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November 13, 2024: Southwest and Chase have released a new Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card sign-up bonus offer with an interesting twist. The new offer grants a $400 statement credit in addition to the bonus miles as part of the sign-up bonus. Plus it increases the time you have to meet the spending requirement to four months, up from the previous three.
Here’s the best bonus currently available on the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus 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: Interesting $400 + 40k miles offer. Not great for earning companion pass.
The $400 + 40k miles offer is a new take on an increased welcome offer on the Southwest cards. In fact, we haven’t seen a similarly-structured bonus that combines a statement credit with bonus miles on the Southwest personal cards since we started tracking the bonuses on these cards.
Unfortunately, for those looking to juice their companion pass qualifying miles by earning the bonus in January of 2025, this bonus structure makes that harder. And arguably it’s a worse bonus than the standard bonus if that is your goal. But maybe that’s the point.
Historically, it’s been very easy to earn a Southwest companion pass at the end of the year by getting both a personal and a business Southwest Airlines credit card. By offering a statement credit in addition to bonus miles, Chase and Southwest are able to offer a more attractive bonus without making it easier to earn a companion pass for two years.
If you’re not after a companion pass, now’s a great time to get the card. But if getting a companion pass for almost two years is your objective, it might be worthwhile to wait for the standard bonus to return.
Getting better value: If you fly Southwest, consider the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
Chase usually runs the same bonus on all of the personal Southwest credit cards. Since you’re only eligible for one personal card bonus every 24 months, it makes sense to apply for the best card for you. For most people who fly Southwest, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card offers the best value.
Yes, the annual fee is the highest among the cards (annual_fees) but you’ll easily get value in excess of that through the card’s $75 annual Southwest travel credit and 7,500 anniversary bonus points.
About the card: Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card at a glance
Annual fee: annual_fees
Foreign transaction fee: foreign_transaction_fee
The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card offers 3,000 annual anniversary points and 2 EarlyBird Check-Ins each year. For most Southwest flyers, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card offers better value.
Sign-up bonus
Best sign-up bonus: bonus_miles_full
This bonus is earned as Southwest Rapid Rewards points.
Rewards
- 2x on Southwest purchases.
- 2x on Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partners.
- 2x on local transit and commuting, including rideshare.
- 2x on internet, cable, and phone services, plus select streaming.
- 1x on all other purchases.
Rewards are earned as Southwest Rapid Rewards points.
Benefits
Southwest Airlines benefits
- 3,000 point cardmember anniversary bonus.
- 2 EarlyBird Check-In® each year.
- 25% back on inflight purchases.
- 10,000 Companion Pass® qualifying points boost each year.
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® Plus Credit Card if it’s been more than 24 months since you last earned a Southwest credit card sign-up bonus and you do not currently have a Southwest personal credit card.
- You can only have one personal Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card. Chase will not issue a new personal Southwest credit card if you already hold one.
- You can not have received a Southwest Rapid Rewards® new cardmember bonus in the past 24 months. If you have received a Southwest personal credit card bonus in the past and want to receive a welcome bonus, be sure to apply more than 24 months after you were last awarded a bonus.
- You can earn a bonus on both a business card and a personal credit card. Holding or earning a bonus on a Southwest Rapid Rewards® business credit card doesn’t impact your ability to earn a bonus on a personal credit card.
Here’s the exact language from the bonus terms and conditions:
The product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card who received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months. This does not apply to Cardmembers of the Southwest Rapid Rewards Business Card and Employee Credit Card products.
How to use Southwest Rapid Rewards points
The Southwest Rapid Rewards points you’ll earn with the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus 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
The number of Southwest points you’ll need for a free flight varies with the cash prices of the same flights. When Southwest is running one of its frequent sales, you’ll often see tickets priced for just a few thousand miles.
Yes. The bonus points you earn with this card’s new cardmember incentive count toward companion pass.
If you fly Southwest consistently, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card will provide more value on an ongoing basis. These two cards currently have the same sign-up bonus.
Southwest points do not expire.
Advertiser disclosure: Cards and Points has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Cards and Points and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers. Compensation may affect how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies or all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card benefits.
