Update 1/1/19: Looks like these offers will also end on 1/9/19 (same date the Chase Hyatt bonus is being reduced). Keep in mind the 50,000 points after $2,000 in spend will be a better offer for a lot of people.
The Offer
Chase has increased the signup bonus offer on all three versions of the Southwest personal card to 60,000 points with a tiered bonus. The business version remains with its 60,000 non-tiered bonus, as before.
- Southwest Plus personal card with $69 annual fee – 40,000 points bonus after $1,000 in spend within 3 months. Plus, earn 20,000 points after you spend $12,000 on purchases within your first year.
- Southwest Premier personal card with $99 annual fee – 40,000 points bonus after $1,000 in spend within 3 months. Plus, earn 20,000 points after you spend $12,000 on purchases within your first year.
- Southwest Priority personal card with $149 annual fee – 40,000 points bonus after $1,000 in spend within 3 months. Plus, earn 20,000 points after you spend $12,000 on purchases within your first year.
- Southwest Premier business card with $99 annual fee – 60,000 points bonus after $3,000 in spend within 3 months.
Card Details
- Chase 5/24 rule does apply to this card
- Annual fees are not waived the first year
- The Premier personal and business cards earn a 6,000 points anniversary bonus; the Plus earns 3,000 points anniversary bonus; the Priority earns 7,500 anniversary bonus
- Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card Full Review & F.A.Q’s
- How Much Are Southwest Rapid Rewards Points Worth?
- Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Southwest Companion Pass
Our Verdict
The 50k or 60k offers come and go. For a while now, there’s only been 40k available on the three personal Southwest cards. We’ve seen in the past 50k or 60k offers which were not tiered, e.g. spend $2k and get 50k or 60k points. This offer is not as good since it requires $12k in spend to get the extra 20k points. Still could be useful for earning the Southwest Companion Pass.
Earning 110,000 Southwest points earns you the Companion Pass. The best way to time your 110,000 miles is to earn the 110,000 threshold at the beginning of the calendar year since Companion Pass continues for the next entire calendar year. For example, if you earn 110,000 Southwest miles during January 2019, you’ll have the Companion Pass for the rest of 2019 and the entire 2020.
The easiest strategy to earn the Companion Pass has always been to get two Southwest credit card signup bonuses. In our case, you’ll want to apply now, and take care to ensure NOT to meet the spend requirement until after January 1st. The signup bonus points on the two cards will post after you complete the spend in early 2019, and you’ll have a Companion Pass for nearly two years. Get one of the personal cards and the business card, meet the high spend requirement, and you’ll have 120,000 points just from the bonuses and earns you the Pass.
Best option is to meet both signup bonuses in January by putting $3k on the business card and $1k on the personal card. You’ll have 104,000 miles. Then spend another $6k on the personal card which brings you to the 110k for the Pass. Then spend an additional $5k over the course of the year to meet the 20k bonus.
Again, many of us are not eligible for any of the Southwest cards at all due to the 5/24 rule, or because you’re a current Southwest cardholder of any version or because you got a bonus within the past 24 months.
There’s also a 50k bonus offer with $2k spend available if you apply in-flight on Southwest, that’s a better deal for a lot of people since you’ll avoid the high spend requirement, but only works if you have a flight to apply on.
Hat tip to poolking25 on r/churning
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