September 18, 2024: The sign-up bonus on the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card card is now back down to its business-as-usual offer. Fortunately, Chase recently increased the bonuses on the personal Southwest credit cards, making now a great time to get one of those cards.
Here’s the best available sign-up bonus on the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card:
Annual fee: annual_fees
Best sign-up bonus: bonus_miles_full
This bonus is earned as Southwest Rapid Rewards points.
In this article…
Our take: Other cards offers better value for Southwest flyers, not great timing for companion pass
Of course, we’re always disappointed when a large limited-time bonus ends, but unless you were planning on spending the $15,000 in 9 months to get the additional 60,000 bonus miles that were available with the previous bonus, the current bonus is substantively the same as the last one.
But at the same time Chase and Southwest discontinued the larger bonus on this card, they upped the bonuses on the personal Southwest cards to match the best-ever bonuses that we’ve seen since we started tracking them.
Which card to get: For most Southwest flyers, other cards are better.
As a small business owner, you probably have the option of using either a personal business card for your expenses, and we think that there’s a good case to be made for using the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card card instead.
Here’s why: You’ll easily get back value in excess of the card’s annual fee from the anniversary points and Southwest travel credit alone, before even considering the cards’ other perks.
With the Priority card, you’ll get a $75 annual Southwest travel credit and 7,500 anniversary bonus points. If you’re spending at least $75 on Southwest flights each year, you should have no problem using the travel credit and you’ll easily get more than $75 worth of flights out of the points. That covers the card’s annual fee (annual_fees) before you even consider any of the other benefits of the card.
If you frequently pay to use Southwest WiFi, then consider the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card, which gives you up to 365 inflight WiFi credits each year. If you’re paying for WiFi on more than a dozen flights a year, the marginal increase in annual fee pays for itself.
Compare all of the Southwest credit cards in our complete guide to the Southwest credit cards.
Companion pass: Not the best time to earn it
One of the best features of a Southwest credit card bonus is that the bonus points count toward earning a companion pass. When you earn a companion pass, you’ll earn it for the remainder of the current calendar year, plus the following calendar year. This makes January the ideal time to earn a companion pass, since you’ll get it for almost two full years.
Needless to say, if you’re looking to earn a companion pass with a Southwest welcome bonus, the best time to get the card very early in the year (or late in the year if you’re sure you’ll earn the bonus after January 1.)
About the card: Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card at a glance
Annual fee: annual_fees
Foreign transaction fee: foreign_transaction_fee
The Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card is the lowest-tier small business Southwest Airlines credit card. But if you pay for inflight WiFi more than about a dozen times a year, check out the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card for its inflight WiFi credits.
Sign-up bonus
Best sign-up bonus: bonus_miles_full
This bonus is earned as Southwest Rapid Rewards points.
Rewards
- 3x on Southwest Airlines® purchases.
- 2x on Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases.
- 2x on local transit and commuting, including rideshare services.
- 1x on everyday purchases.
Rewards are earned as Southwest Rapid Rewards points.
Benefits
Southwest Airlines benefits
- 6,000 point cardmember anniversary bonus.
- 2 EarlyBird Check-In® each year.
- 25% back on inflight purchases.
- Earn 1,500 tier-qualifying points toward A-List status for every $5,000 spent.
- Up to $500 in fee credits for points transfers.
Consumer insurance benefits
Travel insurance benefits
- Lost luggage reimbursement.
- Baggage delay insurance.
Partner benefits and statement credits
- Complimentary DashPass for one year.
After one year, you are automatically enrolled in DashPass at the current monthly rate. You must activate by 1/31/25.
Eligibility: Can you earn a new Southwest sign-up bonus?
In most cases, you should be eligible to earn a sign-up bonus on the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card if it’s been more than 24 months since you last earned sign-up bonus on the card and you do not currently have the card. Holding or earning a bonus on any of the other Southwest credit cards does not seem to impact your bonus eligibility.
Here’s the exact language from the bonus terms and conditions:
This new Cardmember bonus offer is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of this business credit card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of this business credit card who received a new Cardmember bonus for this business credit card within the last 24 months.
Rapid Rewards Premier Business Card offer terms
How to use Southwest Rapid Rewards points
The Southwest Rapid Rewards points you’ll earn with the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card are incredibly easy to use for flights. Here’s what we like best about Rapid Rewards points:
- You’ll get consistent value. On average, you’ll get about 1.3-1.4 cents per point of value from each of your points. (10,000 points can get you a flight with a cash price of around $130-$140.)
- Rapid Rewards points don’t expire.
- If you cancel your flight, you get your points back. Any Southwest flight can be canceled up to 10 minutes prior to departure. If the flight was booked with your Rapid Rewards points, the points will be returned to you account.
To use Southwest Rapid Rewards points for flights, simply select “Points” when booking any flight at Southwest.com. You can also toggle between seeing flights priced in dollars and flights priced in points during the booking process.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if I don’t spend the entire $15,000?
This bonus is a tiered bonus. That means that, if you spend $3,000 in three months but don’t spend $15,000 within nine months, you will still earn 60,000 points. To earn the full 120,000 points, you need to spend $3,000 within three months and then a total of $15,000 within nine months.
Do the sign-up bonus points on this card count toward companion pass?
Yes. The bonus points you earn with this card’s new cardmember incentive count toward companion pass.
