Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card Review (2025.7 Update: 100k Offer; Completely Renewed and Annual Fee Increased)

     2025-07-25     2025-07-25 32 Comments

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Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card Review

2025.7 Update: This card is completely renewed, and the annual fee is increased from $149 to $229. The welcome offer is increased to 100k, which is the best ever offer on this card. The new benefits are marked with [New] below.

2025.4 Update: The higher offer is expired. Currently there’s only a 50k offer.

2024.11 Update: The new offer is 40k+$400. Offer ends on 2024.10.09. This one is not as good as the previous 85k offer.

Application Link

Benefits

  1. 100k offer: earn 100,000 Southwest Miles after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 5 months. This is the best offer on this card.
  2. We value Southwest Miles at 1.3 cents/point (Airline Miles Value), so the 100k highest offer is worth about $1,300. See A Beginner’s Guide to Southwest Miles for details about Southwest Miles.
  3. [New] Earn 4x miles per dollar spent on Southwest Airlines; Earn 2x miles per dollar spent at gas stations and restaurants; Earn 1x mile per dollar spent on all other purchases.
  4. Receive 7,500 Southwest Miles every year on your Cardmember anniversary.
  5. $75 Southwest annual travel credit (card membership year). [New] This benefit will end on Dec 31, 2025.
  6. 4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available (card membership year). The Upgraded Boardings are usually purchased in the airport, and the price is $30~$50. The Upgraded Boardings are very useful for Southwest Airlines, because unlike other airlines, in Southwest Airlines whoever get in flight first can choose any seat he/she wants. [New] This benefit will end on Dec 31, 2025.
  7. [New] First checked bag free. Cardmembers and up to 8 additional passengers in the same reservation can check their first bag at no additional cost.
  8. [New] Preferred Seat Selection at Booking, when available. If you don』t have a co-branded credit card or elite status, the lowest fare on Southwest only lets you select your seat at check-in.
  9. [New] Enjoy unlimited upgrades to an Extra Legroom seat within 48 hours prior to departure, at no additional charge, when available.
  10. [New] Cardmembers and up to 8 passengers in the same reservation will board with Group 5.
  11. [New]  Receive a 15% promo code each year on your cardmember anniversary (Excludes Basic fare).
  12. 25% back on in-flight purchases.
  13. If you earn 125k Southwest miles in a year, you get the Southwest companion pass certificate which is valid until the end of next calendar year!
  14. [New] 10,000 companion Pass qualifying points boost each year.
  15. [New] Earn 2,500 TQPs (tier qualifying points, useful towards A-List status, but not useful towards companion pass) for every $5,000 spent.
  16. No foreign transaction fee.

Disadvantages

  1. [New] Annual fee $229, NOT waived first year.
  2. Southwest doesn』t have airlines partners, so the miles can only be redeemed for Southwest Airlines itself. Southwest can only fly to the US and some central America and Caribbean countries, no further international routes.

Recommended Application Time

  1. [5/24 Rule] If you have 5 or more new accounts opened in the past 24 months, Chase will not approve your application on this card, no matter how high your credit score is. The number of new accounts includes all credit card accounts, not only Chase accounts. See this post for details about how to possibly bypass this rule.
  2. This product is available to you if you do not have any Southwest personal credit card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for any Southwest personal credit card in the past 24 months. Note that what matters here is the time you got the sign-up bonus, not the time you open the account or close the account.
  3. Don』t apply for more than 2 Chase credit cards within 30 days, or it』s highly likely that you will get rejected.
  4. We recommend you to apply for this card after you have a credit history for more than a year.

Summary

The welcome bonus is solid. When the bonuses are at their peak, applying for one personal and one business Southwest card together can earn you over 125k Southwest points—enough to unlock the Companion Pass right away. (Note: You can no longer apply for two personal Southwest cards within the same year.) If you only apply for a personal card and skip the business card, it』s actually quite hard to earn the Companion Pass. Since the Companion Pass is valid for the remainder of the year you earn it plus the entire following year, applying early in the calendar year gives you the longest possible validity. So if you』re eyeing Southwest, the beginning of the year is the best time to go for it.

Currently, you can only hold one of the three personal Southwest cards. If you don』t fly Southwest often and are just in it for the signup bonus, the Southwest Plus card—with the lowest annual fee—is your best bet.

After the 2025 refresh and annual fee increases across the Southwest lineup, there』s really not much long-term value in keeping these cards. They』re mostly just good for the welcome bonus.

Benefits before 2025.7.24

Benefits

  1. 40k+$400 offer: earn 40,000 Southwest Miles and $400 statement credit after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months. The recent best offer is 85k.
  2. We value Southwest Miles at 1.3 cents/point (Airline Miles Value), so the 85k highest offer is worth about $1,105. See A Beginner’s Guide to Southwest Miles for details about Southwest Miles.
  3. Earn 3x miles per dollar spent on Southwest Airlines. Earn 2x miles per dollar on local transit and commuting (including rideshare), Internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming, and Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner. Earn 1x mile per dollar spent on all other purchases.
  4. After each year anniversary and pay the annual fee, you will be credited 7.5k Southwest miles.
  5. $75 Southwest annual travel credit (card membership year).
  6. 4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available (card membership year). The Upgraded Boardings are usually purchased in the airport, and the price is $30~$50. The Upgraded Boardings are very useful for Southwest Airlines, because unlike other airlines, in Southwest Airlines whoever get in flight first can choose any seat he/she wants.
  7. 25% back on in-flight purchases.
  8. Earn 1,500 TQPs (tier qualifying points, useful towards A-List status, but not useful towards companion pass) for every $10,000 spent.
  9. No foreign transaction fee.
  10. If you earn 125k Southwest miles in a year, you get the Southwest companion pass certificate which is valid until the end of next calendar year!

Disadvantages

  1. Annual fee $149, NOT waived first year.
  2. Southwest doesn』t have airlines partners, so the miles can only be redeemed for Southwest Airlines itself. Southwest can only fly to the US and some central America and Caribbean countries, no further international routes.

Summary

The 85k highest sign-up bonus is good. If you apply for a personal Southwest card and a business Southwest card, both when have the highest sign-up bonus, then you will earn more than 125k Southwest miles in total, which is more than enough to get you a Companion Pass (Note that you can’t get two personal Southwest cards at the same time now). The best timing to get it is the beginning of a calendar year, because it will be valid until the end of next calendar year!

Now you can only choose one Chase Southwest personal card from the three. If you don’t fly Southwest frequently, and you just want the sign-up bonus, then the Chase Southwest Plus card with the lowest annual fee is the most suitable for you. If you fly Southwest frequently, then the Chase Southwest Priority with more benefits is better.

The value for keeping this card is good: $75 Southwest credit plus the value of 7.5k Southwest miles are more than the $149 annual fee already. The 4 Upgraded Boardings per year is also very useful for frequent Southwest flyers, because unlike other airlines, in Southwest Airlines whoever get in flight first can choose any seat he/she wants.

Related Credit Cards

 Chase Southwest PlusChase Southwest PremierChase Southwest PriorityChase Southwest Premier BusinessChase Southwest Performance Business
Annual Fee$99$149$229$149$299
Annual Miles3,0006,0007,5006,0009,000
Best Sign-up Bonus100k100k100k60k80k

The current terms basically force you to choose only one personal Southwest credit card among the three. But you can have both personal and business cards.

Recommended Downgrade Options

  • You can not downgrade this card to any card with no annual fee, so I suggest you close it when you don』t want to keep it any longer.

After Applying

  • Call 800-436-7927 to check Chase application status. This is an automated telephone line, and the information has the following meanings: Receive decision in 2 weeks means your application is probably approved; Receive decision in 7-10 days means your application is probably rejected; Receive decision in 30 days simply means your application requires further review and there’s nothing to tell you for now.
  • Chase reconsideration backdoor number: 888-270-2127 or 888-609-7805. Call it if you didn』t get approve immediately. Your personal information will be acquired and they will then review it. You seldom answer questions, instead, just enjoy the music and then you get approved or rejected, or further information is needed to be hand in to the branch or faxed.

Historical Offers Chart

Note: Sometimes there is 50k+50k offer on this card. But the spending requirement for the latter 50k is huge, so we don』t treat them as sign-up bonus, we treat them as spending bonus instead.

Application Link

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