Chase Comes Up With A Truly Original Offer For Southwest Airlines Credit Cards

by Gary Leff

I receive compensation for content and many links on this blog. Citibank is an advertising partner of this site, as is American Express, Chase, Barclays and Capital One. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners. I do not write about all credit cards that are available -- instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Terms apply to the offers and benefits listed on this page.

Southwest’s consumer credit cards from Chase all have an innovative new offer. They’ve increased the initial bonus off points, but have added a unique twist – a discount code for use on a future trip that can be… very valuable.

Here’s the offer: earn 60,000 bonus points plus a 30% off promo code after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like a valuable discount code as part of an initial card bonus before?

This 30% off promo code discounts the base fare (not taxes and fees) and will expire October 31, 2024. The application page for these offers say it will end 6/26/2023. I do not know what time on June 26th the offers will be pulled, nor which links may be pulled first. Each of the following cards has the offer:

  • Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card This $149 annual fee card provides a $75 Southwest® travel credit each year; 25% back on in-flight drinks, WiFi, messaging, and movies; and 4 upgraded boardings per year when available (when A1-15 boarding positions are offered at the gate, buy it and you’ll receive a statement credit for the charge); and 7,500 anniversary points each year.

  • Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card You earn 3,000 anniversary points each year on the $69 annual fee card.

  • Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card You earn 6,000 anniversary points each year (after your cardmember anniversary), a nice incentive to keep this $99 annual fee card, and you receive 2 EarlyBird Check-In® credits each year.

This new offer that includes a 30% off promo code is huge for two reasons.

  1. It can be used for up to 8 passengers on the same reservation. 30% off of roundtrip travel for 8 people may mean huge savings.
  2. It works for both paid tickets and for Rapid Rewards redemptions. You can use it for 30% off of a points trip, which makes the points you have and the points from this bonus offer go farther.

30% savings on a $450 base fare ticket for 8 people means that the promo code could save you over $1,000. And if you had such a large group the promo code alone might save you 80,000 points.

Of course most of us won’t get that degree of extreme value from the offer, but it comes on top of the bonus miles you can earn with the card. And those bonus miles count towards Southwest’s Companion Pass (where a designated second passenger travels with you – whether spending points or cash – for just the cost of taxes) making your points go even further when you earn one.

A Companion Pass normally requires 135,000 qualifying points in a calendar year but Southwest cardmembers get a 10,000 point boost (The points from the card’s initial bonus offer and ongoing spend both count, too.)

I have a Companion Pass I earned with a Southwest Airlines credit card. It’s easy to use, and Southwest is the largest airline at my home airport in Austin. I generally buy a ticket for myself, bring my wife as my companion, and redeem points for my daughter. It is one of the very best values in travel.

I start with the assumption that Chase’s ‘5/24’ applies (that to be approved you likely need to have opened fewer than 5 new card accounts in the past 24 months) however we’ll see what data points emerge, noting that some recent Chase card offers have resulted in approvals for some customers who were over this threshold. Note that to be approved for these cards you cannot be a current Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card (consumer) cardmember and you cannot have received an initial bonus for one of these cards in the past 24 months.

If you’re a semi-regular Southwest flyer then I consider the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card to be by far the best deal. If you aren’t, and your key interest is that initial bonus (and the 10,000 point credit towards companion pass) then the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card is your best bet.