(New) Southwest personal card offers! Are they worth it?
The Chase Southwest personal credit card offers now have a new offer!
Limited time offer ends 3/23/25! All Southwest personal cards currently have a welcome bonus where you earn Companion Pass through 2/28/26 + 30,000 bonus points for $4,000 spend in 3 months.
Southwest Rapid Rewards is among one of our favorite rewards programs for free travel. Unlike most other airlines, Southwest has no cancellation fees for using points. You can cancel at any time and get your points back immediately, which is one of the many reasons that we love Southwest points here at Travel Freely.
But there’s another reason to pay attention to Southwest. The Southwest Companion Pass is one of the best in the industry and the welcome offers from their credit cards enable you to earn this coveted pass.
If you’re interested in signing up for a Southwest card in order to earn the Companion Pass, now might be the best time to do so! But not necessarily these specific personal card offers. Be sure to read more on strategy below.
The 3 Southwest personal cards each have the same offer, but varying perks:
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card ($69 annual fee)
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card ($99 annual fee)
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card ($149 annual fee)
We recommend either the Plus or Priority based on the benefits you need. The Premier is often seen as somewhat of an awkward middle child.
Should You Consider One of These Cards?
It’s an easy recommendation, assuming you are eligible to get this card AND fall into one of the following 2 categories:
#1) If you have a lot of Southwest flights planned within the next year.
OR
#2) You don’t have a business and aren’t eligible for a business card (although you are probably still eligible) and want to achieve Companion Pass easily and with one application.
In the case of these current personal card offers, you earn fewer Rapid Rewards points than you would during a regular signup bonus. Fewer points = fewer flights. Typically, signup bonuses for these cards are 50,000 Rapid Rewards points, so this is an inferior points offer.
That said, we wanted to share some additional strategy on earning more Southwest Rapid Rewards points in 2025 that could potentially lead to more free travel and even the opportunity to earn another Companion Pass, good for 2026 and 2027.
-
Get the personal card now, and then wait until Fall 2025 and follow the two Southwest Rapid Rewards business card approach (see below) — which will then also allow you to spread out your minimum spend. Since the personal card offer is good through Feb 28, 2026, you can get one Southwest Rapid Rewards business card in November 2025, for example, meet minimum spend on/after January 1, 2026, then get the second Southwest Rapid Rewards business card January 1, 2026. Doing so gives you through February 2026 to meet then minimum spend, and then your Companion Pass is re-earned right when the promotional pass is ending. Voila!
-
If you don’t think you’ll be approved for two Southwest Rapid Rewards business cards, apply for a Southwest Rapid Rewards personal card now to ensure you get the Companion Pass quickly. Then apply for the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card (80,000 Rapid Rewards points when you meet the $5,000 minimum spend within 3 months from account opening and you are at 110,000 Rapid Rewards points (plus at least 5,000 Rapid Rewards points earned from meeting your minimum spend). Yes, you will need put more credit card spend on the card to earn the 135,000 Rapid Rewards points, but you’ll have all of 2025 with the Southwest Rapid Rewards personal card to do so (and will only need to earn 11,000 more qualifying points to achieve Companion Pass).
Who should you skip this offer?
If you’re on track to earning the Companion Pass for 2 years (2025 and 2026), I say stick with your original plan. While this current offer is easier for the short-term, it’s not necessarily the best route for those who plan to make the most of their Companion Pass.
If you’re frustrated by only getting 30,000 points, then I suggest holding off on opening one of the personal cards until this offer ends on 3/23/25.
While our typical approach for achieving the Southwest Companion Pass is to recommend applying for one Southwest Rapid Rewards personal card and one Southwest Rapid Rewards business card, given the current personal card offers, we recommend applying for both business cards instead. Although Chase doesn’t allow you to hold 2 Southwest personal cards at the same time, this doesn’t hold true for the business cards. So you can hold both cards at the same time.
These cards currently have different offers and different perks. Successfully apply for both cards and meet the minimum spend required and you will receive enough bonus points to earn the Companion Pass.
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card (60,000 points – $99 annual fee)
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card (80,000 points – $199 annual fee)
If you’re interested in the Companion Pass, here’s the lowdown on the best strategy for earning the Southwest Companion Pass. Without earning a few signup bonuses, the Southwest Companion Pass can be difficult to achieve.
Application Rules
There are some specific application rules for getting this bonus. Perhaps the easiest thing to do is to check out your CardGenie to see if you’re eligible for any of these cards. The rules are:
1) Cannot currently have ANY Southwest personal card.
2) Cannot have earned any Southwest personal card bonus in the last 24 months. All 3 cards are considered a family. So, if you have one, then you cannot get approved for another.
3) You cannot be at 5/24 or above. (Check your 5/24 number on your Travel Freely dashboard)
Again, the CardGenie knows these rules, so you just need to check if they are showing up in your recommendations. Note: If you currently have a SW personal card, none of the SW personal cards will show up. BUT if it’s been more than 24 months since your last SW personal card bonus, you can close it, wait at least a week (more if possible), then re-open a new SW personal card in order to earn the bonus.
Now with an updated offer that includes a Companion Pass through 2/28/26! This has the lowest annual fee of all Southwest personal cards, and comes with two EarlyBird passes per year.
Now with an updated offer that includes a Companion Pass through 2/28/26! This card has an annual fee at $99 and comes with two Early Bird Check-In credits each year.
Now with an updated offer that includes a Companion Pass through 2/28/26! This is Southwest's highest personal card annual fee card with a lot of perks for people who fly often on Southwest.
Summary
Here at Travel Freely, Southwest Rapid Rewards points are some of our favorites. And earning this current bonus might be what you need to earn the Southwest Companion Pass.
If you’re not interested in the Southwest Companion Pass, you may want to consider the Chase Sapphire Preferred or one of the Ink business cards right now. These cards earn Chase Ultimate Rewards. If Southwest Airlines is your preferred airline, you can use your Chase Ultimate Rewards points towards a Southwest flight.
