Update: One or more card offers in this post are no longer available. Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers.
Thanks to Million Mile Secrets reader Gaurav for letting us know that all 4 versions of the Chase Southwest credit cards now have a 50,000 point sign-up bonus after you complete the minimum spending!
You can get ~$710 in Southwest flights or $500 in gift cards with the 50,000 point bonus from the Chase Southwest Premier (personal), Chase Southwest Premier (business), Chase Southwest Plus (personal), and Chase Southwest Plus (business) cards.
These cards don’t always have such a high bonus. And because all 4 cards are offering 50,000 points right now, it’s a good time for folks who might be thinking about getting the Southwest Companion Pass to apply! I’ll explain why!
What’s the Deal?
Link: Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
Link: Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card
Link: Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
Link: Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Business Credit Card
Link: How to Fill Out a Chase Business Credit Card Application
You’ll get 50,000 Southwest points after you spend $2,000 in the 1st 3 months with all 4 of the Southwest cards. You’ll also get 2 points per $1 you spend on Southwest, hotel partner, car rental partner, and point purchase, and 1 point per $1 you spend on everything else.
Here’s a summary of the differences between the Premier and Plus versions of the card:
| Southwest Premier Card | Southwest Premier Business Card | Southwest Plus 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 |
| Anniversary Points | 6,000 | 6,000 | 3,000 |
| Foreign Transaction Fees | None | None | 3% |
| Annual Fee | $99 | $99 | $69 |
Emily and I receive a commission for only 1 of these links, but we’ll always tell you about the other best offers!
In the past, Chase has restricted cardholders to getting 1 bonus per card, per lifetime. But that’s changed! Their new terms and conditions say:
This bonus offer is available to you as long as you have not received a new cardmember bonus for this product in the past 24 months.
That’s great news for folks like Emily and me, because it means we can apply for these cards again and earn another Southwest Companion Pass!
Good Timing for the Southwest Companion Pass
Link: Southwest Companion Pass Timing
I’ve always said that the Southwest Companion Pass is the best deal for domestic travel, because it lets you fly a companion with you for almost free on both paid and award tickets. To get the Companion Pass, you need to earn 110,000 Southwest points in a calendar year.
The best way is to apply for the card now, but make sure you complete the minimum spending in 2015, so that the points post to your account in 2015 – which will get you the Companion Pass for close to two years!
If you apply for 2 Southwest credit cards (personal and business), you’ll earn 104,000 points (including points from meeting minimum spending). And there are lots of ways to easily earn the last 6,000 points you need for the Companion Pass!
If don’t think you’re eligible for a business card, read my post about ways you might qualify!
I’ve written that the best time to apply for these cards is late in the year, because you can complete the minimum spending and have the bonus post to your Southwest account early in the New Year.
The timing is important! If all the points post to your account early in 2015, your Companion Pass will be valid until December 31, 2016! That’s almost 2 years of Big Travel with Small Money!
Remember, each of the Southwest cards is considered a different card product, so you can get a personal and business card at the same time.
Bottom Line
All 4 versions of the Chase Southwest credit cards are offering a 50,000 point sign-up bonus after you spend $2,000 in the 1st 3 months. That’s worth ~$710 in Southwest flights!
The deal is even sweeter if you apply for 2 cards (personal and business), because you’ll earn most of the points necessary for the Southwest Companion Pass.
If you time it right, your companion could with you for almost free on both paid and award tickets until December 31, 2016!
And if you’ve had these cards in the past, Chase has changed the rules. You could qualify for them again as long as you haven’t gotten the card bonus in the past 24 months.
Will you try to earn your Companion Pass in early 2015?
Hi, hoping you can help – I did this ALL wrong and I’m at 85,000 points right now (9/25/15) – statement closes 10/4 and I expect to be around 89,000 – what ways can I get to 110,000 before statement close of 12/4…I’d like to at least get a one year companion pass. What items are double companion points – if friends get the card, does the 5,000 points go to companion as well as rapid rewards? I think with my normal spending, I will be around 100,000 points by the end 🙁 (oh and if I book a cruise balance for Royal Carribean next month, is that double points? Please help!!
(Same poster as the Jessica above) — Just got my companion pass from earlier! I can confirm that at least for right now for this 50k deal that was running through February, you can sign up for both personal cards (SW Premier Personal and SW Plus Personal) and BOTH sign up bonuses post to the RR account on file as long as they are in the same name and RR #.
I now have 118,000 and my husband will be flying for free until January 2017. It’s amazing! I converted my Best Western points -> 5,000 SW points, but it looks like I didn’t even need it.
One thing I didn’t know was that you can change your companion up to THREE TIMES by calling up Southwest during the period where the companion pass is still valid (for me, 3 times until January 2017). After the third time, they will not allow any more changes to the pass.
@Kristina my understanding is that this deal (the 50k signup bonus) has occurred periodically at least once or twice a year for the past few years. I would suspect that it will come back in the fall. Keep your eyes peeled 🙂
I am just now seeing this and so wish I would have done this-I see now they’re only offering 25k sign bonus-do they do the 50 frequently or just at the end of the year. So annoyed I missed this!!!!
@Jessica
Don’t forget their $2,000 spend on each card counts towards the 110,000, so they’d only need 6,000 points each to reach 110,000 (50,000 bonus + 2,000 spend = 52,000 points per card)
Starting February 3rd through February 28, Choice Hotels is adding 30% bonus points to your purchase. Buy 20,000 points and get 6,000 extra.