The Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card has long been the premium option among Southwest’s personal credit cards. It has the highest annual fee of the three, but it also comes with the strongest set of ongoing benefits.
That part has not changed. What has changed is how those benefits work.
Southwest no longer includes checked bags for every passenger, and the airline has moved to assigned seating. That makes the benefits from Southwest credit cards more important than they used to be, especially for travelers who fly Southwest several times a year.
The Priority Card now offers a free checked bag, the ability to choose between Standard and Preferred seats at booking, and the option to upgrade to Extra Legroom seats within 48 hours of departure. Those are benefits travelers can actually feel on a trip.
Of course, the card also now carries a higher annual fee than before. So let’s look at what the Southwest Priority Card offers and whether it still deserves its spot as the premium card in Southwest’s lineup.
Annual Fee
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card has a $229 annual fee.
If you decide the Southwest Priority Card is right for you, we’d appreciate it if you use our referral link. We receive Southwest points for each referral, which helps support Your Mileage May Vary.
Sign-Up Bonus
For a limited time, new cardmembers can earn 90,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards bonus points after spending $3,000 in the first three months from account opening.
Southwest says this offer is scheduled to end on July 1, 2026.
Chase places the following restrictions on receiving the welcome 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 using the card, you’ll earn Rapid Rewards points at the following rates:
- 4 points per $1 spent on Southwest purchases
- 2 points per $1 spent at gas stations and restaurants
- 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
The 4X earning rate on Southwest purchases is the best earning rate offered by the personal Southwest cards. The 2X categories are useful enough, though I still wouldn’t keep this card for everyday spending. The bigger reason to consider the Priority Card is its travel benefits.
Card Benefits
This is where the Southwest Priority Card is supposed to set itself apart from other personal Southwest cards. The card has the highest annual fee, so it needs to offer more than just a slightly larger welcome bonus or a few extra anniversary points.
With Southwest now charging for checked bags and using assigned seating, the Priority Card’s benefits are much more tied to the actual travel experience than they used to be.
- First checked bag free: Cardholders and up to eight additional passengers on the same reservation receive their first checked bag free.
- Standard or Preferred seat selection at booking: Priority cardholders can select available Standard or Preferred seats at the time of booking. This is one of the biggest differences between the Priority Card and the lower-fee Southwest personal cards.
- Extra Legroom seat upgrades within 48 hours: Cardholders can upgrade to available Extra Legroom seats within 48 hours of departure. This benefit is subject to availability, but it gives the Priority Card a much stronger seating benefit than the Plus or Premier cards.
- Boarding no later than Group 5: Cardholders and up to eight additional passengers on the same reservation will board no later than Group 5, when available.
- 7,500 anniversary points: These points are awarded after your cardmember anniversary. Valuing Southwest points around 1.3 cents each, that is roughly $97.50 in points, although I think of this more as a rebate on the annual fee than found money.
- Earn Tier Qualifying Points: You’ll earn 2,500 Tier Qualifying Points toward A-List status for every $5,000 spent on the card annually.
- 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying boost: Each year, cardholders receive a 10,000-point boost toward earning the Southwest Companion Pass. These points are not redeemable and only count toward Companion Pass qualification.
- Points count toward Companion Pass qualification: Points earned from spending on the card also count toward earning a Southwest Companion Pass.
- 25% back on inflight purchases: Cardholders receive 25% back on eligible inflight purchases made with the card.
- No foreign transaction fees: The card does not charge foreign transaction fees.
The Priority Card no longer has the $75 Southwest annual travel credit or the four Upgraded Boardings that previously helped offset the annual fee. Instead, the card’s value now comes more from seating benefits, free checked bags, anniversary points and status-related earnings.
That changes how I look at the card. The old version was easier to justify mathematically because the annual travel credit and anniversary points covered a large portion of the fee. The current version asks you to place more value on the actual Southwest travel experience, especially the ability to choose better seats.
Ways To Use Southwest Rapid Rewards Points
The points you earn from the welcome bonus and spending on the card are deposited into your Southwest Rapid Rewards account. From there, you can use them to book Southwest flights.
Southwest no longer has a fixed award chart, so the number of points needed for a flight is tied to the cash price of the ticket. That means more expensive flights usually require more points, while cheaper flights require fewer points.
The upside is that Southwest does not have blackout dates for point bookings. If a seat is available for sale, you can usually book it with Rapid Rewards points. You’ll still pay the taxes and fees, but those are generally low on domestic flights.
Final Thoughts
The Southwest Priority Card is still the most benefit-heavy of the three personal Southwest credit cards. It has the strongest seating benefits, earns the most points on Southwest purchases and offers the highest rate of Tier Qualifying Point earning through credit card spending.
But it is also a different value proposition than it used to be. The card no longer has the $75 Southwest travel credit or four Upgraded Boardings that once made it easier to justify the annual fee. Now, the card’s value depends more on whether you will use the free checked bag benefit, choose Preferred seats at booking and have a realistic chance of moving into Extra Legroom seats within 48 hours of departure.
For frequent Southwest flyers, those benefits can still make sense. For occasional Southwest travelers who mostly want to avoid checked bag fees, the lower-fee Southwest Plus Card may now be good enough. The Southwest Premier Card sits between the two, with better seat-selection benefits than Plus but without the Priority Card’s strongest perks.
If you fly Southwest often and care about where you sit, the Priority Card is the personal card with the most useful ongoing benefits. If you only fly Southwest once or twice a year, it may be more than you need.
If you decide the Southwest Priority Card is right for you, we’d appreciate it if you use our referral link.
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