Southwest Q2 News Round Up: New Routes and a Brand New Credit Card

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INSIDER SECRET: The points you earn from Southwest credit card spending (including the sign-up bonus) count toward earning a Southwest Companion Pass.

These past few months Southwest has not only announced their regular schedule extension and route changes, but they also introduced a brand new business credit card— the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card.

Southwest Q2 News

This quarter Southwest extended their flight schedule through the holidays to January 5, 2020.

Southwest is adding a nonstop flights between Baltimore/Washington and Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina and resuming seasonal flights from Austin to Cancun on November 3, 2019.

In additional, Southwest is starting nonstop Boston to Fort Lauderdale flights on Saturdays beginning November 9, 2019, and resuming these seasonal flights:

• Houston and Aruba
• Nashville and Cancun
• Milwaukee and Cancun
• San Antonio and Cancun
• Baltimore and Liberia, Costa Rica
• Baltimore and San Jose, Costa Rica
• Denver and Belize
• Chicago (MDW) and Cabo San Lucas

There are also adding routes being added to Long Beach, CA starting on October 1, 2019 to/from:

• Oakland 
• San Jose, California
• Sacramento
• Las Vegas 
• Denver (Saturdays & Sundays in October 2019 only)

And the big news on the Southwest credit card front was the unveiling of the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card. The card has a sky-high 80,000-point bonus you’ll earn after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months of account opening. And it has a slew of other useful perks that can easily make the $199 annual fee worth paying:

• 3x Southwest points on Southwest purchases and Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partners
• 2x Southwest points on social media and search advertising purchases
• 2x Southwest points on internet, cable and phone service purchases
• 1x Southwest points on all other purchases
• 9,000 Southwest points every cardmember anniversary (worth ~$135 in Southwest flights)
• 4 upgraded boardings per year (when available)
• Inflight WiFi credits – Up to 365 $8 WiFi credits per year!
• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit (worth up to $100)
• 1,500 Tier Qualifying Points after every $10,000 in purchases (on up to $100,000 in purchases every cardmember year)
• No foreign transaction fees

This card is restricted by the Chase 5/24 rule, so if you’ve opened 5 or more credit cards from any bank (not including Chase business cards and business cards from most, but not all, other major banks) you won’t be eligible. Also, if you currently have a Southwest personal card or a Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Credit Card you can still qualify for the Southwest Performance Business card.

And don’t forget that Southwest credit card sign-up bonuses will count toward earning a Southwest Companion Pass.

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Featured image by NextNewMedia/Shutterstock.