Signing up for a Southwest credit card is one of the easiest ways to earn a lot of Southwest points quickly so you can take even more flights. Southwest credit cards are also a huge help when it comes to earning a Southwest Companion Pass, and they give you a free checked bag for everyone in your reservation!

This post is a roundup of all the Southwest cards so you can easily compare and contrast the options. We’ll show you a breakdown of all the benefits and annual fees to help you pick the card that’s right for you.

Looking for more information on the Southwest Companion Pass? We have a whole module dedicated to it in our free course. Find it here.

Updates July 2025:

As of July 24, 2025 — fees have raised on all Southwest cards. Benefits have been lost as well, starting in 2026.

Starting July 29 for flights on or after January 27, 2026 — Southwest card holders will have benefits releated to picking assigned seats. Benefits vary per card and are explained below.

Updates May 2025:

All Southwest credit cardholders will get one free checked bag for each member in their party who is booked on the same reservation (up to 8 people).

Key Updates July 2025

As of July 24, 2025, all of the Southwest credit cards have higher annual fees for new customers. Existing customers will have the same annual fee through the end of 2025. Any card renewals in 2026 will have the higher annual fee.

The following benefits are being dropped from these cards starting in 2026:

• Upgraded Boarding and Early Bird Check In credits. This makes sense since Southwest’s boarding process is changing. Though it still leaves a gap of nearly a month (from January 1-26) where cardholders have neither these previous benefits nor the assigned seating benefits.
• The $75 statement credit for purchases at Southwest.com for the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card ($149 annual fee, Terms Apply). This is straight up a significant devaluation for this card.
• The 365 Wi-Fi credits on the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card ($199 annual fee, Terms Apply). This card was already had an unreasonably high annual fee in my opinion. Now it’s $100 higher and for what?
• The $500/year fee credit for points transfers on the business cards. This benefit also had a way that households could earn an extra 2000 points to help qualify for the Companion Pass.

The following benefits are being added:

• Assigned seating perks. We already knew this was coming from Southwest’s press releases earlier this year.
• One free checked bag for cardholder + up to 8 people on the reservation. Chase is trying to pass this off as a new benefit but overall this is still a loss for Southwest customers who previously had two bags flying free before Southwest’s policy changes.
• Lower annual fee cards are getting a 10% or 15% coupon on their account anniversary. This can’t be used on Basic Fares.
• Cards are getting some new bonus spend categories (varies by card), but it’s only 2x. Still might help with some Companion Pass points earning.
• It’s slightly easier to earn A-List through spending on the highest annual fee cards, but the A-List benefits aren’t that much better than what those higher fee cards give you

Strategy Tips: Existing Cardholders

Existing cardholders should not immediately go and cancel their cards.

You will not immediately have to pay the higher annual fees. If you have a card renewal before January 1, 2026, you’re lucky. That’s because your card will renew one more time at the annual fee you currently have. Which means you get an additional year at a lower annual fee.

Overall these are my tips:

1. Keep your card through December 31, 2025 — unless you’re planning to cancel it to reapply and earn a Companion Pass.
2. Use as many benefits in 2025 as you can.
3. When your annual fee renews in 2026 — call and ask for a retention offer and explain that you’re very dissatisfied with these new fees and loss of benefits. The agents might be able to offer you extra points or a partial fee credit to keep the card.
4. Watch and observe. We just don’t know enough about how the assigned seating benefits will work in practice. Will being able to pick assigned seats 48 hours in advance be plenty of time to get seats together as a family? Will it be necessary to pick seats at booking? It’s too hard to judge which benefits are necessary and we can’t even start to know until January. We won’t have a complete sense until it’s been a couple months at least.
5. In 2026, you might decide to keep the card, downgrade your card, upgrade your card — 0r cancel altogether. There are a lot of factors for each person to weigh. We try to make that easier with our benefit calculators in our Southwest Card Guide.

Also note that cancelling cards will now complicate seating. If you book a flight while you hold a Priority card pick your seats — and then cancel the card, your seats will be released. This means that if you’re planning to cancel cards in order to apply again (especially if you’re going to try to earn a Companion Pass) — you’ll need to tread cautiously if you have flights booked with assigned seats.

Strategy Tips: Companion Pass

We’re currently updating all our Companion Pass guides and resources to give you the best and most accurate information for your strategy with all these new factors. The best way to stay informed is to be on our mailing list.

The only silver lining right now is that the newly released 100,000 point offers on the personal cards give a 5 month window for spending to earn the bonus. That means they are usable for trying to earn a 2026-2027 Companion Pass if you can be very careful about your spending timing.

Which Southwest Card Is Best?

Previously I thought the Priority card was clearly the best Southwest card and a great overall value. Somehow Chase has managed to gut this card while raising the annual fee. And it didn’t even get some of the new benefits that the lower fee cards get.

Now I think the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card and the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card offer about the same value as each other — with the Premier having a slight edge.

The Plus will give you the lowest out of pocket costs at $99 (terms apply). And on cardmember anniversary you’ll get 3000 anniversary points each year (that’s worth about $45 in flights) and a 10% coupon (not valid on Basic flights). And at least you’ll get to pick Standard seats 48 hours in advance, which puts you ahead of anyone who booked a Basic fare.

The Premier card costs you $149 each year (terms apply). But on your cardmember anniversary you’ll get 6000 anniversary points — that’s worth about $90 in flights. You’ll also get a 15% off coupon on your anniversary (not valid on Basic fares). And then you’ll get the additional option of picking Preferred or Standard seats 48 ours in advance. Effectively when you value the anniversary points, I think the Premier card costs $5 more — and I think that $5 is worth it for having more seats to pick from.

The Priority card is now $229 (terms apply) and is now only worth it if you really value being able to pick your seats right at the time of booking and want to hope for Extra Legroom seats 48 hours in advance. Oddly the Priority card doesn’t include any anniversary coupon like the lower annual fee cards do!

Key Differences Between Cards

All cards include the same baggage benefits — one free bag for the cardholders and up to 8 people on the same reservation.

But each card has notable differences. Information on what is included is in the details section for each card below.

The most notable differences on the Southwest cards are

• Annual fee
• Whether they offer credits for Upgraded Boarding or Early Bird Check In (through Jan 2026)
• The number of anniversary points you earn
• Whether they earn a promo code on account anniversary
• Welcome offers
• What type of seat you can select for free, and when you can reserve a seat (for flights January 27, 2026 and onward)

Annual Fees

Annual fees range from $99 to $299 on Southwest cards. Annual fees were raised on all the cards in July 2025.

Seating Perks (Assigned Seats, Upgraded Boarding, Early Bird Check In)

These benefits are in a transition period.

Some of these cards come with Upgraded Boarding and others with Early Bird Check In. These benefits will be valid through the end of 2025.

Upgraded Boarding can only be used 24 hours or less before your flight departs. If the A1-A15 slots are still available at that time, you can upgrade to those boarding positions and get on the plane as one of the first passengers. This is only valid for one segment of your flight but has the potential to give you a very good boarding position for that flight. So if I was going Chicago to LAX with a stop in Denver — my upgraded boarding would only get me A1-15 on one of those flights. Read our full guide here.

Early Bird Check In is different. It automatically checks you in for your flight 36 hours in advance. This will generally give you an earlier boarding position. Read our full guide here.

Starting July 29, 2025 for flights booked for travel January 27, 2026 or later — these cards all have different assigned seating benefits.

Some offer the opportunity to pick assigned seats at booking for yourself and up to 8 other people flying with you. Others let you pick assigned seats just 48 hours before departure.

Anniversary Points

Each card also earns points on your cardmember anniversary. Southwest points vary in value but generally offer about 1.2-1.5 cents per point. That means 3000 anniversary points will get you a flight that costs $36-$45.

On the higher fee cards, you’ll earn more anniversary points. If you earn 7500 anniversary points, that will get you about $90-$112 of Southwest flights.

Even if you only plan to hold the cards for one year, you’ll still have a chance to earn anniversary points! This is outlined in the Southwest module of our free course in the lesson about how to cancel your cards for maximum value. Sign up here..

Welcome Offers

The offers are typically exactly the same on each of the three personal cards. So when it comes to making a decision, it’s just about comparing the annual fee and the benefits.

The business cards have offers that are different from each other. So when opening a business card, you’ll need to weigh the total offer, alongside the annual fee and benefits.

Personal Credit Cards

Southwest offers three different personal credit cards. They vary in the perks and benefits they offer.

Standard benefits for all of the cards include:

• One free checked bag for up to eight people traveling on the same reservation (starting for flights booked on or after May 28, 2025)
• Delayed baggage insurance
• Lost luggage reimbursement
• Auto rental collision damage waiver
• Purchase protection
• Extended warranty protection
• Travel accident insurance
• Earn extra points per dollar on Southwest purchases

Welcome offers for the personal cards are generally the same for all three cards at any given time but the offer itself can vary a lot throughout the year. It’s common to see elevated offers towards the end of the year. Higher point welcome offers usually come with higher minimum spends. In winter, there is often an offer that includes the ability to earn a companion pass with just one card.

If you’re hoping to earn a Companion Pass, be sure to check out the Southwest Companion Pass Bootcamp module in our free course.

Plus Card ($99 annual fee)

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card

Annual Fee: $99 Terms Apply.

Key Benefits:

• 2 early bird check-ins per year through 2025
• 3,000 points per year on your card member anniversary
• Select a standard seat within 48 hours of departure on any fare (coming July 29 for flights on/after Jan 27)
• 25% back on in-flight purchases
• 2x points on Southwest purchases
• 2X at Gas stations and Grocery stores on the first $5,000 in combined purchases per year
• 10% promo code each year on card member anniversary
• No foreign transaction fee

Our Take: This card offers the lowest annual fee of any Southwest credit card and overall still

Premier Card ($149 annual fee)

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card

Priority Card ($229 annual fee)

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card

Annual Fee: $229 – Terms Apply.

Key Benefits:

• $75 annual travel credit for Southwest purchases
• 4 upgraded boardings per year
• 7,500 points per year on your card member anniversary
• Select a standard or preferred seat at booking, on any fare. Upgrade to extra legroom within 48 hours of departure on any fare (coming July 29 for flights on/after Jan 27)
• 25% back on in-flight purchases
• 3x points on Southwest purchases

Our Take:

Business Credit Cards

Business credit cards are a useful part of an overall credit card strategy. You don’t need to have a large business or an LLC to get a business credit card.

Small businesses and side hustles also count as a business! Things like selling items on Facebook marketplace, tutoring, babysitting, consulting, and selling on Etsy all qualify you for a business credit card.

To learn more about business cards and how to apply, check out our post on business credit cards.

Southwest offers two different business credit cards. The offers on these are more consistent throughout the year than on the personal card offers but they do still vary at times.

(Ending) Perk Exclusive to Business Cards: Transfer Points for Free

Update: This perk is now being discontinued as of December 31, 2025.

Both business cards have offered a niche perk, which is that you can get reimbursed for the fees you incur when you transfer points to another Southwest Rapid Rewards member. You can get reimbursed for up to $500 per year. Most people won’t need to transfer Southwest points because you can use your Southwest points to book a flight for anyone. But! If you transfer 50,000 points, and it costs $500 — you’ll also earn 2,000 points in the process. That’s because this is a purchase on Southwest.com, where you earn 3-4 points per dollar.

This is a small amount of points, but can be helpful if you’re trying to top off your earnings for a Companion Pass.

Premier Business ($99 annual fee)

Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card

Performance Business ($299 annual fee)

Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card

Annual Fee: $299 – Terms Apply.

Key Benefits:

• 4 upgraded boardings per year
• Free in-flight wifi
• 9,000 points per year on your card member anniversary
• Select a standard or preferred seat at booking, on any fare. Upgrade to extra legroom within 48 hours of departure on any fare (coming July 29 for flights on/after Jan 27)
• Global Entry or TSA Pre√ Credit.
• 4x points on Southwest purchases
• $500 Fee credit for points transfers

Our Take:

This card has no foreign transaction fees.

Table Comparing Southwest Personal Cards

Table Comparing Southwest Business Cards

Southwest Card Eligibility

There are a few eligibility rules to be aware of. Here is a breakdown for you.

The 5/24 Rule

Chase has something that the points and miles world likes to call the “5/24 rule”. What this means is that if you have opened 5 cards in the last 24 months (from any issuer), Chase likely won’t approve you for any of their credit cards, including the Southwest cards.

Most business cards don’t count towards that 5 (though there are some exceptions). Being added as an authorized user to a personal card does count.

Holding Multiple Southwest Cards

You are only allowed to have one Southwest personal card account open at a time.

You can hold a business card and a personal card at the same time.

You’re also allowed to hold both of the business cards at the same time. You cannot hold multiples of the same Southwest business card, even for a different business.

The 24 Months Rule

Personal Cards: You can earn a bonus on a Southwest personal card once every 24 months. If it’s been less than 24 months since you earned a bonus on any Southwest personal card, you won’t be eligible to earn a bonus on another Southwest personal card. Even if it’s a different card than you held previously.

The 24 months is calculated from when you earned the bonus, not when you signed up for the card. If you’re not sure when you last earned a bonus on a Southwest personal card, you can call Chase and ask. They’ll be able to tell you over the phone.

Business cards: You’re eligible to receive a sign up bonus on a business card as long as you haven’t earned the bonus for that particular card in the last 24 months. It’s okay if you’ve earned a bonus on a different Southwest business card within that 24 month window.