You can earn a Southwest 80,000 point bonus!
While most of 2020 was a letdown for travelers, good news and holiday cheer are spreading fast. Starting with the World of Hyatt slashing elite requirements and now with Southwest offering 80,000 points on all three of their personal travel rewards cards.
Update: The credit card offer in this post is no longer available. The new offer is 50,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months of opening your account. Check our credit card page for the latest offers.
The Southwest cards are great for any type of travel: solo travel, couple travel, and family travel.
The timing of this offer is perfect. Because you can leverage and travel hack this offer to two years of free flights!
Highest Ever: Southwest 80,000 Point Bonus Now 50,000 Points
The easiest way to travel hack free flights and travel for free is credit card bonuses. Specifically, big bonuses like the one being offered on the Southwest credit cards.
All three personal Southwest credit cards are offering an 80,000 point bonus: this offer has ended. The new offer is 50,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
- Southwest Rapid Rewards(R) Priority Credit Card
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
This is the highest bonus ever offered on the Southwest cards. Chase saves the big bonus offers for this time of the year.
Which is great news for you! Because you can take advantage of earning lots of points and two years of free flights.
Because this is a tiered offer, let’s look at each of these cards to find the right credit card for you.
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card 50K Points
Southwest Rapid Rewards(R) Priority Credit Card Bonus: Earn 50,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.
Benefits of this card include:
- $75 Southwest® travel credit each year
- Free checked bags (2 per person)
- 4 upgraded boarding each year
- 10,000 Companion Pass® qualifying points boost every year
- 7,500 points each year on your card anniversary
- 3X points on Southwest® purchases
- 2X points on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partner purchases, rideshare, transit and commuting, internet, cable, phone, and certain streaming
- 1X point on all other purchases
- 1,500 tier qualifying points towards A-List and A-List Preferred status for every $10,000 spend (up to $100,000)
- 25% back on in-flight purchases
- All points earned from this card count toward the Southwest Companion Pass
- No foreign transaction fees
- Member FDIC
Who should get this card: if you fly Southwest often.
If Southwest is your preferred airline, the Southwest Rapid Rewards(R) Priority Credit Card is worth getting because of the 4 upgraded boarding passes and the $75 travel credit
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SOUTHWEST RAPID REWARDS® PRIORITY CREDIT CARD
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card 50K Points
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card Bonus: Earn 50,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months of opening your account.
With the Southwest Premier Credit Cardyou get:
- 2 free EarlyBird Check-in® each year
- Free checked bags (2 per person)
- 10,000 Companion Pass® qualifying points boost every year
- 6,000 points each year on your card anniversary
- 3X points on Southwest® purchases
- 2X points on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partner purchases, rideshare, transit and commuting, internet, cable, phone, and certain streaming
- 1X point on all other purchases
- All points earned from this card count toward the Southwest Companion Pass
- Earn up to 15,000 tier qualifying points each year
- No foreign transaction fees
- Member FDIC
Why you should get this card: you like flying Southwest and you want to avoid the middle seat.
Because you earn tier qualifying points towards A-List and A-List preferred status you’re more likely to get an “A” or “B” boarding pass. And you’ll get 2 EarlyBird Check-ins each year!
Plus, you can get a free flight or two, even three with the yearly 6,000 bonus points.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SOUTHWEST RAPID REWARDS® PREMIER CREDIT CARD
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card 50K Points
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card Bonus: Earn 50,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months of opening your account.
The Southwest Plus Credit Card offers:
- 2 free EarlyBird Check-in® each year
- Free checked bags (2 per person)
- 10,000 Companion Pass® qualifying points boost every year
- 2X points on Southwest® purchases, Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partner purchases, rideshare, transit and commuting, internet, cable, phone, and certain streaming
- 1X point on all other purchases
- 3,000 points each year on your card anniversary
- All points earned from this card count toward the Southwest Companion Pass
- Member FDIC
Why you should get this card: you want a card with a low annual fee and earns Southwest points.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SOUTHWEST RAPID REWARDS® PLUS CREDIT CARD
Two Years of Free Flights
You can get two years of free flights to places like Hawaii
If you want to fly free for two years to Hawaii, Belize, the Caribbean, and many places in the United States, now is the perfect time to get a Southwest credit card.
Because the bonus counts towards earning the Southwest Companion Pass, the 30,000 point bonus and the Companion Pass can get you a Southwest Companion Pass!
Update: The credit card offer in this post is no longer available. The new offer is 50,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.
Southwest Companion Pass
The Companion Pass lets your companion fly for free every time you fly on Southwest. Southwest flies to 105 cities in the United States including Hawaii and to 10 countries.
By timing it right, you can fly free for two years!
And that time is now!
When you have a Companion Pass you can use it as often or as little as you like. Your buddy gets unlimited flights when they fly with you!
Yep, unlimited. No ifs, ands, buts, or blackout dates.
Fly every day, fly on the weekends, fly on holidays, you book it, you fly it.
To get a Companion Pass, you need to earn 135,000 Southwest points in a calendar year.
But with this offer, you earn the Southwest Companion Pass after you meet your minimum spending.
Pro-tip: Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred from cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card do not count towards the Pass.
Earn a Southwest Companion Pass Fast
You can earn a Southwest Companion Pass fast by getting one of the personal cards and the business card. This is how most people do this normally.
But now, you can earn the Southwest Companion Pass with only one personal card!
The bonus on all three personal cards is 80,000 points. This offer has ended. The new offer is 50,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.
The bonus on the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card is 60,000 points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening. Or 80,000 points for the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card when you spend $5,000 on purchases during your first 3 months of having the card.
To get the most out of your Pass, you have to time it right.
Right now, the timing is perfect.
A Southwest Companion Pass is valid for the year it’s earned and all of the following year. So the trick is to earn your Pass early in the year.
Here’s how…
Getting a personal card for the 50,000 points and a business card (if you have a qualifying small business) for the 80,000 points gives you a total of 136,000 points.
Points from the new card bonus and credit card purchases count towards the Companion Pass in the year they’re earned.
Pro-tip: Wait to start or complete your minimum spending until the last few days of December or the first week of January.
If you wait until the last part of December or the first part of January to use your card, your points should post in 2021. Check your statement close date to verify.
Waiting until the start of the year for points to post guarantees that all your points will be earned in the same calendar year. Earning your points in January or the first couple of months means your Pass is valid for almost two years.
Your Southwest Companion Pass will be valid for all 2021 and 2022 = two years.
Be sure to read the ultimate guide on how to earn Southwest points without flying. You’ll learn lots of easy ways to earn Companion Pass qualifying points.
Is the Tiered Bonus Worth It?
Depending on your situation, the tiered bonus may not be worth it.
All three personal cards had the same tiered bonus offer: earn 50,000 points when spending $2,000 in purchases in the first 3 months. Earn an extra 50,000 points after spending a total of $12,000 in purchases in the first 9 months.
Update: The credit card offer in this post is no longer available. The new offer is 50,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months of opening your account.
You can quickly meet your minimum spending for the 50,000 points by Christmas shopping and/or paying bills. Or by using these unusual ways to meet minimum spending.
Chase can and may look at your purchases, especially when trying to meet minimum spending on a new card.
This is my favorite way to earn unlimited miles and points.
Pro-tip: All your purchases have to post in January to take full advantage of two years of free flights with the Southwest Companion Pass.
If You Have a Business
If you have a business you can almost earn Southwest Companion Pass without the tiered offer.
By getting the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card and one of the personal cards and satisfying the minimum spending requirement, you’d earn 120,000 points. (30,000 points and the Companion Pass+ 5,000 points + 80,000 points + 5,000 points)
You would earn a Companion Pass.
If you want to earn more points, you can use one of the tricks in our ultimate guide on earning Southwest points without flying.
Pro-tip: Focus on bonus point offers like dining to earn 10,000 points faster.
If You Don’t Have a Business
If you don’t have a business, you might not qualify for the small business card. You still need 25,000 points for the Companion Pass.
As mentioned there are lots of easy ways to earn Southwest points.
Or you can watch this video
Pro-tip: You can’t pool or share points to earn a Southwest Companion Pass.
Don’t have someone to travel with? It might make sense to skip the tiered offer. But it could still be worth getting the Southwest Priority Credit Card,Southwest Premier Credit Card, or the Southwest Plus Credit Card, and spending $1,000 to earn 50,000 points.
What You Should Know
Eligibility
Not everyone can get a Southwest card. You are eligible to apply for these cards if you:
- Don’t have a Southwest credit card
- Have not received a bonus from a Southwest card in the last 24 months
Chase 5/24
All of the Southwest cards are subject to Chase’s 5/24 rule.
If you have opened 5 new credit cards in the past 24 months (5/24), it could be hard to get approved. And with the current economic situation may be even harder to get approved.
Conclusion
Southwest was offering 80,000 point bonus on the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, and the Southwest Plus Credit Card. The new offer is 50,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months.
This is the highest bonus offered on these cards. Now is the best time to apply for one of those cards if you want to get two years of free flights with the Southwest Companion Pass.
Because the bonus counts, you can quickly earn a Pass when you get a personal and business card.
But Ultimate Rewards points transferred from cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card don’t count towards earning the Pass.
Where will 50,000 points take you?
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