Earn 50,000 points, A-List elite status, Upgraded Boardings with the Southwest Premier credit card

Earn 50,000 points, A-List elite status, Upgraded Boardings with the Southwest Premier credit card

Southwest Airlines has a few co-branded credit cards with Chase to choose from but one sticks out for us. Of the three personal cards, our favorite one is the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Card.

This card offers some exceptional perks for anyone who flies Southwest frequently or a few times a year. We have to say it is the best Southwest Airlines Visa Card to have in your wallet or at least attached to your Southwest Airlines account to book flights.

50,000 Bonus Southwest Points with the Priority Card

The Southwest Priority Card is offering a welcome bonus of 50,000 Rapid Rewards points after spending $1,000 within the first three months.

Rapid Rewards is a revenue-based frequent flyer program,valued at around 1.2 cents each. So basically, the 50,000 Rapid Rewards points are worth $600+.

Earning Points With The Southwest Priority Card
The Southwest Priority Card offers the following points for credit card spending:

Earn Southwest Companion Pass

Happy Baby Companion flying A-list on Southwest Airlines flight

One of the very best values in travel is the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass. With Southwest Companion Pass you can have someone travel with you for the entire year (whether on a cash ticket or award ticket), and just pay taxes and fees for them. This is such an incredible deal, and basically doubles the value you can get from flying Southwest.

Southwest Companion Pass requires earning 135,000 Rapid Rewards points in a calendar year, though you get a boost of 10,000 points toward that just for having a co-branded Southwest card.

Only certain types of points accrual qualify, including Southwest credit card spending, as well as Southwest credit card welcome bonuses. So this bonus would get you a good way toward earning Companion Pass.

Earn Southwest A-List Status

In addition to being able to earn Companion Pass through spending on the card, the Southwest Priority Card also lets you earn unlimited Tier Qualifying Points (TQPs). Specifically, you can earn 1,500 TQPs toward A-List status for every $10,000 spent on the card.

A-List is Southwest Airlines’ version of status, and offers perks like priority boarding, a 25% points bonus, same-day standby, priority check-in and security lane access, and a dedicated phone number.

A-List status requires earning 35,000 TQPs in a calendar year, so spending on a Southwest Priority Card could help you earn that. This is the only personal Southwest card that offers that feature. Whether or not that’s worth it depends on how much you’d otherwise fly with Southwest.

Major Perk: No Change fees with Southwest airlines ever!

No Foreign Transaction Fees

The Southwest Priority Card has no foreign transaction fees, so this could be a useful card for your spending abroad. This is a Visa as well, and Visas are accepted pretty widely around the globe.

Incredible Southwest Priority Card Perks

Free Drink Coupons get mailed out to Southwest airlines patrons now and then just to reach out.

The reason to get the Southwest Priority Card (beyond the welcome bonus) is because of the perks, including anniversary bonus points, upgraded boardings, a $75 annual Southwest travel credit, 25% savings on eligible inflight purchases, and more.

Let’s take a look at what you need to know about each of these perks.

Southwest Priority Card 7,500 Anniversary Bonus Points

On your cardmember anniversary each year you’ll receive 7,500 bonus points. For context, Southwest Rapid Rewards is a revenue-based frequent flyer program, and generally speaking you need to redeem 83 points per dollar of airfare. That means each Rapid Rewards point gets you roughly 1.2 cents toward the cost of an airline ticket.

In other words, you can get around $90 worth of Southwest airfare with those 7,500 points, and that recoups almost two-thirds of the annual fee on an ongoing basis.

  • Get anniversary bonus points with the card every year
  • Southwest Priority Card $75 Annual Credit
  • The Southwest Priority Card offers a $75 credit every anniversary year. While the 7,500 point anniversary bonus only kicks in after 12 months, this credit kicks in immediately.

The way this works, the first $75 in Southwest flight purchases each cardmember year will be reimbursed. The statement credit should post as soon as the eligible charge posts to your account. Assuming you spend at least $75 per year on Southwest Airlines tickets (or even taxes and fees, if redeeming points), then this should more or less be worth face value.

Between this benefit and the 7,500 point annual bonus, we’re talking about $165 worth of value, which is more than the annual fee.

Southwest Priority Card Upgraded Boardings

Just for having the Southwest Priority Card, you get four upgraded boardings per anniversary year (starting with your first year), when available. The way this works, you’ll be reimbursed for the purchase on the day of departure of up to four upgraded boardings in positions A1-15.

The upgraded boarding fees will be reimbursed within eight weeks, though in reality generally post much faster than that. Since the price of upgraded boardings varies by flight, it’s hard to put a dollar value to this benefit.

Southwest Priority Card Drink & Wi-Fi Savings

If you pay with your Southwest Priority Card you can save 25% on inflight Wi-Fi and drink purchases. You’ll receive statement credits for the 25% within two billing cycles of your purchase (though usually much faster than that).

Southwest Priority Card Travel & Purchase Protection
The Southwest Priority Card offers a variety of travel & purchase protection benefits, including:

  • Auto rental collision damage waiver coverage; it’s secondary within the United States, and primary internationally
  • Baggage delay insurance, which can reimburse you up to $100 per day for three days when your bag is delayed by at least six hours
  • Lost luggage reimbursement, which reimburses you up to $3,000 if your bag is damaged or lost
  • Travel accident insurance, with the maximum coverage ranging from $250,000-500,000, depending on the situation
  • Extended warranty protection, which extends your United States manufacturer warranty by a year on eligible warranties of three years or less
  • Purchase protection, which covers you for up to 120 days for damage or theft, up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account

The Cons of Applying for Chase Southwest Credit Cards

Chase and Southwest have some pretty strict rules when it comes to who is eligible for the card. The card is not available to anyone who currently has a Southwest Rapid Rewards personal card, or anyone who has received a welcome bonus on a Southwest Rapid Rewards personal card in the past 24 months. However, you are eligible if you have a Southwest business credit card.

This is in addition to Chase’s general application rules, including the 5/24 rule, whereby you typically won’t be approved for a Chase card if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months.

Southwest Priority Card $149 Annual Fee
The Southwest Priority Card has a $149 annual fee. As a point of comparison, the other personal cards have annual fees of $69 and $99, so the annual fee on this card is a bit higher. However, as I’ll explain below, the benefits justify the premium annual fee.

No Question The Southwest Priority Card Is Worth It for You and Your Family

If you’re eligible for the Southwest Priority Card and fly Southwest with any frequency, then this card is absolutely worth it. I’d argue this card is a better value all around than the two other Southwest personal cards.

Many people love flying Southwest for the ability to earn the Southwest Companion Pass, the lack of change fees and vouchers that don’t expire, and the two free checked bags. For others, Southwest a practical airline to fly on occasion, given its massive route network. Regardless, there’s lots of value in having points and benefits on Southwest.

For the card’s $149 annual fee you’re getting a 7,500 point anniversary bonus annually, a $75 Southwest credit, and much more. Let’s look at a few other things to consider regarding this card, and Southwest cards in general.

If you’re looking to complement your Southwest Priority Card with a Southwest business card, consider the incredible Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card (review). This card has outstanding perks, including:

  • A welcome bonus of 80,000 Rapid Rewards points after spending $5,000 within three months
  • A 9,000 point anniversary bonus
  • Four upgraded boardings per year
  • Up to 365 $8 Wi-Fi credits per year on Southwest, which could get you a lot of Wi-Fi
  • $500 toward points transfer fees per anniversary year
  • A Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit
  • The ability to earn A-List status or Companion Pass with spending
  • This card is the single best Southwest card because of the Wi-Fi credit, as far as I’m concerned.

How Do Southwest’s Personal Bonus Cards Compare?

In addition to the Priority Card, Chase and Southwest also have the $69 annual fee Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card and the $99 annual fee Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card. All cards have the same welcome bonuses, but the perks are significantly different.

Why do I think the $149 annual fee Priority Card is almost universally better?

Neither the Plus nor Premier offer a $75 annual Southwest credit, which should more or less be worth face value; so to do a direct comparison, that’s almost like lowering the “out of pocket” on the Priority Card from $149 to $74.

The Priority Card offers 7,500 anniversary bonus points, while the Plus offers 3,000 bonus points and the Premier offers 6,000 bonus points. Those two perks alone should show why the Priority Card is worth the annual fee by comparison, and that doesn’t even account for upgraded boardings, a better rewards structure, the ability to earn A-List status through spending, and more.

Spirit Airlines Announces “Let Them Wear Leggings” 75% Off Sale

Even if you do not dare to fly the low-fare low-thrills airline Spirit you have to love their marketing campaigns. They always take advantage of a out-of-control viral news event that is bad for one company but good for them. Spirit Airlines has just announced their “Let Them Wear Leggings” sale offering 75% off flights. While United Airlines is putting out the Leggings bad publicity fire Spirit Airlines is cashing in!

Spirit Airlines posted:
Because of recent headlines, we thought we’d double-check our etiquette atlas. Turns out wearing leggings are not a big deal. We thought everyone knew that, but guess not. Well at least at Spirit, we’re united (cough) about letting young girls dress how they want. If you want to fly with us, get your leggings on ladies. Or even gentlemen. No judgments here. Unless you’re wearing those new clear-knee mom jeans, then some judgments. But you can still fly with us. Just use this deal so that next time you can buy a complete pair of pants.

Delta also threw major shade at United on Twitter:

1,500 Free Spirit Airlines Miles

Spirit_Airlines___The_Bare_Fare_QuestionnaireIf only Spirit Airlines spent less money on marketing and more money on things like reclining seats they might could be a better airline than American or United. Their marketing is the most impressive thing in the airline space even though it brags about non-reclining seats and awkward things. Not long ago they had a way to get 8,000 points just by complaining about the airline. Now they have you take 3 quizzes to get 1500 points over answers you would think would be untrue such as a seat that does not move back or being charged for a water during your flight. Most people may be in shock and answer the questions wrong at first going back to learn how much of a discount airline this is. Go here to answer 3 sets of questions one from a dude, babe, and bear. The guy and girl start taking off clothes if you answer correctly. If you answer wrong they walk off. Pretty cool. 1,500 miles is enough to get many free magazine subscriptions including All You Magazine. (more…)

8,000 Free Spirit Airlines Miles

Spirit_AirlinesHateGiveawaySpirit! Airlines just rolled out a fabulous promotion giving out miles to hate on them. “Airlines mess up, but at least we’re (Spirit) is willing to admit it. Look, we haven’t been great about telling you how we fly. We’re out to change that. But first, let’s clear the air. Trade in some hate for 8,000 FREE SPIRIT miles.” You just need 10,000 miles to get a free one-way flight!

Sign-up here for your free miles and hate on an airline.

They then allow you to hate on Spirit airlines which is rather easy to do or hate on any airline which is also easy to do. The discount airliner claims their total price is on average 40% lower than other airlines and that people should learn to love them. Maybe they should hashtag it after Madonna’s new Rebel Heart album titled song #LivingforLove or they could have used #LivingforHate. Either way my biggest complaint with Spirit is of course the carry-on bag fees that are NOT included in the fare price when you get these low fares from Fly.com and Kayak. It’s disappointing to spend so much time comparing flights and it is always Spirit at the top of the list annoying us with their bag fees not included.

I will gladly take the 8,000 free miles. I cannot guarantee I will be flying Spirit anytime soon but there is lots of things I hate about American and other airlines now after all the mergers so I do think of them in a lighter way after this promotion. I was also not in their rewards program until this promotion so they now may have a new customer.

Miles will be posted to your FREE SPIRIT account within 30 to 45 days of submission and the airline will award up to one (1) billion miles for the Promotion and may modify or cancel the offer at any time. The minimum miles required for one-way flight purchased with a Spirit MasterCard credit card is 2,500 miles, with taxes and fees starting at $2.50 ($5.60 after 07/20/2014). The minimum miles required for a one-way flight purchased with any other credit or debit card is 10,000 miles, with taxes and fees starting at $2.50 ($5.60 after 07/20/2014). Miles may be used in combination with already accrued miles that are available in the member’s FREE SPIRIT account balance.