Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card Review

The Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card is best for frequent Southwest flyers who want to earn points on their spending and may be pursuing A-List status. Once you sign up, you can earn points for each dollar you spend on your credit card, as well as tier qualifying points good toward A-List status with Southwest.

• Good, two-part sign-up bonus: The Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card starts you off with 40,000 points after you spend $1,000 on your card within three months of account opening. Plus, for a limited time, if you can spend $5,000 on purchases within six months of opening an account, you'll earn another 35,000 points.
• No foreign transaction fees: Where the “Plus” version of this card charges foreign transaction fees, the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card does not charge any extra fees when you use your credit card for purchases abroad.
• Earn tier qualifying points toward elite status: The Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card lets you earn “tier qualifying points” good toward elite status with the airline. These points can help you reach A-List or A-List Preferred status faster. 

• Annual fee the first year: While many airline and travel credit cards waive the annual fee for the first year, the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card does not.
• Modest rewards earning rate: The Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card only gives you 1 point per $1 spent on any purchase you make that isn’t with Southwest. This is disappointing, as many travel credit cards and airline credit cards offer more lucrative bonus categories. 

From now until Feb. 10, 2020, the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card has a two-part sign-up bonus. It gives new cardholders 40,000 points after spending $1,000 within three months. That could be worth as much as $596 in Southwest airfare, according to The Balance’s valuation of Southwest Rapid Rewards points. This initial bonus is relatively easy to earn since you only need to spend $334 per month for three months in a row to reach the threshold.

If you want an even bigger bonus, spend $5,000 within six months of opening your account to earn another 35,000 points. The total possible bonus of 75,000 points is worth about $1,117 towards Southwest flights, based on our calculations.

Keep in mind that if you're gunning for the full welcome offer, you'll need to spend an average of at least $834 per month for six months to meet the spending requirement.

Once you have the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card, earning rewards is a breeze. Simply use your card for all your Southwest purchases (including rental cars and hotels booked on Southwest.com) to earn 2 points per $1. You’ll earn 1 point per $1 you spend on all other purchases made with your card. Your points will transfer into your Southwest Rapid Rewards account, where you will manage and redeem them.

If your goal is to earn points you can redeem for flights, you’ll be happy to know that The Balance’s analysis of Southwest Rapid Rewards points found that they are worth 1.51 cents each when redeemed for airfare on Southwest. The airline flies all throughout the continental United States, to Hawaii, and to select destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean as well, so there’s no shortage of ways you can use your points. 

Southwest lets you redeem your points for international flights on other airlines, too. You’ll typically get much less value for each point you redeem if you go this route, but it’s nice to have the option. 

While Southwest now promises your points will never expire, it's never a good idea to hoard airline points indefinitely because programs change, often in ways that cause the miles to lose value. 

Once you sign up for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card, make sure you spend $1,000 within three months of account opening in order to earn 40,000 bonus points. If your budget can cover $5,000 of spending on this card within 6 months, aim for the total bonus payout of 75,000 points. Also use your card for all Southwest purchases as well as hotels and rental cars you can book through Southwest. 

If you hope to earn even more points on at least some of your regular spending, consider pairing your card with a premier Chase travel credit card that offers more points on all travel purchases as well as dining. Both the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve fit the bill, and both let you transfer points 1:1 to Southwest and other partners. 

When it comes to cashing in your points, you’ll get the most value when you redeem for Southwest flights. However, keep a close eye out for Southwest sales and promotions, which can help you stretch your points even further. 

Depending on creditworthiness, you’ll get a Visa Signature or a Visa Platinum card, which offer slightly different perks and benefits. Whichever card you get, these are the perks the editors of The Balance consider “excellent.”

• Anniversary points: Receive 6,000 points on your cardmember anniversary every year.
• Airline companion pass: Earn 125,000 Rapid Rewards points in a calendar year and be rewarded with a companion pass, which allows one person to fly with you airfare-free (you’ll still have to cover taxes and fees) for the rest of the year, and throughout the next full year.
• Insurance coverage for lost or delayed luggage: For lost luggage you’ll be compensated for up to $3,000, and for baggage delays of more than six hours, you’ll receive up to $100 to cover the cost of incidentals.
• Travel accident insurance: Get up to $250,000 or up to $500,000 (depending on which card you get) in compensation in the event of loss or life or accidental dismemberment when you pay for transportation on a common carrier with your credit card.

• Rental car collision insurance (secondary to your own policy)
• Extended warranties
• Insurance for stolen or damaged purchases 
• Roadside assistance hotline
• Travel and emergency hotline

Chase is a big bank that offers big bank customer service—24/7 agents are reachable by phone, secure messaging, and even Twitter. Of course, there’s also an app and Chase provides a free VantageScore credit score through its Credit Journey program, which also offers security tools. 

This combination of benefits is likely the reason Chase has scored well in terms of customer satisfaction. J.D. Power’s 2019 Credit Card Satisfaction Study gave Chase the fourth spot (out of 11 competing card issuers). 

Chase offers industry-standard security, including fraud alerts and zero liability for fraudulent charges on your card. The Credit Journey program also offers credit monitoring to let you know of changes to your credit report, which could alert you to fraud. 

The Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card charges a handful of industry-standard fees for balance transfers and late payments, but you’ll never have to pay a foreign transaction fee on purchases made abroad.