Southwest now offers a three-tier lineup of personal credit cards, and the Premier card sits right in the middle. With the more feature-packed Rapid Rewards Priority and the lower-fee Plus card, is the Premier still worth considering, or has it become the Jan Brady of Southwest co-brand cards?
If you decide to sign up for the Southwest Premier card or any Southwest credit card, we’d appreciate it if you use our link. We receive Southwest points for each referral, which helps us keep Your Mileage May Vary HQ going strong.
Annual Fee
$99 Annual Fee
Sign Up Bonus
The current sign-up bonus for the Southwest Premier card is 40,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points and a $400 statement credit if you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months.
Note: Chase puts the following restrictions on applications to receive this bonus.
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.
This card is also subject to Chase’s 5/24 rule.
Spending Categories
When spending on the card, you earn points in the Southwest Rapid Rewards program as follows:
- 3 points per $1 spent on Southwest purchases.
- 2 points per $1 spent on Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases.
- 2 points per $1 on local transit and commuting, including rideshare
- 2 points per $1 on internet, cable and phone services; select streaming.
- 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
I’m unclear about which purchases for hotels and rental cars will earn two points. Is it through any company that partners with Southwest, or do you have to book through Southwest? The documentation on this benefit is very vague on which expenses will qualify.
Card Benefits
The Southwest Premier card does have some benefits for keeping it past the first year. Unlike most airline co-brand cards that offer a free checked bag or priority seating, those benefits don’t mean anything with Southwest, so they offer something different.
- 6,000-anniversary points each year. Valuing Southwest points at 1.3 cents each, that’s a $78 value. But that’s like buying Southwest points, and I hate to purchase points. What else?
- 2 EarlyBird Check-In each year. Each EarlyBird costs $15-$25, so that’s up to a $50 savings. We’ll have to see what happens to this benefit when Southwest changes to assigned seating sometime in 2025.
- Earn tier qualifying points – You’ll earn 1,500 tier qualifying points (TQPs) for each $5,000 in purchases annually. TQPs can be used to count toward qualification for Rapid Rewards A-List or A-List Preferred status. A-List starts at 35,000 TQP.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Points earned with the card count towards earning a Southwest Companion Pass. Some people find ways to manufacture enough spending to receive a pass each year.
- Each year, cardholders receive a 10,000-point boost towards a Companion Pass. These points aren’t redeemable, as they only count toward the pass.
- 25% back on inflight purchases.
Ways to use Southwest Rapid Rewards points
The points you earn with the signup bonus and spending on the card are deposited into your Southwest Rapid Rewards account. From there, you can use the points to book flights on Southwest. Southwest points typically redeem at around 1.3 cents each, and redemption rates vary with the ticket price, giving you flexibility without blackout dates.
Final Thoughts
The Southwest Premier card is a good fit for the moderate Southwest flyer who values perks like EarlyBird Check-In but doesn’t fly often enough to benefit from the Priority card’s extras.
If you think the Southwest Premier card is right for you, here’s our referral link.
I’ve had this card and held onto it for a few years. However, upon reflection, I realized that the only benefit it gave me was buying Southwest points for 1.65 cents each. This decision was not wise as these points could only be redeemed for 1.3 cents, meaning I lost money every year. Eventually, I closed the account.
Since then, Southwest has significantly improved the card. They’ve added bonus categories besides ones related to Southwest Airlines spending. In addition, the two EarlyBird Check-In credits and the 6,000 points each year more than cover the $99 annual fee. Some other benefits, like earning TQP for spending $5,000 and a Companion Pass boost are good, but if you’re flying on Southwest that much, I think the the Priority card might be a better choice.
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