Southwest Priority credit card review

Southwest offers some of the best travel reward credit cards for their customers. Find out what’s in offer this year and which one is right for you.,

The “southwest priority credit card credit score” is a review of the Southwest Priority Credit Card. The review includes information about the card, as well as how to apply for and use it.

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Our fast take: The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is a great option for regular Southwest fliers since it comes with important incentives that more than make up for the annual cost.

Pros:

• For every dollar you spend on Southwest Airlines is a low-cost carrier based is a low-cost carrier based purchases, you will get 3 points.
• On local transport and commuting purchases (including ride-shares), internet, cable, phone services, and some streaming purchases, as well as hotels and vehicle rentals booked via the Rapid Rewards travel website, get 2 points per dollar.
• For all other purchases, you’ll get one point for dollar spent.
• Southwest offers a $75 yearly travel credit.
• When available, four improved boardings are offered each year.
• On in-flight purchases, you’ll get a 25% discount.
• Starting the second year you have the card, you will get 7,500 additional points per year on your card holder anniversary.
• There are no costs for international transactions.

Cons:

• There aren’t as many travel insurance advantages as with other Chase credit cards.
• Purchases and balance transfers do not qualify for an introductory rate.
• The yearly charge is $149.

Earn up to 100,000 bonus points after spending $2,000 in the first three months, plus another 50,000 points after spending $12,000 in the first year.

Best for: Southwest travelers who wish to take advantage of their credit card’s elite VIP advantages when they travel.

Determine if you are eligible for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card.

The Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card is the most costly Southwest personal credit card offered by Chase, but with good cause. The card provides a number of outstanding features, like bonus points, an annual Southwest travel credit, and the ability to board the aircraft first, particularly when compared to Southwest’s other two personal credit cards. Indeed, these benefits significantly outweigh the card’s annual charge, making it a credit you’ll gladly have in your pocket year after year.

Furthermore, all points earned on the Southwest Priority card, including bonus points earned as part of the card’s sign-up offer, count toward the coveted Southwest Companion Pass, which enables you to travel with a friend or family member for free (plus taxes and fees) an infinite number of times. It’s effectively a buy-one-get-one offer that may save you thousands of dollars over the course of the pass’s lifespan.

The Southwest Priority card earns you points that never expire, and you’ll never have to worry about blackout dates or seat limitations when redeeming them. That’s because Southwest has a “fixed-value redemption” frequent flyer program, which means the amount of points you’ll need to redeem your points is connected to the ticket’s cash price. While you may always acquire a seat with points as long as one is available, the higher the price, the more points you’ll need to buy a seat.

Southwest Priority cardholders get an annual $75 Southwest travel credit right away, which may be used to purchase Southwest tickets. Simply use your card to pay for your travel — or the taxes and fees on an award flight — and you’ll get a statement credit for the difference, up to $75. Because this credit works similarly to cash, it essentially reduces your yearly cost from $149 to only $74.

After that, every year on your first anniversary as a Southwest Priority card member — that is, after you’ve had the card for a year — you’ll get 7,500 extra points. When you redeem Southwest points for the airline’s “Wanna Get Away” rates, they’re worth around 1.4 cents each, making that 7,500 bonus points worth $105. After paying your annual fee beginning with your second year as a card member, you’ll really be $31 ahead with simply the bonus points and travel credit.

In addition to these two tangible cost-cutting features, the Southwest Priority card comes with four enhanced boarding coupons each year. Southwest does things a bit differently than most other airlines when it comes to boarding since there are no allocated seats. Instead, when you check in for your flight, you’ll be assigned a boarding position between A1 and C60, with A1 being the first to board and C60 being the last.

If you don’t receive a boarding position that you prefer, you may pay for an improved boarding position — A1 through A15 — at the airport if they are available. The fee varies depending on the aircraft, however it typically runs from $30 to $50 per premium boarding slot. You may obtain a statement credit for this purchase with the Southwest Priority card, up to four times per year, saving you between $120 and $200 each year.

Southwest Airlines

With the Southwest Priority card, you may be one of the first to board with four complimentary enhanced boardings every year.

If you want to achieve Southwest A-List elite status, the Southwest Priority card may help you get there, as you can earn 1,500 Tier Qualifying Points (TQPs) for every $10,000 you spend on the card. There’s no limit to how many qualifying points you can collect, so you could hypothetically obtain A-List membership without ever boarding a Southwest aircraft. However, combining TQPs gained from the credit card with TQPs received by flying Southwest is definitely a better option.

In addition, the Southwest Priority card gives you 25% back on all in-flight purchases made on Southwest, as well as shopping protection and no foreign transaction fees.

With the Southwest Priority credit card, you may earn additional points.

The Southwest Priority card’s major flaw is its bonus categories, as well as the Southwest points itself. While you’ll get 3 points for every dollar spent on Southwest, you’ll only get 1 point for every dollar spent on any other travel purchases made outside of the Southwest Rapid Rewards travel platform. While the card now gets 2 points per dollar on transportation and commuting, as well as specific telecommunication transactions, several of the more typical categories, such as petrol, grocery, and restaurants, do not receive extra points. This means you’ll only get 1 point every dollar spent on most of your routine purchases.

When compared to a credit card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, which offers 3 points per dollar on eating out, certain streaming services, and online grocery purchases, and 2 points per dollar on all other transactions, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is a better deal (or 5 points if purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards). For even more freedom, you may transfer your Sapphire Preferred points to Southwest or one of Chase’s 13 other airline and hotel partner reward programs.

Another disadvantage of the Southwest Priority card is that it lacks the same travel insurance that many other Chase credit cards have. While the card provides some travel protection benefits, such as car rental collision insurance, lost luggage reimbursement, baggage delay insurance, and travel accident insurance, it lacks some of the better — and more commonly used — features, such as trip cancellation and interruption insurance and trip delay insurance. Furthermore, the card’s automobile rental coverage is secondary, which means that if you have an accident with your rental car, you must first resort to your own personal auto insurance policy for compensation before your credit card coverage kicks in.

When applying for a Southwest credit card, there are several limits to be aware of. If you don’t have a personal Southwest credit card and haven’t gotten a sign-up bonus on any personal Southwest card in the last 24 months, you’re eligible for the Southwest Priority card. In addition, Chase will deny any new credit card applications if you’ve opened five or more credit cards across all banks in the last 24 months. Chase’s “5/24” rule is what it’s called.

The Citi® Double Cash Card card has been picked by CNN Underscored as our current “benchmark” credit card. That’s not to say it’s the finest credit card on the market; rather, we use it as a baseline against which we can analyze other credit cards to determine where they excel and where they fall short.

Here’s how the Southwest Priority card compares to the competition. Each card’s characteristics are colored green, red, or white in the chart below. Green denotes a card feature that is superior to our benchmark, red denotes a feature that is inferior to our benchmark, and white denotes a feature that is either equal to our benchmark or cannot be directly compared to it.

We use this methodology and these criteria to compare other credit cards to our benchmark when assessing them. More information on what we consider when it comes to benefits, safeguards, and redemption value can be found in our credit card methodology.

There are various more credit cards that earn Southwest points besides the Southwest Priority card if you’re searching for one. First, there are five distinct Southwest credit cards offered by Chase — three personal cards and two business cards — so there are four more Southwest cards to examine.

The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card and the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card are both available for personal use. Both cards have lower annual fees than the Southwest Priority card, but far fewer benefits. They could be excellent for less regular Southwest passengers, but they’re definitely not the greatest option for real Southwest aficionados.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card, which has more bonus categories and more valuable points than the Southwest Priority, can also be transferred to Southwest at a 1-to-1 ratio — meaning that when you transfer 1,000 points, you’ll get 1,000 Southwest points — whenever you want to book a Southwest flight. If your trip takes you somewhere else, you can transfer your Chase points to other travel partners like United, JetBlue, and Hyatt, giving you a lot more options.

However, the biggest downside of using the Chase Sapphire Preferred instead of the Southwest Priority card is that points earned with the Sapphire Preferred do not go toward the Southwest Companion Pass, so if that’s a priority for you, you’d be better off using a Southwest credit card.

Southwest Airlines

For regular Southwest fliers, the Southwest Priority card is a great option.

The Southwest Priority card doesn’t feature the highest bonus categories or the most useful points, but if you travel Southwest often, it should be in your wallet. While you probably won’t use the card for daily purchases unless you’re attempting to earn qualifying points for the Southwest Companion Pass, it will easily pay for itself if you fly Southwest more than a few times a year, and the card’s advantages will appeal to Southwest fans.

More information about the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card may be found here.

Find out which credit cards CNN Underscored selected as the best of 2021.

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The “southwest priority card vs premier” is a credit card review. The Southwest Priority Credit Card offers 2 miles for every dollar spent, and the Premier Card offers 3 miles for every dollar spent.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card worth it?

A: This is a difficult question to answer. It all depends on how you want your rewards and what kind of spending habits you have. If you only spend $2,000 or less per year with the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card, then it might be worth it for the travel benefits alone. However, if your goal is to earn points at a high rate that can be redeemed for something valuable like gift cards or flights, then this card will not meet those needs.

Does Southwest Priority Card have travel insurance?

A: Yes, this is true for many credit cards in the United States.

What is the annual fee for Southwest Priority credit card?

A: The annual fee for a Southwest Priority Credit Card is $99.

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