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

by PointsGuru | Jan 19, 2024 | Chase Cards, Low Cost Airlines, Points

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:

• 3x points on Southwest purchases
• 2x points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare
• 2x points on internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming
• 1x points on all other purchases
• Go here to apply for the 50,000 Rapid Rewards points bonus

Earn Southwest Companion Pass

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.

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

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.