Increased Bonus on Personal Southwest Cards, Earn 40,000 Mil…

Personal Southwest Cards Bonus: 40K Miles + $400 Credit

🔃 Update: Offer has been extended until Monday, January 6, 2025.

Chase has increased welcome bonuses on all three personal Southwest credit cards. You can now get a welcome bonus of 40,000 Southwest points and a $400 credit with each card, if you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months.

All points earned with the card, including the introductory bonus, count toward the coveted Companion Pass®. Southwest’s Companion Pass is the benefit that allows you to select one person to fly with you for free (not including taxes & fees from $5.60 one-way) every time you purchase or redeem points for a flight. And this is a good time to start working on it. Let’s check out the details on all three offers.

Chase Southwest Priority

• Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening.
• Offer ends 12/16/2024 1/6/2025.
• DIRECT LINK TO APPLICATION

Instead of using the link above, you can also apply through one of the referral links in our Facebook Group. You can also share your own referrals there.

Card Info

• $149 annual fee applied to first billing statement.
• $75 Southwest annual travel credit each year
• 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points boost each year
• Earn 2x Points per $1 spent on:
  • Southwest Airlines flights
  • Hotel & Car Rental partners
  • Local transit and commuting, including rideshare
  • Internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming
• 1 Point per $1 Spent on all other purchases
• 4 Upgraded boardings every year when available
• 7,500 anniversary points after your Cardmember anniversary
• No foreign transaction fees
• 20% back on inflight purchases
• 1,500 Tier Qualifying Points towards A-List and A-List Preferred status for every $10,000 spent, up to $100,000.

Chase Southwest Premier

• Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening.
• Offer ends 12/16/2024.
• DIRECT LINK TO APPLICATION

Card Info

• $99 annual fee applied to first billing statement.
• 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points boost each year
• Earn 2x Points per $1 spent on:
  • Southwest Airlines flights
  • Hotel & Car Rental partners
  • Local transit and commuting, including rideshare
  • Internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming
• 1 Point per $1 Spent on all other purchases
• 6,000 anniversary points after your Cardmember anniversary
• No foreign transaction fees
• 1,500 Tier Qualifying Points towards A-List and A-List Preferred status for every $10,000 spent, up to $100,000.

Chase Southwest Plus

• Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening.
• Offer ends 12/16/2024.
• DIRECT LINK TO APPLICATION

Card Info

• $69 annual fee applied to first billing statement.
• 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points boost each year
• Earn 2x Points per $1 spent on:
  • Southwest Airlines flights
  • Hotel & Car Rental partners
  • Local transit and commuting, including rideshare
  • Internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming
• 1 Point per $1 Spent on all other purchases
• 3,000 anniversary points after your Cardmember anniversary

Eligibility

The product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapids 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.

These cards are also subject to the Chase 5/24 rule.

About Southwest Rapid Rewards

The Southwest Rapid Rewards program is geared towards budget-minded travelers who fly domestically, or to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Rapid Rewards members earn points for every dollar spent on Southwest flights and with the airline’s hotel, car rental and retail partners. But earning points gets easier once you have one of the Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards from Chase. You can earn a welcome bonus when you first get a card and then earn even more with purchases. Here are a few things worth knowing about this program:

• Use Rapid Rewards points to pay for merchandise, gift cards, hotel stays, car rentals and even some experiences like cruises or wine tastings. But the best use of points is for award fares on any Southwest or international partner flight. And with Southwest you always get 2 free checked bags per person.
• The Rapid Rewards program is revenue-based. You earn points based on the amount spent on flights rather than flights distance. When you redeem points for award fares, the value you get is also based on the price of the ticket, but it is not a fixed value. Points value is based on destination, time, travel date, demand, fare class, and other factors.
• Rapid Rewards points are often valued at about 1.4 cents.
• If you have the Companion Pass, then you can bring your favorite person along for free on paid or award Southwest flights.

About Southwest Companion Pass

The Southwest Companion Pass allows you to bring a companion on all Southwest flights at almost no cost. For domestic U.S. flights the companion just needs to pay $5.60 in taxes each way. Southwest lets pass holders change their companion up to three times per calendar year.

The Companion Pass is valid from the date earned through the end of the next calendar year. For example, if the Companion Pass is earned in January 2024, it will be valid through December 31, 2025. That means that if times right, you can enjoy Companion Pass benefits for almost two full years. There’s no limit on how many times a Companion Pass can be used, and there are no blackout dates.

In January 2023, Southwest raised the requirement for earning the Companion Pass from 125,000 points to 135,000 points. But, Rapid Rewards credit card members receive 10,000 Companion Pass Qualifying bonus points each year.

Guru’s Wrap-Up

These are good bonuses for all three cards. You need to spend $3,000 within the first four months of card membership in order to earn 40,000 miles and a $400 credit. 

We recently saw bonuses of 85,000 points, which would have been much more valuable for those chasing the Southwest Companion Pass. It still remains one of the best deals in travel as two people can fly for the price of on. 

This offer only gives you 40,000 points towards the Companion Pass, so you would have to also pair with with a business card such as the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card. That card currently has a 85,000 points bonus. Combined you would get a total of 125,000 points. Add the 10,000 Companion Pass Qualifying bonus for cardholders and you have the 135,000 points required to qualify.