Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card

Southwest Airlines Chase co-branded credit cards have a limited-time offer to earn a Companion Pass valid through February 28, 2026 plus 30,000 points after you spend $4,000 on purchases on the card in the first 3 months from account opening.

That’s pretty special. Instead of earning just points from an initial bonus, they’re offering you points and a Companion Pass. This way a friend or spouse you designate can travel with you free (plus government taxes) whenever you fly – whether you’re traveling on points or a paid ticket, as long as there’s still a seat for sale on the aircraft.

• 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.

Without this offer Companion Pass has become tougher for many The normal requirement is 135,000 qualifying points in a calendar year – though Southwest cardmembers get a 10,000 point boost. Both this boost and the initial bonus points form the card help earn Companion Pass for 2026 as well.

Companion Pass doubles the value of your points You can take a companion with you when you travel for just the cost of taxes whether you’re buying a paid ticket or one with points. When you redeem points for yourself, and use the companion pass, that’s twice as much travel – the points go twice as far.

Chase’s ‘5/24’ likely applies, so to be approved you probably need to have opened fewer than 5 new card accounts in the past 24 months. And 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 a regular with them, the Companion Pass from this offer could change that.

However if 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 as it comes with the lowest cost.

I held a Companion Pass for nearly all of 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 though I’ve allowed it to lapse. Southwest is the largest airline at my home airport in Austin, and the way I’d use my Companion Pass is to buy a ticket for myself, bring my wife as my companion, and redeem points for my daughter. This is one of the very best values in travel.

When Chase and Southwest offered a companion pass as part of their co-brand card initial bonus the first time it was restricted to California residents. Many people not living in California were jealous, but it was still a good sign. The Companion Pass is a powerful marketing tool, and Southwest saw it that way. That reduced the usual concern that an offer which is ‘too good’ won’t last. Indeed, it’s become even more broadly available (for a limited time).