Southwest Priority credit card review 2024
Updated 11:36 AM EDT, Tue November 14, 2023
Southwest Airlines
Please note: The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card is currently unavailable through this site.
If you’re looking for a Southwest credit card that offers the upmost perks, then the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card* is by far your best bet. Of course, its annual fee is on the more expensive side compared to the other Southwest credit cards, but you’ll actually find that once you take into consideration all of its benefits, you’ll be ahead of the game.
Right now, the card is offering a welcome bonus where you’ll earn 50,000 bonus points While we’ve seen better offers in the past, with Southwest points worth about 1.4 cents apiece, this offer is still worth $700 toward Southwest travel.
Additionally, the points earned from the welcome offer — as well as everyday spend — count toward the coveted Southwest Companion Pass®. This pass allows a friend or family member to fly for free (plus taxes and fees) for up to two years. And best of all, you can use the points earned to book your flight and still add your companion onto your flight — making the points worth double.
So let’s dive in and take a look into the card’s favorable benefits.
*The information for the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card has been collected independently by CNN Underscored Money. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
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Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
Credit Score ranges are based on FICO® credit scoring. This is just one scoring method and a credit card issuer may use another method when considering your application. These are provided as guidelines only and approval is not guaranteed.
The Southwest Priority card’s $75 travel credit
One of the best benefits of the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is that all card holders receive a $75 travel credit every year. Although the $149 annual fee on the card is higher than the other Southwest personal credit cards, this travel credit effectively brings your yearly cost down to just $74. This is a great deal, thanks to the plethora of card benefits.
But there’s one catch — the $75 credit resets each year, so it’s a use-it or lose-it credit. If you happen to not be flying Southwest that particular year or are typically paying for Southwest flights with points instead of cash, you might find yourself not using the credits.
However, in 2022, Southwest implemented a new policy where travel fund credits never expire. Due to this, there’s no reason to not be able to utilize the credits. This is because even if you aren’t flying on a paid Southwest flight any time soon, you can use your Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card to purchase any Southwest flight — even one that you have no intention of flying — that costs around $75, and that amount will be credited on your credit card statement. If you then cancel the flight more than 24 hours after booking, you’ll receive a Southwest flight credit that will never expire, which can then be used at any future date — even years down the line.
Additionally, if you purchase a Wanna Get Away Plus fare, that flight credit is fully transferrable to another passenger (regular Wanna Get Away fares are non-transferrable), so you have even more flexibility.
Digging into the Southwest Priority credit card
Beyond the $75 travel credit, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is perfect for Southwest flyers who want elite VIP benefits from their credit card when they travel. Although it’s Chase’s most expensive Southwest personal credit card, it offers some great benefits, especially compared to Southwest’s other two personal credit cards. In fact, these perks can easily offset the card’s annual fee, making it one you’ll have no problem keeping in your wallet year after year.
Also, as previously mentioned, all points earned on the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card — including bonus points from the card’s welcome offer — count toward the coveted Southwest Companion Pass. To receive the pass, you need to earn 135,000 qualifying points within the calendar year, but with the 50,000 points earned from the welcome offer (after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening), you’ll only have to earn another 85,000 points. These points can be earned through everyday spend, using the Southwest shopping portal or even applying for a business version of the Southwest credit card.
Plus, points earned on the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card never expire, and you’ll never have to worry about blackout dates or seat restrictions when redeeming your points. That’s because Southwest has what’s known as a “fixed-value redemption” frequent flyer program, which means when you redeem your points, the number of points you’ll need is tied to the cash price of the ticket. So while you’ll always be able to get a seat with points as long as there’s one for sale, the higher the price, the more points you’ll need to secure a seat.
Advantages of the Southwest Priority credit card
We’ve already talked about the $75 Southwest travel credit that Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card holders get each year, which can be used to buy Southwest tickets. Just use your card to pay for your flight — or the taxes and fees on an award flight — and you’ll receive a statement credit offsetting the cost, up until you hit the $75 cap.
Then, starting with your first anniversary as a Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card holder — which means after you’ve had the card for a year and each year thereafter — you’ll get 7,500 bonus points. Currently, Southwest points are worth approximately 1.4 cents per point when you redeem them for the airline’s “Wanna Get Away” fares, making those 7,500 bonus points worth $105. That means with just the bonus points and the $75 travel credit, you’re actually coming out ahead by $31 after paying your annual fee starting with your second year as a card holder.
On top of these two concrete money-saving benefits, you’ll also get four upgraded boarding certificates each year with the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card. Southwest boards its planes a little differently than most other airlines, as there are no assigned seats. Instead, you’ll get a boarding position between A1 and C60 when you check in to your flight, with A1 being the first to board and C60 being the last.
But, if you don’t get a boarding position you like, you can pay for an upgraded boarding position — A1 through A15 — at the airport, if available. The cost depends on the flight but ranges between $30 and $50 per upgraded boarding position. With the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card, you’ll get a statement credit for this purchase, up to four a year, saving you between $120 and $200 per year.
And if earning Southwest A-List elite status is important to you, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card can get you a few steps closer, as you can earn 1,500 Tier Qualifying Points (TQPs) for every $10,000 in purchases you make on the card. There’s no cap to the number of qualifying points you can earn, which means theoretically you could earn A-List status without even stepping foot on a Southwest plane. However, you’d probably be better off combining TQPs earned from the credit card with TQPs earned from flying Southwest.
On top of it all, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card also offers 25% back on all in-flight purchases made on Southwest, along with shopping protection benefits and no foreign transaction fees.
Disadvantages of the Southwest Priority credit card
The biggest disadvantage of the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is its bonus categories, and Southwest points themselves. While you’ll earn 3 points for each dollar you spend on Southwest, you’ll only earn 1 point per dollar on all other travel purchases that aren’t booked through the Southwest Rapid Rewards travel portal.
And while the card now also earns 2 points per dollar on transit and commuting, along with select telecommunication purchases, there are no bonus points for some of the more common categories, such as gas, groceries or restaurants. This means on most of your everyday purchases, you’ll only earn 1 point per dollar.
Compare that to a credit card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, which earns 3 points per dollar on dining out, select streaming services and online grocery purchases (excluding Target®, Walmart® and wholesale clubs), and 2 points per dollar on all travel purchases (or 5 points if purchased through Chase Travel℠). You can even transfer your Sapphire Preferred points to Southwest or one of Chase’s 14 other airline and hotel partner loyalty programs for more flexibility.
Another downside of the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is that it doesn’t provide the same travel protections that you see on many other Chase credit cards. While the card offers some travel protection benefits, including car rental collision insurance, lost luggage reimbursement, baggage delay insurance and travel accident insurance, it doesn’t offer some of the better — and more utilized — benefits, such as trip cancellation and interruption insurance, as well as trip delay insurance.
Additionally, the card’s car rental coverage is secondary, meaning you’ll need to first look to your own personal auto insurance policy for coverage if you have an accident with your rental car before your credit card coverage kicks in.
Also, there are restrictions you’ll want to be aware of when you apply for a Southwest credit card. You’re only eligible to get the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card if you don’t currently have a personal Southwest credit card, and if you haven’t received a welcome bonus on any personal Southwest card in the past 24 months. In addition, if you’ve opened five or more credit cards across all banks in the last 24 months, Chase will deny any new credit card applications. This is known as Chase’s “5/24” rule.
Other credit cards similar to the Southwest Priority
If you’re looking for a credit card that earns Southwest points, there are several additional options beyond the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card. First, Chase offers five different Southwest credit cards — three personal cards and two business ones — so there are four other Southwest cards to consider.
On the personal side, there’s the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card* and the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card*. Both charge lower annual fees than the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card but come with far fewer perks. They could be good choices for less frequent Southwest travelers, but probably aren’t best for true Southwest fanatics.
There’s then the previously mentioned Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, which has more bonus categories than the Southwest Priority and more valuable points that can also be transferred to Southwest at a 1-to-1 ratio — meaning when you transfer 1,000 points, you’ll get 1,000 Southwest points — whenever you want to book a Southwest flight. And if your vacation takes you elsewhere, you can instead transfer your Chase points to other travel partners, such as United, JetBlue and Hyatt, meaning you’ll have a lot more flexibility.
But the main disadvantage of using the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card instead of the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is that points earned with the Sapphire Preferred don’t count toward the Southwest Companion Pass, so you’d be better off with a Southwest credit card if that’s a priority for you.
*The information for the following cards have been collected independently by CNN Underscored Money: Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Should you get the Southwest Priority credit card?
It doesn’t have the best bonus categories or the most valuable points, but if you’re a frequent Southwest flyer, then the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card should have a place in your wallet. While you might not use the card for everyday spending — unless you’re trying to rack up qualifying points toward the Southwest Companion Pass — it can easily pay for itself if you fly Southwest more than a few times a year, and the card’s benefits will be popular among Southwest loyalists. And now that the card’s $75 annual travel credit can be turned into a flight credit that never expires, it’s definitely worth taking a good look at this card if you’re a Southwest fan.
*The information for the following cards have been collected independently by CNN Underscored Money: Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, and Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines, hotel chain, or other commercial entity and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of such entities.
This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended and should not be understood to constitute financial, investment, insurance or legal advice. All individuals are encouraged to seek advice from a qualified financial professional before making any financial, insurance or investment decisions.
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