Disclaimer: I do not endorse the use of credit cards at all, unless:

• You only use it to buy what you already have to buy anyway, as a means to accrue points
• You pay off the whole balance every week
• You have self control and are 100% certain you can resist unnecessary spending of money you don’t have

If there’s any chance you will not be able to do all three above, I recommend you not to get this or any other credit card.

As you probably know, Southwest Airlines has partnered with Chase to provide three Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards through Visa:

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority credit card (highest level of benefits and highest annual fee)
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier credit card
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus credit card (lowest level of benefits and lowest annual fee)

There is a variety of small differences between each card, including point multipliers (the top two tiers, Priority and Premier, earn 3x on Southwest purchases), anniversary bonus, and of course, the annual fee.

Southwest Rapid Rewards also offers a couple Business credit cards.

I won’t spend much time getting into the specific differences; you can view and compare the cards on Chase’s website here.

Is the Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card worth it?

I’m going to focus my review on my experience with the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority card. The reason I chose the Priority card was because I did the math on whether the Priority card is worth its annual fee of $149, based only on actual money saved (and not extra perks, which we’ll get into later), using the following tools:

• my monthly budget to estimate how many dollars I’d spend in each category
• The Southwest Rapid Rewards points calculator
• The amount of credits and bonus points received each year
• An estimated number of flights my family takes each year and points required (use the option on Southwest’s website to search for flights and then choose points instead of dollars, if you aren’t already familiar).

Apply for the Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card today

My family typically only flies once per year from Arizona to Ohio to see my family. The goal for us was to fully pay for, or almost pay for, that flight each year, and then either save that money or put it toward a vacation trip.

For us, the combination of 7,500 annual bonus points, plus the $75 annual credit, plus the points accrued from spending made the Priority card worth it, paying for an estimated 4/5 of our flight to Ohio each year — but the next tier down, the Premier — might have been a better choice, because:

• the annual fee is $50 less
• The only point multiplier that’s lower than the Premier card is on spending for Southwest flights (it’s 2x on Premier and 3x on Priority)

This would not be true for you if you fly more than 3 people round-trip per year, because the 3x multiplier on southwest flights would kick in. It probably won’t for my family, since the 3 of us only fly once per year, which is paid for almost entirely with points.

Here’s a breakdown of points accrual for the Premier card, courtesy of Southwest and Chase:

What is the Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card sign-up bonus?

It’s important to note that the sign-up bonus, which varies from 40,000 points to 80,000 depending on time of year, may sound appealing — but when considering whether the card makes sense for you financially, it’s better to focus only on the points and credits you’ll receive each year either from spending, or as a perk of your card.

If the sign-up bonus is at 50,000 or less, you may want to wait until it’s increased later in the year. When we signed up, it was at 50,000, but I saw it increase to 60k and 80k a few months later.

Apply for the Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card today

When does the bonus arrive?

In case you’re unfamilair with credit card signup bonuses, they come with a “Spend X to get Y” formula. At the time of this writing, you are required to spend $1000 within the first 3 months to get the bonus. For most people, unfortunately, this is highly achievable. Once the $1000 threshold is met and posted, you’ll get a confirmation email.

The bonus showed up in my Southwest account automatically after the close of the first 30-day billing cycle and was ready for me to use.

As you can see, my 50,000-point sign-up bonus (plus earned points) were deposited into my account together after the first billing cycle completed:

How do I maximize my Rapid Reward points with the Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card?

Let me start by saying my wife and I strongly do not like buying thins on credit. We only have one other credit card which we use solely for maintaining credit (we used it minimally and paid it off each month, treating it the same as a debit card).

That said, the way to earn points, obviously, is by spending as much as you can. So we spend almost exclusively using our Southwest card. We flipped our Apple pay and Paypal accounts to that card as primary; we use it to pay utilities, we use it for groceries, we use it for dining out and road trips.

… but Be Careful

However, we pay the balance weekly to avoid costly interest. Unfortunately, the only auto pay option is at the time the statement is released, and if we only did that, we’d be paying an entire month’s worth of utilities, gas, groceries, etc all at once. Talk about sticker shock!

So, I set a recurring reminder on my iPhone for each Friday and log in and pay the balance once a week (and then I also set up auto pay each month just in case I forget).

You can’t use a credit card for loans

It’s also worth mentioning that due to federal anti-money laundering regulations, loan installments cannot be paid for with a credit card. So, if you have a car payment or mortgage, that’s a huge amount of money you won’t get to put on. Your Southwest priority card. If you rent your home, you maybe able to use it — this depends whether your property manager’s payment system lets you use a credit card.

Make use of higher multiplier categories

It should go without saying that you should use your Southwest card when booking a Southwest flight. If you only plan to travel once or twice a year, your points may cover all of those flights — but if you already regularly travel more than that, be sure to put it on your Southwest card as the Priority card gives 3x points there, and the others give 2x. Certain other categories like hotels and select internet and streaming providers, car rental agencies, and ride share apps also give 2x points.

What are the other perks of the Southwest Airlines credit card?

The Southwest card has somewhat limited perks, but the ones it does include are pretty solid. Some of the other top perks of the Southwest Priority card include:

Southwest Priority Card Upgraded Boarding

My wife and I just flew to Ohio from Phoenix. On the way, we had a very brief layover in Austin; there was only a 20-minute gap between the first flight landing and the second one boarding.

Our return flight stopped in Chicago, so I intended to use our free upgraded boarding then since the Chicago-to-Phoenix leg is a 4-hour flight. However, given the limited time in Austin on the way there, I opted to upgrade our flight from Phoenix to Austin so that if there happened to be a delay, we’d be more likely to catch our flight.

It turned out that on that first flight from Phoenix to Austin, we learned our daughter gets motion sickness. As we landed in Austin, she began vomiting… so suffice it to say, it was a very good thing we had boarded first (our boarding positions were A1-A3 after upgrading). We were in aisle 2 and were able to de-plane very quickly, get some essentials, and board our final flight in Austin.

Apply for the Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card today

Upgraded boarding not always available, and may not always be worth it-use of points for a flight

It’s worth noting that upgraded boarding isn’t always available. This is because Business Select passengers get higher priority on upgraded boarding, so on full flights the chance is higher that boarding positions A1 through A15, which are reserved first for Business Select, may be full.

One other tip is that, if you plan to fly Southwest multiple times in a year, it may not be worth using your free upgraded boarding. If you check in and get a higher-level A boarding pass like A30, (boarding groups are numbered 1 through 60), it might be wasteful to upgrade only by a few positions.

What do I have to do to get free upgraded boarding?

When you check in, you’ll see the option to “Upgrade boarding” if it’s available.

You’ll pay for the upgrade — the cost varies from $30 per passenger to shorter or less popular flights, to $60 for longer or more popular flights. Make sure to use your Southwest credit card for this.

Then, check your statement. You should see the credit as soon as the payment is posted, for up to 4 flights. It’s important to call out that upgraded boarding is per segment, so if you want to upgrade for 2 legs of a flight, that will count as 2 upgraded boardings. When you opt to upgrade after checking in, you’ll see all the legs of your flight. For me, they were all selected; de-select those you do not wish to upgrade. If I hadn’t de-selected, I would have upgraded boarding for 6 flights, paying for 2 of them.

Chase Offers

My favorites of the other Southwest Visa card perks currently available are a free 1-year DashPass for DoorDash, and Chase Offers.

Chase Offers, if you’re not familiar already, is a section of your account which contains cash back coupons (set amounts or percentages) for certain retailers.

My experience with this was that at first there were no offers, and then only a few, but they began adding each month until there were a few dozen to choose from. All you have to do is select the offer, and then when you make a qualifying purchase, you’ll see the credit (and Chase will email you) when the offer and cash back are applied.

If you have any other cards through Chase, like a debit card, the Offers for each card are different and you have to select the card you intend to use. Often, the same offer appears for each card, but sometimes they are different.

What are the other, less well-known perks?

The Southwest card also has partner programs to help earn points with companies like Marriott, Hyatt, Radisson, Best Western, MGM, 1–800-Flowers, HomeChef, and NRG. It also has typical perks of any credit card like an extra 1-year of extended warranty on certain purchases, and rental car protection.

Don’t forget other Southwest- specific perks

As a reminder of something we already covered, the Priority card provides 7500 anniversary points and a $75 Southwest Airlines credit. Don’t forget that this statement credit only applies when you pay for a flight. So if you only fly using points, you will not get this credit.

Lack of additional perks

While the Southwest card lacks the perks of other cards, it’s a solid option for those looking to save money flying. Since we have family across the country, we historically paid $1200 round trip for the three of us to fly and see family once per year. This year, we paid a total of $33 for that same flight with the help of the 50,000-point signup bonus. And in coming years, we should be able to make that same trip for about $300. So for us, it’s easily worth it.

Get started earning your free flight today

If you’re ready to start earning Rapid Reward points, please use my referral link to apply!