Southwest Premier Credit Card Review: Loyalty Is Rewarding
The Bottom Line
3.9
Ongoing rewards are decent, and the annual bonus is superb, but you can forget about perks. Of course, if you're a Southwest loyalist, you're probably not into frills anyway.
Rates, fees and offers
Annual fee
$99
Rewards rate
1x-3x
Bonus offer
Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening.
Intro APR
N/A
Ongoing APR
APR: 20.99%-27.99% Variable APR
Cash Advance APR: 29.74%, Variable
Penalty APR: Up to 29.99%
Balance transfer fee
Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
Foreign transaction fee
$0
More details from Chase
- Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening.
- 6,000 anniversary points each year.
- Earn 3X points on Southwest® purchases.
- Earn 2X points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare.
- Earn 2X points on internet, cable, and phone services; select streaming.
- 2 EarlyBird Check-In® each year.
- No foreign transaction fees.
- Member FDIC
Pros and Cons
Pros
Anniversary perk
No reward caps
Cons
Has annual fee
Rewards have limited flexibility
Detailed Review
The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card succeeds where most budget airline credit cards fail: It gives you reasons to stay loyal.
This card’s ongoing benefits, including a generous anniversary bonus, let you earn free flights faster. If you spend a lot on Southwest flights, it could help you qualify for A-List status and the airline’s coveted Companion Pass faster, too. And unlike its cheaper sibling card, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, it doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees.
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card: Basics
Card type: Airline.
Annual fee: $99.
Sign-up bonus: Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening.
Ongoing rewards:
3 points per dollar spent on Southwest purchases.
2 points per dollar spent on Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases.
2 points per dollar spent on local transit and commuting, including rideshare.
2 points per dollar spent on internet, cable, phone services and select streaming.
1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases.
NerdWallet values Southwest points at 1.5 cents each. This is a baseline value, drawn from real-world data on hundreds of economy routes, not a maximized value. In other words, you should aim for award redemptions that offer 1.5 cents or more in value from your Southwest points.
Foreign transaction fees: None.
Other benefits:
Anniversary bonus of 6,000 points every cardmember year.
2 EarlyBird Check-In® each year.
1,500 tier-qualifying points for every $10,000 spent on the card each calendar year, with no limit on the amount you can earn. Tier-qualifying points help you reach A-List or A-List Preferred status faster. Other points you earn won't help you qualify for these statuses.
Calculate your rewards
To see if the rewards you'd earn on this card would make up for the annual fee, try our calculator:
Compare to Other Cards
Benefits and Perks
Solid sign-up bonus
New cardholders get a nice sign-up bonus: Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening.
Anniversary bonus
This card automatically gives you 6,000 bonus points on every cardmember anniversary. You don't have to meet any spending requirement to earn this bonus. That'll go a long way towards covering the card's annual fee.
No foreign transaction fees
The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card doesn’t charge you extra when you’re making purchases abroad. That makes it an excellent pick for international travel. Though Southwest mostly flies domestic, it does offer service to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean (and, of course, you're free to take the card with you abroad regardless of which airline you fly). Another goodie for globe-trotters: You can use Southwest’s More Rewards platform to book international flights to other destinations through partner airlines with points.
Southwest Airlines credit cards don't offer free checked bags as many airline credit cards do, but your first two checked bags already are free with Southwest.
Fast track to Companion Pass and A-List status
The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card is especially valuable for Southwest diehards, because it puts them on the fast track to Southwest's sought-after loyalty benefits:
Companion Pass: This pass lets one companion fly with you for free (except for taxes or fees) whenever you purchase or redeem points for a trip. The way to get it is to earn 135,000 qualifying points in a year. All points earned with the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, including sign-up and anniversary bonuses, count toward the pass.
A-List status: This gets you priority check-in, free same-day standby if you want to fly out earlier on the day of your scheduled flight, a 25% points bonus when purchasing eligible Southwest flights, and other benefits. You can qualify for the status by earning 35,000 "tier-qualifying points" in a calendar year. Ordinarily, the only way to earn tier-qualifying points is by actually flying Southwest. But the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card gives you 1,500 of these points for every $5,000 you spend, with no cap.
A-List Preferred status: This gets you A-List perks, free in-flight Wi-Fi on equipped planes and a 100% points bonus when purchasing eligible Southwest flights (rather than just a 25% bonus). You can qualify for A-List Preferred by earning 70,000 tier-qualifying points in a calendar year; the tier-qualifying points you earn with the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card apply to this status, too.
With both Companion Pass and A-List/A-List Preferred status, once you earn them, they're good for the rest of the calendar year and the whole next year.
Drawbacks and Considerations
Annual fee isn't waived the first year
Many airline cards with comparable annual fees waive the fee in the first year, but the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card offers no such break. After you're approved for the card, you'll be billed for the $99 annual fee right away.
No point transfers
With the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, you can't transfer rewards to other loyalty programs. If you're looking for more flexibility, try the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card instead. On top of a generous sign-up bonus, it also offers 1:1 transfers to several loyalty programs, including Southwest. The annual fee is $95. Just keep in mind that points earned with this card and then transferred to Southwest don't count toward the Companion Pass or A-List status.
No premium benefits
Unlike some comparable airline cards in its price range, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card doesn't offer much in the way of premium benefits. However, the airline's top-tier offering, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card comes with an array of perks, including $75 in annual travel credit and up to four upgraded boardings a year. It also has a heftier annual fee: $149.
Here's a look at how all three of the Southwest consumer cards compare:
Empty Table Header | Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card | Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card | Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card |
|---|---|---|---|
Annual fee | $149. | $99. | $69. |
Rewards on Southwest purchases | 3 points per $1 spent. | 3 points per $1 spent. | 2 points per $1 spent. |
Rewards on other spending |
| ||
Sign-up bonus | Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening. | Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening. | Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening. |
Anniversary bonus | Earn 7,500 points automatically after your cardholder anniversary each year. | Earn 6,000 points automatically after your cardholder anniversary each year. | Earn 3,000 points automatically after your cardholder anniversary each year. |
Earns tier qualifying points? | Yes (unlimited). | Yes (unlimited). | No. |
Foreign transaction fees | None. | None. | 3%. |
Boarding perks | 4 upgraded boardings per year when available. | 2 EarlyBird check-ins per year. | 2 EarlyBird check-ins per year. |
Southwest travel credit | $75 per year. | None. | None. |
See how this card compares with offerings from other airlines by checking out our top airline cards page. For other rewards card options, see our roundup of the best credit cards of all types.
How To Decide If It's Right For You
The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card isn't a good fit for infrequent travelers or those looking for more versatile rewards. But if you frequently fly on Southwest and travel abroad, it's an outstanding top-of-wallet card.
Earn bonus rewards on travel and at restaurants. Those points are worth 25% more when you redeem them for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards® portal, and you can also transfer points to partner airlines, including Southwest.
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Methodology
NerdWallet reviews credit cards with an eye toward both the quantitative and qualitative features of a card. Quantitative features are those that boil down to dollars and cents, such as fees, interest rates, rewards (including earning rates and redemption values) and the cash value of benefits and perks. Qualitative factors are those that affect how easy or difficult it is for a typical cardholder to get good value from the card. They include such things as the ease of application, simplicity of the rewards structure, the likelihood of using certain features, and whether a card is well-suited to everyday use or is best reserved for specific purchases. Our star ratings serve as a general gauge of how each card compares with others in its class, but star ratings are intended to be just one consideration when a consumer is choosing a credit card. Learn how NerdWallet rates credit cards.
