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The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card (See rates and fees) has a new offer to earn 90,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
That’s valuable in its own right, but it also gets you most of the way to a Companion Pass, which effectively doubles the value of the points when you travel with someone.
The card’s benefits include first checked bag free (for not just the cardmember but everyone on the same reservation – up to 8 other passengers) and it lets you select a Preferred seat at booking at no additional charge. It also comes with a better boarding position to get access to overhead bin space.
What’s great is that these biggest initial bonus offers jump start you to earning a Southwest Airlines Companion Pass.
- You need 135,000 Qualifying Points in a calendar year to earn a Companion Pass (or to fly 100 qualifying one-way flights).
- Having a Chase Southwest card gives you 15,000 qualifying points, so you need 120,000 more.
- A card’s initial bonus counts. So does the spending to earn that bonus. With the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card, then, that’s 93,000 points towards the 120,000 needed. That leaves just 27,000 more.
- The companion pass lasts for the entire rest of the calendar year in which it is earned, plus the next calendar year.
More spending on the card counts. Southwest hotel bookings count. Flights earn qualifying points, too. And the ability to bring a companion with you for the cost of taxes – whether you’re traveling on a revenue ticket or award, as long as there’s a seat available on the flight for sale – remains the best deal in travel.
The Priority Card has a $229 annual fee. You can still earn most of the points with the $99 annual fee Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card (See rates and fees). It has an offer to earn 80,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. And it, too, offers first checked bag free as well as standard seat selection free within 48 hours prior to departure.
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