Can You Open 3 Chase Southwest Cards or Combine Points to Get the Companion Pass?

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Million Mile Secrets reader, Jon, commented:

Is it possible to sign-up for the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card AND Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, then have your spouse sign-up for the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card (or another personal card) and link them all to one Southwest loyalty account so you can get 150,000 Southwest points?  Because someone said it is almost impossible for one person to get approved for all 3 cards.

Excellent question!  Unfortunately, you can NOT link someone else’s credit card to your Southwest loyalty account because the names must match.

And transferring Southwest points from someone else’s account into yours won’t count toward the Southwest Companion Pass.

Can You Open 3 Chase Southwest Cards Or Combine Points To Get The Companion Pass
Want to Fly With a Companion? You Can Open 2 Chase Southwest Cards and Earn Nearly Enough Points for the Southwest Companion Pass. Or, You Could Try for Three. But There Are Some Things to Keep in Mind!

You could try to open all 3 cards yourself.  I’ll help you make the best decision!

Earn 50,000 Southwest Points With the Chase Southwest Cards

Link:   Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card

Link:   Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card

Link:   Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card

Right now, you can earn 50,000 Southwest points on all 3 Chase Southwest cards when you spend $2,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of opening your account.

I don’t know how long these increased bonuses will last.

All Southwest cards earn 2 points per $1 spent on Southwest, hotel partners, car rental partners, and points purchases.  And 1 point per $1 spent on everything else.

But keep in mind, the annual fees on the Premier and Plus versions of the card are different.  And only the Premier cards have no foreign transaction fees.

Here are the differences between the cards:

Southwest Premier CardSouthwest Premier Business CardSouthwest Plus CardSouthwest Priority Card
Spending• 2X Southwest points with Southwest and Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases
• 1X Southwest points on all other purchases
• 2X Southwest points with Southwest and Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases
• 1X Southwest points on all other purchases
• 2X Southwest points with Southwest and Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases
• 1X Southwest points on all other purchases
• 2X points per $1 spent on Southwest purchases and Rapid Rewards car and hotel purchases
• 1X points per $1 on all other purchases
Anniversary Points6,0006,0003,0007,500
Foreign Transaction FeesNoneNone3%None
Annual Fee$99$99$69$149

Can You Get All Three?

Link:   How to Fill Out a Chase Business Card Application

Chase will typically NOT approve folks for more than 2 cards in 30 days.  So if you want to try to open 3 Chase cards, it’s best to space them out.

Can You Open 3 Chase Southwest Cards Or Combine Points To Get The Companion Pass
It’s Possible to Get 3 Chase Cards, but It Requires Careful Planning

And, it’s unlikely Chase will approve you for ANY of their cards if you’ve been approved for more than 5 cards from any bank in the previous 24 months.

That said, Chase has been known to approve folks for 6 or 7 cards.  I currently have 4 Chase cards.  And Emily has 5.

Each Southwest card is considered a different card product, so you can open more than one.  But keep in mind, you will NOT earn the bonus if you have the same card already open, or received a bonus for it in the past 24 months.

If you decide to apply for the Chase Southwest Premier small business card, here’s how to put in an application.

More Ways to Get the Southwest Companion Pass

It sounds like Jon is trying to earn the Southwest Companion Pass, which is the best deal in domestic travel.  Because a partner can fly with you on any paid OR award flight – with no limit to how many times you can use it!  To earn it, you need to accumulate 110,000 Southwest points within a calendar year.

Jon’s plan to connect one of his spouse’s Chase Southwest cards to his account wouldn’t work because the names on both accounts must match.  And transferring the points from one account to another won’t work, either.

Can You Open 3 Chase Southwest Cards Or Combine Points To Get The Companion Pass
Two Chase Southwest Cards Get You ~95% of the Way Toward the Southwest Companion Pass. But There Are Lots of Ways to Hit the Mark of 110,000 Southwest Points!

If you apply for 2 Southwest credit cards and spend $2,000 on each of them, you’ll have 104,000 points out of the 110,000 points needed for the Southwest Companion Pass.

So you need an extra 6,000 Companion Pass qualifying points to earn the Companion Pass.  Of course, you can spend $6,000 on your Chase Southwest credit cards.

And here are 10 other ideas for earning the rest of the points you’ll need.

Be sure to check out my Southwest Companion Pass guide because it might answer your questions about what will (and won’t!) work to make it yours.

Bottom Line

Right now, you can earn 50,000 Southwest points on the Chase Southwest Premier (Personal), Chase Southwest Premier (Small Business), and Chase Southwest Plus cards when you spend $2,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of opening your account.

Two of these cards get you most of the way toward the Southwest Companion Pass, which is the best deal in domestic travel.

You can NOT link someone else’s Chase Southwest card to your loyalty account.  And transferring points between accounts doesn’t count toward the Companion Pass, either.  But there are lots of ways to earn the extra points you’ll need!

Jon, I hope this helps you make your plans!

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