Update: Chase has confirmed that the offer is open to any and all California residents. Just keep in mind the one per brand restriction.
Earlier today we posted about an offer for California residents, giving them a companion pass after a single purchase on a new Chase Southwest card plus a sign up bonus of 40,000-60,000 Southwest points. Reader Eric rightfully pointed out some worrying fine print that states (found after clicking offer terms):
- Only the individual who received this email/offer from Southwest Airlines® is eligible for this promotion. Offer is nontransferable
There is also another restriction. It also states:
- This product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any Rapid Rewards Credit Card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of any Rapid Rewards Credit Card who received a new cardmember bonus for a Rapid Rewards Credit Card within the last 24 months
Now normally Chase’s exclusion will list something such as:
- This product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of this credit card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of this credit card who received a new Cardmember bonus for this credit card within the last 24 month
Notice how the companion pass offer excludes you if you’re a current card member and also if you’ve received a sign up bonus on ANY rapid rewards credit card within the last 24 months. Chase normally only excludes you if you’re a current cardholder or if you’ve received a sign up bonus on that SPECIFIC card within the past 24 months. Is this evidence pointing towards Chase moving to a once per co-branded partner rule? I wouldn’t say yes definitively, I think it’s likely that Southwest want more restrictions than normal on this offer due to the companion pass being offered.
Targeted Language Not Being Enforced
I’ve contacted Chase’s media team to find out if the offer is intended to be targeted for recipients only, or if it’s open to everybody. Chase partners have been advertising this as open to public, but they haven’t been using Chase affiliate links so I am unsure how much oversight there actually is there (this comment by TPG staff states that Southwest confirmed to them all Californian residents are now targeted and it’s also showing up on the Southwest homepage when using a Californian IP address). I guess this just goes to show that you should always read the fine print. This reddit comment states that they were told by a Chase rep that the targeted language isn’t enforced, but front line reps have been known to be wrong.
Personally I’d just wait for them to remove this language to be on the safe side. I actually think the other language is much more interesting in any case.
