Do you fly Southwest Airlines? Do you want to earn free flights as well as hotel stays, gift cards and more including international flights? Then read on for my Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card from Chase review and see if the card is good for you.
Let’s look at some basics Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card:
- Earn 25,000 bonus points after your first purchase.
- Get 6,000 Points every year on your Card member Anniversary – that’s equal to $100 toward a Wanna Get Away® Fare
- Now you can redeem for International Travel, Hotels, Gift Cards and more.
- Earn unlimited Free Flights – 2 Points per $1 Spent on Southwest Purchases and 1 Point per $1 Spent on everything else
- Your Bags Fly Free! No Blackout Dates, Points Don’t Expire, and Unlimited Reward Seats!
- No Change fees – if you need to change your flight, you won’t be charged a fee.
The Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card is offering up a great limited time offer! After your first purchase with the card you earn 25,000 bonus points. That equates to over $400 in Wanna Get Away® Fares (their rewards program) which can get you a free round-trip fight. So for a new member, you are potentially getting a bonus of 2 flights right off the bat.
This card is part of Southwest Airline’s rewards program, Rapid Rewards®, rather than calling their points “airline miles.” You still redeem your points toward airline fares but you can also redeem the points for international travel to over 800 destination on 50+ airline carriers; hotel stays at over 70,000 hotels worldwide; car rentals from major rental companies; gift card to some of your favorite brands (like Amazon.com, iTunes, The Home Depot, and more); and vacation packages.
How do you earn Rapid Rewards points?
You earn 2 points for every $1 spent on all Southwest Airlines purchases. You’ll also earn 2 points on all Southwest Rapid Rewards Hotel and Car Rental partner purchases. You earn 1 point for every $1 spent on all other purchases.
Anniversary Bonus – Every year, on your anniversary, you earn 6,000 bonus points. That’s like $100 that can be redeemed for a Wanna Get Away fare.
Balance Transfer Bonus – You can earn 1 point for each $1 in balance transfers you make for up to 15,000 points. This has to be done within the first 90 days of opening your account. [Be aware there is a 3% balance transfer fee.
Tier Qualifying Points Bonus – The Rapid Rewards program has different tiers (the higher the tier the better your benefits). ell, you can earn 1,500 tier qualifying points (to get you to the next tier up) for every $10,000 in purchases you make. You can potentially get up to 15,000 points this way (yes, that is a LOT of spending, but some people do it).
Other Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card Benefits
No Change Fees – If you’ve ever needed to change a flight for some reason you know how annoying it is to have to pay fees that end up being a large percentage of the ticket price. With Southwest Airlines there are no change fees if you need to change your flight.
Bags Fly Free – Your 1st and 2nd bags fly free. Compare this with many carriers that are charging fees for your first bag.
No Blackout Dates, Points Don’t Expire, and Unlimited Rewards Seats – If there’s a seat on a flight that’s open then you can use your points for it. And the number of flights you can redeem is unlimited.
Summary
If you fly Southwest Airlines already, then having the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card gives you additional ways to earn Rapid Rewards points with your airline purchases and everyday purchases. The fact that you can also redeem points for international flights as well as for hotels and car rentals makes this a nice airline miles or a travel rewards card.
Visit the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card page to signup and for more information.
*Always make sure you understand the terms of a credit card before you sign up. Terms for this card may change after this publishing.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I’d only get the southwest if you would fly enough to get a free flight once a year. Otherwise, the annual fee is a sticking point for me.
That seems reasonable. I’d think this card is for someone that flies Southwest Airlines with some frequency. Though even if it were every other year or so it could work out well for you.
The key to the fee is to make sure you are getting at least that much benefit and value from the card every year. If you can earn free flights and other items than it can be well-worth it.
Yes Glen I agree, this card is for frequent southwest fliers
But remember, frequent is relative. If you fly once a year then this may be worth it to you. Even less frequently as you can redeem your points in other ways besides flights or if you redeem your points for multiple flights.
This seems like a credit card especially considering I jet set across the country more than
oops–submit error! But as I was saying, I jet set across the country more than I care to mention. I would definitely eat this deal up! I love the credit card deals that are floating around out there. Makes flying a little less painful on the wallet.
How can I apply for the Southwest Premier Credit Card and earn 50,000 bonus points after my first purchase as outlined in your article above?
Hi Michael, unfortunately the 50,000 bonus expired. They now offer up 25,000, which is still enough for a free roundtrip flight.