Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Bonus Offer: Earn 70% More!

Southwest is known for its customer-friendly policies, such as two free checked bags and free cancellation up to 10 minutes before takeoff. It’s also known for dropping some large welcome bonuses on its co-branded credit cards.

Case in point: Southwest’s best airline credit card, the card_name, now bonus_miles_full. That’s a 70% improvement over its previous 50,000-point bonus.

Let’s take a look at this bonus and examine why the card is valuable long after it’s been spent.

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card

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Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card

Credit score needed

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Annual fees

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Bonus rewards

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Why we like it:

Even if you cancel the Southwest Priority card down the road, you won’t lose your points, so save them for an emergency or a special occasion. This card offers you a whopping bonus towards SouthWest travel, and annual reward towards the Companion Pass, and extra points if you complete spending requirements.

Bonus increases to 85,000 points

Through June 27, 2024, the card_name comes with a welcome bonus of 85,000 points after meeting minimum spending requirements. Southwest points are typically worth 1.4 cents each toward Southwest flights. This makes the bonus worth around $1,190, about $490 more than the card’s previous bonus.

Southwest is primarily a domestic airline, serving more than 100 cities in the continental U.S. and Hawaii and a number of others in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. Its welcome bonus can drastically reduce your expenses when visiting family for the holidays or planning a tropical getaway.

It’s worth noting that Southwest points don’t expire, so there’s no rush to redeem them. Even if you cancel the Southwest Priority card down the road, you won’t lose your points, so save them for an emergency or a special occasion.

The Southwest Priority card bonus is a fast track to the Southwest Companion Pass

If you’re unacquainted with the Southwest Companion Pass, it’s widely considered to be one of the best deals in travel. Here’s how it works: For as long as the pass is valid, you can bring along a travel buddy for just the cost of taxes and fees every single time you fly Southwest. Depending on how often you travel, this could save you many thousands of dollars.

You can use the pass for the remainder of the calendar year in which you earn it, as well as for the entire following calendar year. In other words, if you were to earn it in August 2024, you could use it through December 2025. However, you’ll need to amass 135,000 qualifying Southwest points to get it.

The card_name makes this task fairly easy for three reasons. .

1. Its 85,000-point bonus counts toward the 135,000 needed points.
2. It offers an annual 10,000-point “boost” toward the Companion Pass.
3. It gives you at least 3,000 points for completing minimum spending requirements.

This leaves you with no more than 37,000 points needed to unlock the Companion Pass..

Southwest Priority Card ongoing benefits

The card_name is Southwest’s premium personal credit card, and its $149 annual fee reflects that. However, if you fly Southwest even a handful of times each year, you can easily recoup the fee.

The card comes with perks such as:

• 7,500 bonus points after each cardmember anniversary (worth around $105 in Southwest flights).
• $75 in annual Southwest travel credit, which you can use toward Southwest flights.
• 4 upgraded boardings per year (worth between $30 and $149 each, enough at the top end to pay the annual fee).
• 25% back on in-flight purchases, such as drinks and Wi-Fi.

You’ll also get elite status benefits that can help you to earn Southwest A-List status faster.

TIME Stamp: New welcome bonus is worth nearly $1,200

The card_name’s current welcome bonus offer is impressive—bonus_miles_full, a nearly $1,200 value—and that’s not all. If you fly Southwest even just a few times a year, you can squeeze an additional several hundred dollars from its ongoing benefits, including anniversary bonus points, travel credits, and upgraded boarding. Act quickly, though. The offer expires as of June 27, 2024.