the most to get its true value. For us, it's BWI to Long Island / Islip Airport. For those, a $101 one-way Wanna Get Away flight will typically cost us 5,806 points – a rate of 1.74 cents a point.
If you don't want to do the math, just consider them worth about a penny apiece. That'll be conservative enough to help you make a positive decision each time.
The Credit Card Rewards Structure
The rewards structure after the bonus is fairly straightforward.
You earn 2 points for every dollar spent on Southwest purchases as well as hotel and car rental car purchases. You earn 1 point for all other purchases with no limit to the points earned.
The Rapid Rewards points themselves do not expire as long as your Southwest account is active. Southwest Rapid Rewards accounts are active as long as there is any activity on the account, which includes having a credit card. When you fly, that is considered an activity as well. The accounts themselves are deactivated after 24 months of inactivity, so you have to go a very long time before you risk deactivation.
Learn more about the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card
Marli says
May 24, 2018 at 8:36 amI applied for both the Premier and the Plus cards in January. I was approved for both. I had companion status by March. Best travel card ever!!!
Jim Wang says
May 24, 2018 at 12:50 pmSadly, they changed the rules so you can’t do that anymore. 🙁
James says
June 27, 2018 at 10:01 amThe section you highlighted about the change in rules reads – to me – as though you can’t get the bonus if you’re a current cardholder. And since traditionally they’ve seemed to view the Plus and Premier as two separate cards and not two versions of the same product, it seems like getting both would still get you the bonus. Have you confirmed with Chase that you can’t get both cards with the bonuses?
We’ve utilized the companion pass for the last two years and are hoping to again next year. Fingers crossed!
Jim Wang says
June 28, 2018 at 9:02 amHi James – that’s the change, now you can’t get it for both.
Kenneth Rackers says
October 31, 2018 at 7:44 pmPlease send a current 10,000 bonus referral link, Thanks
Jim Wang says
November 2, 2018 at 8:24 amWhat 10,000 bonus referral link? There isn’t one… it’s 40,000 currently.
Kenneth says
November 2, 2018 at 12:20 pmThanks I was hoping there was still a 50,000 personal card points sign up promotion. When do you expect the next one might be?
Jim Wang says
November 2, 2018 at 9:20 pmAhhhh, I don’t know but it’s been a while since I’ve seen it but perhaps we’ll see it at the beginning of the year? We’ll see.
Euclid says
November 7, 2018 at 3:09 pmThere IS a 50k Southwest credit card offer! If you sign up at the AIRPORT, you can get it! I just flew JetBlue (which shares a hub with Southwest in Burbank airport), and the lady was there with the 50k Southwest offer after spending $2,000 in 3 months. Almost all of us will fly soon for the holidays, so look out for it and take advantage!
Cecelia hanson says
January 12, 2019 at 9:51 amWas that available through a link on southwest wifi? Or just available at the airport? Thank you
Millionaire Mob says
November 29, 2018 at 11:43 amJim – Love this post. I earned the SW Companion Pass for 2018-2019. I love it. It’s so easy to book. My only knock is that SW doesn’t have good direct flights from my location!
Rosie says
February 1, 2019 at 12:03 amSo if I’m a current SW card holder, I can’t take advantage of CP? When I signed on, I got 50K points but saw nothing of CP. any suggestions?
Jim Wang says
February 1, 2019 at 7:45 amUnfortunately you can’t take advantage of this offer because you already have the card. If you got it this year, you can try to get an extra 60K points to get to 110K. That’ll get you CP for this year and next year.
Also, for what it’s worth, the extra 20K points are worth about $320 in flights if you value each point at 1.6¢. So unless you travel (with a companion) heavily, it’s not a huge difference.
Kirk says
May 3, 2019 at 11:54 amI have a current Personal Premier card which I received the bonus in July of 2017. Based on the new bonus contract language, it sounds like I need to cancel the Personal Premier card before I would be eligible for the $60,000.00 bonus. How long does it have to be canceled for before making a new application? 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, etc? Also since I received the bonus in July of 2017 on the Premier card, would I be eligible for the bonus of the Plus Card now(assuming my Premier card is canceled) or do I need to wait until Aug 2019?
Jim Wang says
May 4, 2019 at 8:09 amYou have to wait two years between bonuses, so you’d be eligible in August of 2019.
As for canceling, you have to wait 60 days afterwards before they will recognize that you’re no longer a cardmember.
Kelly says
May 3, 2019 at 10:22 pmI read it says the points can take up to 8 weeks to post to your account, in respect to the signing bonus, would that be 8 weeks from when you hit $2,000 spent, or after the 3 month window?
Jim Wang says
May 4, 2019 at 8:08 amIt’s usually from the end of the statement period when you hit the $2,000 – not after the 3 month window.
Mark Hagewood says
May 7, 2019 at 9:34 amIs it says it “can” take that long, but does it usually? What’s the average time for the bonus points to post?
Jim Wang says
May 7, 2019 at 1:59 pmI’m afraid I don’t know. Based on the “up to 8 weeks” phrasing, which is how long it takes for two statements, my guess is that it posts after a full statement cycle to account for returns.
So let’s say your statements end on the last day of the month (for simplicity) and you hit the $2,000 on February 2nd, two days into a new statement. Their system probably registers that you completed the bonus on February 28th, and then awards on the next statement which will be March 31st. Almost 8 weeks.
If you hit the $2,000 on February 27th, then it registers the bonus on February 28th, and posts after March 31st – only 4 weeks since you hit the bonus near the end of a statement.
That’s all speculation though.