The top Southwest co-branded business card is the Southwest Performance Business Card. This is also the most expensive Southwest card available at $199. The immediate question here is if this card deserves to be the most expensive card. The second most expensive is the personal $149 Priority card, which we decided was worth the incremental upcharge over the personal Premier card.
I provide the information here just to give readers a vague idea if the rewards offered by the card might make sense for them to consider the card. The information on this page has been collected independently, and all information should be confirmed with the card company before applying.
Welcome Offer
At the time of posting, the Southwest Premier card has a welcome offer of 80 000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $5 000 in the first 3 months of account opening. Southwest’s Rapid Rewards program is a revenue-based program, and pretty consistently, Rapid Rewards points are worth 1.5 ¢/pt. That makes this welcome offer worth $1 200, which is good for a $199 annual fee card. This is the only card currently offering an enhanced welcome offer over the other Southwest cards.
Earnings
The Rapid Rewards Performance Business card has the best earning structure of any Southwest card. The card earns 4x points/$ on Southwest purchases and 3x points/$ on “Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partners”. Otherwise, it has the same 2x points/$ on local transit and commuting, internet/cable/phone services, and social media and search engine advertising. The card earns 1x point/$ on everything else.
Benefits
For its $199 annual fee, this card provides a few benefits over the $99 cards that is intended to help offset the annual fee (in cash equivalents). Unlike the personal Priority card, this card has no annual Southwest travel credit. Instead, the card offers a bonus 9 000 points each year (worth $135). The card offers 4 “Upgraded Boarding” rebates each year (which guarantee you A1-A15 boarding and thus a good seat). These are slightly different than “EarlyBird CheckIn” offered by the other cards. You don’t get checked in early with the upgraded boarding spots but rather can purchase them at check in if you got a boarding position you don’t like. So, I’d argue that they are definitely more flexible in when you decide to use them. These “upgrade certificates” cost at least $15 each, so this benefit represents at least $60 in value, which is decent.
The rest of the benefits are the same as on the Premier card. The card offers a bonus of 1 500 tier qualifying points towards A-list status (Southwest’s version of elite status) for every $10 000 spent on the card. For context, A-list requires 35 000 tier qualifying points. The card also offers 25% back on inflight purchases, but Southwest does not sell food onboard, so this is just 25% back on premium (e.g. alcoholic) drinks. One great perk of this card is that it offers free Wi-Fi on Southwest in the form of up to 365x $8 Wi-Fi reimbursement credits each year.
The card offers a boost of 10 000 Companion Pass qualifying points each year. These points can’t be used for anything by themselves and are only relevant if you’re close to getting a Companion Pass (135 000 qualifying points required). Finally, the card offers a $500 fee credit for transferring points to another Rapid Rewards member.
How to use the points
The main use for Southwest Rapid Rewards points is to redeem them for Southwest flights and other “Rapid Rewards” partners. I’ve only ever used the points for Southwest flights at their standard rate of 1.5 ¢/pt, and since it’s a flat rate, it means that there are always seats available for points. Southwest is a transfer partner of Chase and so Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred in to boost your Rapid Rewards point balance.
Examples of using the card
These examples assume you spend all your airfare budget at Southwest.
| Example A | Example B | Example C | Example D | |||||
| Groceries (1x) | $300 | 300 | $200 | 200 | $600 | 600 | $400 | 400 |
| Gas (1x) | $0 | 0 | $100 | 100 | $200 | 200 | $100 | 100 |
| Airfare (4x) | $700 | 2 800 | $200 | 800 | $0 | 0 | $400 | 1 600 |
| Hotels (1x) | $1 000 | 1 000 | $200 | 200 | $0 | 0 | $300 | 300 |
| Gen Travel (2x) | $400 | 800 | $0 | 0 | $300 | 600 | $100 | 200 |
| Dining (1x) | $600 | 600 | $300 | 300 | $300 | 300 | $0 | 0 |
| General (1x) | $1 000 | 1 000 | $500 | 500 | $500 | 500 | $400 | 400 |
| Total | $4 000 | 6 500 | $1 500 | 2 100 | $1 700 | 2 200 | $1 700 | 3 000 |
| Average points/$ | 1.63 | 1.40 | 1.29 | 1.76 |
The earning structure is the same as the Premier card means that the average points earned has a wider (and improved) range of 1.29 – 1.76 points/$, which is worth 1.94 – 2.64 ¢/$. That’s a good return for an airline co-branded credit card with a $99 annual fee. That being said, ((Chase offers better earning opportunities on its non-co-branded cards.))
Specific examples
These examples include the bonus points earned from getting IHG Elite Platinum status from the card.
| Card | Southwest wanna get away fare ($750) (% return) | Marriott Hotel night ($230/night) | Points values (WT/Hotel) |
| No rewards card | 4 050 RRP (8.1%) | 2 200 MP (7.3%) | $60.75 / $11.00 |
| General 2% cashback card ($0) | 4 050 + $15.00 (10.1%) | 2 200 MP + $4.60 (9.3%) | $75.75 / $15.60 |
| Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95) | 4 050 + 1 500 UR (11.1%) | 2 200 MP + 460 UR (10.3%) | $83.25 / $17.90 |
| Amex Green Card ($150) | 4 050 + 2 250 MR (12.3%) | 2 200 MP + 690 MR (11.5%) | $92.25 / $21.35 |
| Southwest Premier card ($99) | 7 050 RRP (14.1%) | 2 200 MP + 230 RRP (8.7%) | $105.75 / $14.45 |
Is this credit card right for you?
If you travel with Southwest for business frequently, this card is likely to be a winner. Overall, between the bonus points, free WiFi, and upgraded boardings, you are likely to come out ahead by holding this card if you fly Southwest frequently. However, I actually think that the Rapid Rewards Priority Card is the better card compared to this Business Card, assuming that both would be reasonable for you. This card has the most compelling reward structure of any Rapid Rewards card, but it’s really only valuable if you spend a lot on Southwest flights.
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