Bankrate expert Garrett Yarbrough strives to make navigating credit cards and credit building smooth sailing for his readers. After regularly featuring his credit card,…
Nouri Zarrugh is a writer and editor for CreditCards.com and Bankrate.com, focusing on product news, guides and reviews. His areas of expertise include credit card strategy,…
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Earn 3X points on Southwest® purchases.
Earn 2X points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare. Earn 2X points on internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming.
Annual fee
$149
Intro offer
Earn 40,000 points.
Earn 40,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
Regular APR
16.24% - 23.24% Variable
Recommended Credit Score
Good to Excellent
(670 - 850)
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a
person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for.
However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any
financial product.
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card is an ideal travel credit card for jet-setters who frequently book domestic flights, especially those who are loyal to Southwest. You’ll earn points on all your purchases, helping you quickly build up rewards you can redeem for future flights.
Best of all, you’ll get an annual Southwest travel credit, bonus points on your cardmember anniversary, discounts on in-flight purchases and four upgraded boardings per year (depending on availability), making it possible to fly more and have an elevated experience every time you travel.
What are the pros and cons?
Pros
Rewards on both Southwest-related travel purchases and everyday expenses, including transit and monthly internet, cable, phone and streaming services
Great perks for frequent Southwest flyers such as upgraded boarding, an annual travel credit, inflight savings and more
A generous 7,500-point anniversary bonus
No foreign transaction fees
Access to premium travel and purchase protections
Cons
$149 annual fee may be hard to offset and is higher than several other airline cards’ yearly cost
Offers the same rewards rate and sign-up bonus as its immediate lower-tier sibling, despite the higher annual fee
Applicants for Southwest credit cards must have good to excellent credit
Rapid Rewards don’t have a fixed redemption scale and points are best used when redeemed for Southwest flights
A deeper look into the current card offer
Quick highlights
Rewards rate: 3X points on Southwest purchases, 2X points on Southwest’s Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partners, local transit and commuting (including rideshares) and internet, cable phone and select streaming services; 1X points on all other purchases
Welcome offer: Earn 40,000 points when you spend $1,000 on purchases within the first three months.
Annual fee: $149
Purchase intro APR: None
Balance transfer intro APR: None
Regular APR: 16.24 percent to 23.24 percent variable
Current sign-up bonus
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Card is currently offering 40,000 points to cardholders who spend $1,000 in their first three months of opening their account.
That’s a solid offer worth up to $600 at an estimated 1.5-cent redemption value toward travel, with an easy spending requirement to boot. However, a previous welcome bonus gave cardholders a chance to earn up to 100,000 points (worth up to $1,400 at the same point value): 50,000 points for spending $2,000 on purchases in the first three months, plus another 50,000 for spending a total of $12,000 in the first 12 months following account opening. Comparatively, the new sign-up bonus earns proportionately more for what you need to spend in the first three months—a good sign for modest spenders—but offers significantly less value and upfront appeal compared to rival cards.
Rewards
Earning points with your Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card is incredibly easy, especially if you fly frequently with Southwest. Best of all, your Rapid Rewards points will never expire while your account is open. Keep in mind that the sign-up bonus and rewards rate is the same for all consumer Southwest credit cards, so make sure you can take full advantage of the Priority card’s extra benefits to rake in more points.
Earning rewards
An obvious way to earn points quickly with the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card is to make Southwest Airlines your go-to airline, whenever possible. Booking flights with Southwest will get you 3 points per dollar spent, and using Southwest partners for hotel stays and car rentals too will net you 2 points per dollar. Southwest’s newest update to the Rapid Rewards Priority card also includes a solid 2 points per dollar on everyday expenses, like local transit and commuting (including rideshares) and your monthly internet, cable, phone and select streaming services. All other purchases earn 1 point per dollar.
Priority cardmembers will receive an anniversary bonus of 7,500 points each year—the highest among Southwest credit cards. You can also earn additional points by shopping through the Southwest Rapid Rewards shopping portal and eating out at restaurants in its Dining Rewards program.
But perhaps the most effective way to earn more points is to earn Southwest elite status. On top of other benefits, qualifying for A-List status earns 25 percent more points on Southwest purchases and A-List Preferred delivers an extra 100 percent. You can get a headstart with the Priority card’s bonus 1,500 Tier Qualifying Points (TQPs) per $10,000 in purchases (there’s no longer a limit for earning bonus points this way).
However, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card also offers this same TQP bonus. If you go the extra mile and end up flying at least 100 qualifying one-way flights or earn 125,000 eligible Southwest points in one year, you can stretch your rewards even further by sustaining the Companion Pass and its waived airline charges for a passenger (not including taxes and fees) beyond your first year.
Bankrate insight
According to Chase’s reward category guidelines, The following streaming services will earn you 2X points with this Southwest Rapid Rewards card:
Disney+
Hulu
ESPN+
Netflix
Sling
Vudu
Fubo TV
Apple Music
SiriusXM
Pandora
Spotify
YouTube TV
Redeeming rewards
The Rapid Rewards program boasts unlimited award seats with no blackout dates or restrictions for flight redemptions. You’ll just be required to pay taxes and fees on the award ticket (at least $5.60 for a domestic one-way flight). Southwest award tickets are tethered to the cash value of a ticket. So, a more expensive ticket will require more points.
Your points can also be redeemed for international flights with global carriers, hotel stays, rental cars, merchandise, gift cards and more. With the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card or another co-branded Southwest card, it’s even possible to gift or donate points.
How much are points worth?
With Rapid Rewards points weighing in around The Points Guy’s estimated 1.5 cents per point value, the 7,500-point anniversary bonus could be worth up to $112.50. However, your reward value may fluctuate depending on several factors, including the redemption option and your reward flight’s destination, time and date.
Benefits
While you won’t get fancy perks like airport lounge access with this Southwest card, you’ll save plenty with its annual travel credit, Southwest priority card upgrades, anniversary bonus and more. Here’s a closer look at what the card has to offer.
Travel perks
You’ll be eligible for a variety of travel savings, including:
Four Southwest upgraded boardings a year, subject to availability
A $75 Southwest travel credit every year (automatically applied when using your card on eligible travel purchases through the airline)
25 percent back on inflight purchases, such as drinks and Wi-Fi
1,500 tier-qualifying points for every $10,000 spent on your card so you can reach A-List status faster (priority security line access, priority check-in and upgraded boarding)
Protection and insurance
By using your card, you receive several protection benefits as a Visa card, including:
Lost luggage and baggage delay protection, up to $3,000 per traveler if your luggage is damaged or lost, and up to $100 a day for three days if your bags are delayed at least six hours
Purchase protection and extended warranty on eligible purchases
Car rental collision and theft insurance, roadside assistance and travel accident insurance on eligible auto incidents
Anniversary bonus
Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority cardholders will receive an additional 7,500 points on their account anniversary—worth almost $113 toward airfare at a 1.5-cent point value.
Rates and fees
The Rapid Rewards Priority card has an annual fee of $149—the highest of any Southwest personal credit card. However, there are no foreign transaction fees and Southwest never charges change fees, so you have more flexibility with your travel plans. This flexibility is helpful when offsetting your annual fee with rewards since it’ll take a little work; in order to recoup the yearly cost, you’ll need to spend at least $414 per month on Southwest purchases (based on TPG’s 1.5 cent point value). However, earning and maximizing the anniversary bonus or Companion Pass could nearly (or more than) offset the annual fee.
If you carry a balance month-to-month, you can expect interest to be charged at a rate between 16.24 percent and 23.24 percent variable APR.
How the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card compares to other travel credit cards
Compared to other co-branded airline cards, the Southwest credit card has less flexibility in how you can earn and redeem rewards. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, for example, can potentially rake in more rewards value on a wider variety of travel in addition to everyday expenses like dining—all for a lower $95 annual fee.
The lower-cost Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier card might also be worth considering if you’re not as concerned with the Priority card’s bonus features since it offers the same rewards rate, sign-up bonus and TQP-earning feature.
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
3.7
Our writers, editors and industry experts score
credit cards based on a variety of factors
including card features, bonus offers
and independent research. Credit card issuers have
no say or influence on how we rate cards.
Earn 40,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
Rewards rate
2X–3X
Earn 3X points on Southwest® purchases.
Earn 2X points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare. Earn 2X points on internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming.
Recommended credit
Good to Excellent(670 - 850)
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a
person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for.
However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any
financial product.
Earn 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $1,000 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
Rewards rate
2x–5x
5x on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards® 3x on dining. 2x on all other travel purchases, plus more.
Recommended credit
Good to Excellent(670 - 850)
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a
person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for.
However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any
financial product.
Earn 40,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
Rewards rate
2X–3X
Earn 3X points on Southwest® purchases. Earn 2X points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare. Earn 2X points on internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming.
Recommended credit
Good to Excellent(670 - 850)
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a
person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for.
However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any
financial product.
Best cards to pair with the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card
Pair your Southwest credit card with a credit card that has no annual fee and will reward you for everyday purchases, such as the Chase Freedom Unlimited®. Right now, you’ll get 5 percent cash back on travel purchased through Chase and on Lyft purchases (through March 2022), 3 percent on dining and drugstore purchases and 1.5 percent cash back on all other purchases.
If you have a Chase Sapphire card in your wallet, such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Sapphire Preferred, you can use your Chase Ultimate Rewards points from other expenses like non-Southwest travel to book flights with other airlines, hotel stays and more. In fact, you can even transfer these points to your Southwest rewards account if you’d like.
This card is perfect for Southwest loyalists who fly often enough with the airline to make use of the points or are pursuing elite status. If qualified for the Companion Pass, frequent flyers should have no trouble raking massive value for the comparatively low $149 annual fee.
If you need more flexibility (and can’t be loyal to Southwest), you’ll be better off with a general travel rewards credit card. These tend to come with bonus rewards on a broader range of spending categories and more redemption options. Look for one with a transferable currency so you can use your points and miles for a wide range of airlines and hotels.
Bankrate expert Garrett Yarbrough strives to make navigating credit cards and credit building smooth sailing for his readers. After regularly featuring his credit card, credit monitoring and identity theft analysis on NextAdvisor.com, he joined the CreditCards.com and Bankrate.com teams as a staff writer to develop product reviews and comprehensive credit card guides focused on cash back, credit scores and card offers.
Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. The offers that appear on this site are from companies from which Bankrate.com receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and the likelihood of applicants' credit approval also impact how and where products appear on this site. Bankrate.com does not include the entire universe of available financial or credit offers. Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover.
* See the online application for details about terms and conditions for these offers. Every reasonable effort has been made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. After you click on the offer you desire you will be directed to the credit card issuer's web site where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer.
Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including card rates and fees, is accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information.
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