Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card: Review
Good evening Penny Pinchers!
In this post we will discuss the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card, the top tier credit card of Southwest. Southwest has recently been voted the top airline and ranks high on categories such as passenger experience and extensive routes in USA with a growing range of International destinations. This is a card that has proven to be very useful if you make frequent flights on Southwest due to living near a Southwest hub like BWI, Chicago midway, Dallas, Houston Hobby and more. The best way to use any of these airline credit cards is to have them linked and utilize them with their respective rewards program. For a comprehensive review on the Southwest Rewards Program see this post.
Key Features
- Earn 75,000 points after you spend $1000 in the first month of opening the card (40,000 points) and when you spend a further $4000 within 6 months of opening the credit card (another 35,000).
- Earn 2x points/$ on Southwest purchases, 2x points/$ at hotel and car rental partners and 1x point/$ on everything else.
- 4 free upgrades a year
- $149 annual fee and 7,500 points every year when renewed.
- Enjoy an annual $75 statement credit to be used on Southwest flights, and 20% off flight refreshments/Wi-fi when using the card.
Basics
This is primarily for earning Southwest points and flights are your best bet. As you can see above, flights, Southwest hotels (see the previous post on how hotels and car rentals can be a “Southwest partner”) and Southwest car rentals earn you 2x points per dollar which gives you the best return. However it is the perks of the card that are probably more useful as discussed below.
Therefore this card is best suited for those who travel with Southwest more often than not (which is a lot for me). If you don’t travel often with Southwest and are near an airport that flies with them frequently I strongly suggest considering them due to their simple rewards program, no hidden charges on baggage and easy cancellation/modification process for reservations.
All Southwest cards are subject to the “5/24 rule”. This is a rule with Chase credit cards (like the Southwest cards) where you cannot apply for a Chase credit card if you have opened more than 5 credit cards in the last 24 months (that’s any bank not just Chase). Chase are also getting strict about the sign up bonuses that cardmembers receive. You cannot receive the Sign on bonus if you have already earned another Southwest Credit card (note that there is 3 in total) bonus in the last 24 months. This is key to understand as usually it is the sign on bonus that provides the greatest perk to having the credit card and using that bonus in terms of points/miles (this applies for any credit card).
Pros
Sign Up Bonus
As with any credit card, you have to plan your finances when opening up a credit card. The sign up bonus is what gives you the biggest perk once you have the card. 40,000 points (as an initial bonus, the remaining 35,000 will follow after continuing to spend) will go a long way and more importantly it will contribute to the the highly valued Companion Pass. This Companion pass we will talk about in more detail but essentially it allows you add a designated companion to your reservation if there is a seat free of charge (excluding taxes, usually $5.60.)
There is also an anniversary bonus should you wish to keep the card after 1 year. 7,500 points are probably worth around 105 dollars depending on the value of a point (I’ll explain what I reference for this information in another article).
Flight Perks
The good thing about the perks with the Priority card is even for the occasional passenger of Southwest it is simple enough to use and you can get full value from the card with just a few flights. Perks include:
- $75 annual Southwest travel credit: During each year (not calendar but 365 days from opening), you’re eligible to a $75 travel credit on Southwest flights (excluding in flight purchases and upgrades).
- Four upgraded boardings per year of ownership: Purchasing an upgrade for A1-15 positions (the front positions) with the card will allow you to get the money back. Usually this can be between $30 and $50 per upgrade, depending on the flight.
- 7,500-point anniversary bonus: On the anniversary date when you opened the card, you’ll receive 7,500 Southwest Reward points, worth around $105.
- 20% inflight savings: Receive 20% back in the form of a statement credit after you use your card to purchase inflight refreshments and Wi-Fi.
- Tier Qualifying Points (TQPs) boost: Earn 1,500 TQPs that count toward A-List (and Preferred) status for each $10,000 you spend in a calendar year (maximum 15,000 TQPs).
In addition to these, the card carries lost-luggage reimbursement, baggage-delay insurance, extended-warranty and purchase protection. The card also has no foreign transaction fees unlike the other 2 Southwest cards with lower annual fees.
Earning
Earning points with the card is fairly simple. Through Chase banking, however much money you spend, gets converted to points and then transferred at the end of each statement month to your Rapid Rewards account. Chase will determine whether it comes under the 1 point per dollar or 2 points per dollar.
Cons/Alternatives to Consider
Compared to some of the other travel credit cards (I say travel because the biggest bang for your buck is with Southwest purchases which comes under a travel category), this card may have some drawbacks. Firstly, you are stuck with Southwest and so if you are in a hub where you have other options and you can get a credit card with another airline then that may be a better option depending on what your travel plans and destinations are.
Alternatives to consider are some of the other credit cards that have more than 1 transfer partners such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve or even the Preferred if you want a card with a lower fee. With this card you can earn points and transfer them over to another airline or hotel. If you aren’t in a hub that flies predominantly with Southwest then these other options may be better.
Other alternatives are the less pricey Southwest Credit cards, which include the Premier and the Plus. If you do not think you will use the $75 dollar credit for use on Southwest flight purchases or the upgrades are not useful, then a credit card with a lower annual fee may be better for you if you still want a Southwest credit card but without the high annual fee.
One of the things I don’t like about this card is that 2 points per dollar is not much, especially compared to 3points per dollar with the Chase Sapphire Reserve which these points, when accumulated, can be transferred to other programs and not just Southwest. Occasionally Southwest will offer targeted promos where if you accumulate a certain number of points through credit card purchases you can get a 25% bonus. However, this means getting a certain number of points, an example below is 50,000, before getting the bonus. 50,000 is a lot which could be accumulated through spending with other credit cards (Chase Sapphire).
This essentially means that Southwest flights, hotel and car rental partners of Southwest, only get you 2 points per dollar as opposed to 3 points with the Chase Sapphire. This reduction along with the lack of flexibility of redeeming the poi its earned can affect your decision whether to get this card.
How does the Penny Pinching Doc use it?
Family ties meant that once I got some idea of where my job would land me in the middle of 2019, I knew I was going to be in a Southwest Hub and travel a lot. Once I found out at the beginning of January 2019, I applied for the credit card. Southwest also have the perk of giving a Companion Pass if you fly enough with them and so I decided to apply early in January because as soon as you obtain it, the pass lasts for the rest of that year AND the following year. This means that if timed right you could use it for close to 2 years! The other benefit of Southwest was not only the Companion pass but that they then started flights to Hawaii which meant I could get as international as possible without needing a passport!
I had several big expenses to make including tickets for travel to conferences, and I had my exams that I needed to pay for once the academic year was over. Any spending that had to be done which came under a category that wasn’t travel, groceries or dining, I used the Southwest card, as there was no other alternative that would get me more points per dollar. I hit the spending threshold easily ($1000 in 3 months) and as above, all other non travel/dining/grocery expenses (anything that wouldn’t get me 2x or 3x points with my other credit cards) were put on this card for the rest of the year.
This allowed me to get 60,000 points (I didn’t get the 70,000 offer as it is now) just on basic spending which I would have done anyway. This meant I maximized the sign up bonus offer and now had all the other perks associated with the card.
As soon as I bought my first tickets for a conference in Chicago (via Midway), I was reimbursed $75. This brings the annual fee down to $74 based on that alone. This was great as Southwest was offering the cheapest ticket out of all the airlines (that would fly from Newark). Regular flights to other parts of the country for personal and business travel has meant that I managed to get the Companion pass by accumulating 110,000 points (it has now been increased to 125,000 for 2020) in 2019. The 60,000 points from the Southwest Credit Card contributed significantly. I’ll go over other tactics for getting to the threshold and obtaining the Companion pass in another post.
Sometimes when I wanted to board first in order to get a good seat (usually at the front so I can escape quickly usually to get public transport), I will utilize the free upgrade with the credit provided by the Priority Credit Card. See my previous post on getting the RTA Red Line from Cleveland Airport to downtown and why a good seat to escape can make a difference when catching the last train from the airport! This meant that I used the 4 free upgrades which usually range from 30 to 50 dollars and so this also means I had negated the annual fee just on the credit and upgrades alone.
I am still waiting for the 7,500 anniversary points so when I hit the 1 year mark, I should be getting it. I personally think this along with the $75 airfare credit (and the 4 free upgrades) means that as long as I fly 2-3x a year with Southwest I will get my money’s worth and even more than the annual fee associated with this card.
The 2 perks which I am not that bothered about are the 20% off Wifi and refreshment drinks and the 1500 TPQs for $10,000 spent. As stated in the “cons” paragraph, I don’t think this card is useful when paying for most categories of purchases. Now that I have obtained the sign up bonus and have a card like the Chase Freedom Unlimited (which offers 1.5 points per dollar on every purchase) it means I have a card which I can use for purchases on the non-dining/travel/gas/grocery categories. So spending over $10,000 very unlikely. As for in flight refreshments, I won’t usually drink alcohol, and once you get to A List status, Southwest will send you plenty of drink coupons to enjoy these beverages. As for entertainment or wifi, you have seen how many movies I watch on Southwest!
My plan is, now that I have the companion pass and A List Preferred status I will accumulate points and as I diversify my travel to airlines, I may not need to fly so often with Southwest, and that’s when I will slowly use the points I have accumulated as currently they have fixed values (unlike American and Delta which you can utilize points for great deals….more on that later!)
Conclusion
Southwest is an airline which is getting accolades for its service and its Companion Pass. I’m a firm believer in using the right credit card for certain airlines and if traveling on Southwest more than twice a year I would recommend opening the credit card and utilizing it if suits your travel plans as above. Open up the credit card when the time is right, as it contributes significantly to the accumulation of points to obtain the Companion pass. This along with utilizing Southwest for their great service means you can get maximal usage of this great credit card.
I hope you enjoyed this post! Till next time Penny Pinchers!