Last updated: July 2026. Welcome offers, fees and the Companion Pass threshold change often — confirm the current terms on the issuer's page before you apply.
There's one reason the Southwest Rapid Rewards® cards matter more than their modest perks suggest: the Companion Pass. It lets a person of your choosing fly with you for just the taxes (~$5.60 each way) on every paid and award flight — for the rest of the year you earn it plus the entire next calendar year, up to nearly two years. Card sign-up bonuses count toward earning it, which makes these cards the fastest on-ramp to what is, dollar for dollar, the best deal in domestic travel.
Advertiser disclosure: we may be compensated when you're approved through our links. It doesn't affect our editorial take. Terms apply — see the issuer's Rates & Fees.
What Rapid Rewards are worth
We value Rapid Rewards at 1.35¢ each, and — unusually — that's close to a fixed value. Southwest prices award seats as a roughly linear function of the cash fare (a "Wanna Get Away" fare of ~$X costs ~X÷1.3–1.5¢ in points), so you get:
- No blackout dates — if a seat is for sale, it's bookable with points.
- Free cancellations — cancel an award and the points redeposit with no fee.
- No change fees — Southwest never charged them.
The cents-per-point (CPP) formula, every time:
(cash price − taxes/fees) ÷ points × 100 = ¢ per point
A $180 one-way that prices at 12,000 points + $5.60 is (180 − 5.60) ÷ 12,000 × 100 = 1.45¢ — right in the fixed-value band. Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer 1:1 into Rapid Rewards, so a Chase Sapphire Preferred can feed the account.
Read more about your points
These cards earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points. See how to stretch them — and how the Companion Pass turns every trip into a two-for-one: → How the Companion Pass flew my partner free
These are Southwest-only points — they don't transfer to other airlines. (Chase Ultimate Rewards do transfer into Rapid Rewards 1:1, so a Chase Sapphire card can feed your balance when you're short for an award.)
The personal cards at a glance
Fees and perks are refreshed periodically — verify current terms before choosing.
| Plus | Premier | Priority | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | ~$69 | ~$99 | ~$149 |
| Anniversary points | ~3,000 | ~6,000 | ~7,500 |
| Annual travel credit | — | — | ~$75 Southwest credit |
| Upgraded Boardings | — | — | 4/yr |
| Tier qualifying points | — | Yes | Yes |
| Best for | Cheapest way to the Pass | Balanced value | Frequent Southwest flyer |
- Priority (~$149): the ~$75 annual Southwest travel credit and 4 Upgraded Boardings (better boarding position) claw back most of the fee, netting closer to ~$25.
- Premier (~$99): 6,000 anniversary points (~$81 value) nearly covers the fee, and it earns tier-qualifying points toward A-List status.
- Plus (~$69): cheapest door in — fine if you mainly want the sign-up bonus and Companion Pass progress.
There are also business cards (Performance and Premier Business) with higher anniversary points, tier credits and — critically — their own separate sign-up bonuses that also count toward the Companion Pass.
Apply Now → see the current offer
A note on A-List status
Frequent flyers can chase A-List and A-List Preferred status (priority boarding, free same-day changes, and — for A-List Preferred — free inflight Wi-Fi and a 100% points bonus). The Premier and Priority personal cards and the business cards earn tier-qualifying points through spend, which nudges you toward A-List without extra flying. It's a nice bonus, but the Companion Pass is the reason to be here — treat A-List progress as gravy.
The Companion Pass — the whole point
Earn a set number of qualifying points in a calendar year (the threshold is ~135,000 — verify current number) or fly ~100 qualifying one-way flights, and you get the Companion Pass. Once you have it:
- A chosen companion flies free (just ~$5.60 in taxes each way) on every flight you book — paid or award.
- It's valid for the rest of the year you earn it plus the entire following calendar year — earn it early in January and you get nearly two full years.
- You can change your companion a limited number of times per year (verify).
Card sign-up bonuses count as qualifying points. That's the hack: a well-timed personal-card bonus plus a business-card bonus can, on their own, put you at or near the threshold — meaning two card bonuses can earn the Pass outright, before you've flown anywhere.
Companion Pass worked example
Say you and a partner fly a $250 round-trip route six times in a Pass year. Your flights cost ~18,000 points + $11.20 each round trip; your companion pays only $11.20 each time.
- Your six trips:
6 × ($250 − $11.20) = ~$1,433of value from points. - Your companion's six trips, free:
6 × ($250 − $11.20) = ~$1,433in avoided fares.
The companion side alone can be worth well over a thousand dollars a year — which is why we call it the best deal in domestic travel.
Fine print worth knowing
- 5/24 rule: Chase (the issuer) generally won't approve you with 5+ personal cards opened in the past 24 months. Business cards usually don't add to your 5/24 count but you must be under it to be approved.
- Same-brand bonus rules: you typically can't earn a new bonus on a Southwest personal card you already hold, and there are limits on holding multiple personal Southwest cards at once — verify current eligibility before applying.
- Timing is everything: to maximize the Pass's ~2-year window, aim to hit the threshold early in a calendar year.
- Rapid Rewards points don't expire as long as the account has activity.
Who should get these cards
Get a Southwest card (or two) if you or your family fly domestically on Southwest and can coordinate two bonuses to earn the Companion Pass — the return is enormous. If you fly a variety of airlines, a flexible card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred is more versatile, and you can still transfer points into Southwest when you need them.
Bottom line
On their own the Southwest cards are ordinary — modest anniversary points, a small travel credit, better boarding. Together, and timed right, they unlock the Companion Pass, which turns every Southwest trip into a two-for-one for up to two years. That single benefit is worth more than any co-brand perk in the U.S. market.
Apply Now → see the current offer
Related: How much are your points worth? · How the Companion Pass flew my partner free · Chase Sapphire Preferred guide · Chase transfer partners
