Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Card: Earn 40,000 points
This article was last updated Feb 20, 2020. Terms and conditions may have changed. For the most accurate information, please consult the issuer website.
If you’re in the market for an airline rewards credit card and regularly fly on Southwest Airlines, you should take a look at the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card.
Cardholders earn 40,000 points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Plus, earn 2 points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases and Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partner purchases. 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
- Are you eligible for the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card sign-up bonus?
- How can you use the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card sign-up bonus?
- Other ways to earn Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card rewards
- Is the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card right for you?
Rapid Rewards points can be redeemed for air travel, hotel stays, car rentals and more.
The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card does charge an annual fee of $149. However, the value you can get from the card’s sign- up bonus can help offset that cost.
Are you eligible for the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card sign-up bonus?
If you are a current cardholder of any Southwest Rapid Rewards card, or if you’re a previous Southwest Rapid Rewards cardholder who received a new cardmember bonus within the past 24 months, you may not be eligible to receive the current cardmember sign-up bonus from the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card. Note, however, that this does not apply to holders of Southwest Rapid Rewards business cards or employee card products.
You should also be aware of Chase’s “5/24 rule,” which prevents you from being approved for a new Chase credit card if you’ve opened five personal credit cards (from any issuer) within the past 24 months.
How can you use the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card sign-up bonus?
You can redeem your Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card points in a variety of ways, including:
Airfare. Rapid Rewards points can be redeemed for available seats on any flight booked through Southwest Airlines. For example, we found a roundtrip Wanna Get Away fare ticket from Atlanta to Seattle from March 2-9, 2020, for 36,715 points.
The amount of points required to purchase a ticket is subject to change at any time until the ticket is booked. Also, you cannot use points to purchase special fares, such as senior, infant, child, military and government fares.
Gift cards. Points can be redeemed for gift cards from a broad range of popular retailers, such as AMC Theatres, Crate and Barrel, Foot Locker, Hotels.com, Wayfair and much more.
Merchandise. Rapid Rewards points can be redeemed to purchase a variety of items, including electronics, cosmetics, apparel, appliances and sporting goods. For example, you can use the current sign-up bonus to purchase an Apple iPod touch 7th Generation (33,060 points).
Hotel stays. You can redeem Rapid Rewards points to book hotel stays at more than 70,000 properties across the globe.
Rental cars. You can also use rewards to rent cars from a number of rental car agencies, including Avis, Budget, Alamo and National.
Other ways to earn Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card rewards
Along with the sign-up bonus, cardholders can earn Rapid Rewards points in the following ways:
Rewards rate. Cardholders earn 2 points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases and Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partner purchases. 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
Hotel and car rental partners include Best Western Hotels & Resorts, Radisson Rewards, Choice Hotels, World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy, Avis, Hertz, National Car Rental and more.
Annual bonus. Receive 7,500 bonus points each year after your account anniversary. Your “account anniversary year” refers to the year beginning with your account open date through the anniversary of your account open date — and every 12 months after that.
Referral bonus. Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card members can earn up to 50,000 bonus points each year when they invite friends to apply for any Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card, and the friends are approved. Cardholders earn 10,000 bonus points for each referral who is approved — up to five referrals per year.
Authorized users. If you add authorized users to your account, you will earn points for every purchase they make using their card.
Is the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card right for you?
If you’re in the market for an airline rewards credit card, and live in or near a city serviced by Southwest Airlines, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card could be a good fit for you. In addition to offering unlimited points on every purchase, cardholders earn 40,000 points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
Keep in mind, though, that the card comes with an annual fee of $149, which will be applied to the first billing statement.
If you want to earn the same sign-up bonus while paying a lower annual fee, you may want to consider the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card instead.
Like the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card lets cardholders earn 40,000 points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. However, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card charges an annual fee of just $69.
That said, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card offers less benefits than the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card. For example, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card comes with a lower anniversary bonus and doesn’t offer an annual travel credit, upgraded boarding or 20% back on inflight drinks and WiFi. The card also charges foreign transaction fees.
