How to choose the best Southwest Rapid Rewards card
Choose the card that fits your travel and spending the closest. Consider the card's recommended credit, benefits and costs.
Rewards
You’ll want the rewards to be high enough so that you can earn enough points to cover airfare. Some of the cards in the Southwest suite feature a number of bonus categories outside of what you'll earn with Southwest.
For example, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card offers rewards on transit and select streaming. If you're able to match your spending habits to how the card earns, it'll be all the easier to fund your Southwest travels.
Annual fee
If the card has an annual fee, check to see what kind of value you can get from its benefits. If they're worth paying extra, and the card fits your spending habits, it could be a better choice than one without an annual fee.
A higher annual fee usually translates to better card perks and -- in some cases -- a higher welcome bonus, but you’ll want to make sure you travel enough throughout the year to take advantage of everything the card offers. Unfortunately, Southwest doesn’t currently offer any credit cards without an annual fee.
Welcome bonus
A welcome bonus can go a long way toward covering a card's annual fee or giving you a head start to earning enough rewards to use for airfare. You'll just want to make sure you can reach the bonus without spending outside of your budget.
A Southwest welcome bonus could also push you closer to earning a Southwest Companion Pass. A companion pass is essentially an extra ticket for you to give a traveling companion. You can earn it by flying 100 paid qualifying one-way Southwest flights Southwest or by earning 135,000 Companion Pass qualifying points through any combination of flights, partner hotel stays, partner car rentals or with Rapid Rewards credit cards.
Eligibility
If you can't qualify for the Southwest card you're considering, think about building your credit before applying. Typically, this entails making on-time payments on your open accounts and using your credit limit responsibly.
Other considerations
Most airline credit cards offer additional perks for your flights. Depending on which Southwest card you choose, it may include annual travel credits, expedited access to Southwest's A-List program and travel protections. Most Southwest cards include 25% back for in-flight purchases.
However, Southwest’s additional perks aren’t overly impressive compared to other co-branded airline cards, which may offer more amenities such as airport lounge access and waived fees. What they do offer are things like upgraded boardings, free Wi-Fi and anniversary bonus miles, among others.
How to maximize your Southwest Rapid Rewards card
To get the most out of your Southwest card, be sure you're redeeming your Southwest points for airfare and taking full advantage of any card perks like annual travel credits.
If you’re able to earn A-List status, you’ll gain even more amenities like priority boarding and a 25% bonus to point earnings. Southwest also doesn’t charge any checked bag fees for your first two checked bags, so don’t be afraid to take advantage of that.
To earn A-List status, you'll have to fly 20 one-way qualifying flights in a year or earn 35,000 tier-qualifying points with a Rapid Rewards card. For A-List Preferred status, it's 40 flights or 70,000 points.
FAQs
The best Southwest credit card is the Rapid Rewards Priority Card. It offers the best value for the cost. It has a $149 annual fee, but it comes with a yearly Southwest statement credit, 7,500 anniversary points each year, four upgraded boardings annually and a wide selection of travel protections. It also provides a high rewards rate for Southwest purchases.
Airline credit cards have special perks and rewards designed around the specific airline it’s connected to. For example, Southwest credit cards earn better rewards rates for Southwest flight purchases and provide an inflight discount for drinks and food. United credit cards include amenities and rewards for United flights.
General travel credit cards, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, provide rewards for travel and perks that benefit travelers who fly with a variety of airlines or stay with numerous hotel brands.
A higher annual fee on a travel credit card typically translates to higher rewards and better travel perks. The better travel perks might include annual travel credits, airport lounge access or an application fee credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, which can help you breeze through airport security lines.
You can, but you won’t have access to any of the airline-specific perks the credit card offers, and you’ll miss out on rewards. Instead of earning a higher rate for purchases with the card’s own airline, you’ll instead earn 1 point or mile per dollar for the purchase in most cases.
*All information about the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card has been collected independently by CNET and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
