Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card
- Best for: Southwest flyers who book at least one trip a year and want Preferred seats
- What Sets It Apart: 6,000 anniversary points, double the Plus’s 3,000; free Preferred seats within 48 hours of departure; a 15% fare discount code each year
- Cost: $149 annual fee; no foreign transaction fees; 19.49% to 27.99% variable APR
- Features: 55,000 bonus points after $1,500 in purchases in 3 months; 3 points per $1 on Southwest; 2 per $1 on the first $8,000 a year at grocery stores and restaurants; free first checked bag and Group 5 boarding for you and up to 8 companions
- Pros: Anniversary points worth about $84 at NerdWallet’s 1.4-cent estimate; $90 saved per traveler on a round trip with a $45 first-bag fee; Preferred seats the Plus doesn’t offer
- Cons: $50 more a year than the $99 Plus for the same bag and boarding perks; no seat choice until 48 hours before departure; no lounge access; no edge over the Plus toward elite status from 2027
Choose the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Card over the Plus if you fly Southwest every year. Its extra 3,000 anniversary points, worth about $42, cover all but $8 of the $50 it costs over the Plus. That $8 a year buys a 15% fare discount instead of 10% and free seats near the front when available.
Chase’s Premier sits between Southwest’s $99 Plus and $229 Priority cards. It suits travelers who fly Southwest a few times a year, check bags, and care where they sit.
Key Features
- $149 annual fee and no foreign transaction fees
- 19.49% to 27.99% variable APR, the interest rate on balances you carry
- 55,000 bonus points after $1,500 in purchases in the first three months, then 6,000 each card anniversary
- 3 points per $1 on Southwest purchases, 2 per $1 on the first $8,000 spent each anniversary year at grocery stores and restaurants, and 1 per $1 elsewhere
- A free first checked bag and Group 5 boarding for you and up to 8 companions on your reservation
Pros
- Points worth about 1.4 cents each by NerdWallet’s estimate, so the welcome bonus is worth about $770 and each anniversary bonus about $84
- $90 saved per traveler on a round trip where the first checked bag would cost $45 each way
- Free Preferred seats near the front, which the Plus doesn’t offer
- A yearly code for 15% off a flight’s base fare, good on every fare type but Basic, Southwest’s lowest
Cons
- A $149 fee, $50 more than the $99 Plus, which has the same bag and boarding perks
- No seat choice until 48 hours before departure, and only while seats remain
- No edge over the Plus toward elite status or Companion Pass trips from January 1, 2027, when every Southwest card starts earning 1 tier qualifying point per $1
- No lounge access, though a new premium Southwest card launching in 2027 will include access to the airline’s first lounges
- Not available if you hold a personal Southwest card or earned a personal Southwest card’s welcome bonus in the past 24 months
Get the Premier if you’ll fly Southwest every year and use more than the free bag, which the $99 Plus also covers. Pay the Priority’s $229, $80 more than the Premier’s $149, only if choosing seats at booking and Extra Legroom upgrades are worth that much to you.
Editorial & Advertiser Disclosure: The editorial content on this page is not provided, commissioned, reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser. Opinions expressed here are ours alone, not those of any advertiser. The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. That compensation may influence which products we cover and where and how they appear on a page – including the order in which they appear – but it does not influence our evaluations, ratings, or opinions. We do not include every company or offer available in the marketplace.
Related:
