The Chase Southwest Priority card is now offering a 75,000 Rapid Rewards points sign up bonus. The card has an annual fee of $149 but you get a $75 travel credit and 4 upgraded boarding passed. Also, you get 6,000 RR points on your anniversary.
I value Southwest Rapid Rewards points at 1.5 cents. So, the sign up bonus is worth $1125. Ignoring the upgraded boarding passes, the travel credit and the anniversary points and subtracting the annual fee, it is still a $975 bonus.
It also gets you 60% of the way towards companion fare, which to me is the best perk in the air travel market. Companion fare now requires 135,000 points but you get a 10,000 bonus if you have a Southwest credit card on Jan 1st, 2023. You will get 10,000 companion points when you open your card but these companion fare points don’t carry over year to year. This 10,000 points plus the 75,000 point bonus gets you 85,000 of the 135,000 points you need.
To get the remaining points, you can open a Southwest business card ( if that is an option for you). You can also refer people. Chase is now giving 20,000 points for referrals, which counts towards companion fare. You can spent at their shopping portal to earn points as well.
Timing here is important. You will 10,000 points towards companion fare when you open your card. You also get 10,000 points at the start of each calendar year. Your best play ( for several reasons) is to complete your spend toward companion in January of 2023, vs in 2022. Companion fare is good for the current year you earn it plus the next year. So, getting companion fare in February 2023 would get you companion fare until December 31st, 2024. So, if you open a card this year, but complete the spend next year ( highly recommended) the 10,000 companion points for 2022 don’t do you any good ( unless you are very close to companion currently).
As usual, I will offer a split of the referral bonus. It is currently listed as 20,000 points and I will confirm once I get my card. This is a great opportunity to get companion fare on Southwest. The 75,000 point offer is good until 12/2/22.
It would be more beneficial to me if I got the referral in 2023, since it would count towards my companion fare. You should still get the 10,000 point bonus towards companion fare when you open the card. And even though the offer for the 75,000 points expires on 12/2/22, they have run this offer periodically the last several years. So, completing spend on your credit card in early 2023 is the best play for most people.
Even if you don’t get companion fare, this is still a great credit card promotion. Of course, there is the Chase 5/24 rule ( if you have opened 5 cards in the last 2 years, they will decline your application). Also, you can’t have received this bonus in the last 2 years.
You can reach me at [email protected] if you have questions or need a referral. It’s a little complicated ( what aspect of travel these days isn’t complicated?) but well worth it.
