Earn Up To 60K-80K Southwest Points On 5 Southwest Cards; Now Is The Best Time To Earn A Companion Pass!

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Update: Offer expired!


Limited time card signup bonuses:

For a limited time only, you can earn a higher signup bonus on Southwest cards. Note that you can only have one open Southwest consumer card at a time, but you can have each of the business cards open at the same time.

  • The Chase Southwest Performance Business Credit Card has a signup bonus of 80K Southwest points for spending $5,000 in 3 months.
    • The card offers some amazing benefits for Southwest loyalists including 4 annual A1-A15 boarding upgrade certificates, 9K Southwest points upon every card anniversary, 365 free Wi-Fi passes annually, and the ability to earn tier points towards A-List status. $199 annual fee.


  • The Chase Southwest Business Premier card has a signup bonus of 60K Southwest points for spending $3,000 in 3 months.
    • The card offers 6,000 points every card anniversary, and has no foreign transaction fees. $99 annual fee.


  • The Chase Southwest Consumer Priority card has a signup bonus of 40K Southwest points for spending $1,000 in 3 months plus another 20K points for spending another $11,000 in 12 months.
    • The card offers some amazing benefits for Southwest loyalists including 4 annual A1-A15 boarding upgrade certificates, $75 in annual Southwest travel credit, 7.5K Southwest points upon every card anniversary, 20% off in-flight purchases, and the ability to earn tier points towards A-List status. $149 annual fee.

  • The Chase Southwest Consumer Premier card has a signup bonus of 40K Southwest points for spending $1,000 in 3 months plus another 20K points for spending another $11,000 in 12 months.
    • The card offers 6,000 points every card anniversary, and has no foreign transaction fees. $99 annual fee.

  • The Chase Southwest Consumer Plus card has a signup bonus of 40K Southwest points for spending $1,000 in 3 months plus another 20K points for spending another $11,000 in 12 months.
    • The card offers 3,000 points every card anniversary. $69 annual fee.


Comparison chart:

CardSouthwest Consumer PrioritySouthwest Consumer PlusSouthwest Consumer PremierSouthwest Business PremierSouthwest Performance BusinessChase Ink Cash Business
Signup bonus30K bonus points and a companion pass for spending $5,000 in 3 months.30K bonus points and a companion pass for spending $5,000 in 3 months.30K bonus points and a companion pass for spending $5,000 in 3 months.60K Southwest points for spending $3K in 3 months80K Southwest points for spending $5K in 3 months.75K Chase points for spending $7.5K in 3 months
Annual Fee$149$69$99$99$199$0
Anniversary Bonus7.5K Southwest points3K Southwest points6K Southwest points6K Southwest points9K Southwest pointsNone
Annual Southwest travel credit$75NoneNoneNoneNoneNone
Annual Southwest A1-A15 boarding upgrade certificates4NoneNoneNone4None
Annual Southwest EarlyBird CheckinsNone222NoneNone
Points per dollar spent on Southwest323345 if you buy Southwest gift cards on Staples.com or in office supply stores
Points per dollar spent on social media and search engine advertising111121
Points per dollar spent on Internet, Cable, and Phones222125
Fee credit for transferred pointsNoneNoneNone$500 per cardmembership year$500 per cardmembership yearNone
Points per dollar spent on select streaming222115 if you buy gift cards on Staples.com or in office supply stores
Points per dollar spent on local transit and commuting, and rideshare222225 if you buy gift cards on Staples.com or in office supply stores
Points per dollar spend elsewhere111115 on telecom, office supplies, and gift cards from office supply stores, 2 on gas and dining, 1 elsewhere
Credit for Southwest in-flight WiFi25% cash back25% cash back25% cash back25% cash backFull credit, up to 365 times per yearNone
Credit for Southwest in-flight drinks25% cash back25% cash back25% cash back25% cash backNoneNone
Credit for Global Entry/Pre-CheckNoneNoneNoneNoneFull credit every 4 yearsNone
Points count towards companion passYesYesYesYesYesNo
Foreign transaction fees0%3%0%0%0%3%
Tier qualifying points towards A-list Status1.5K tier points for every $10K spentNone1.5K tier points for every $10K spent1.5K tier points for every $10K spent1.5K tier points for every $10K spentNone
Visa Savings Edge cash back NoneNoneNoneYesYesYes


Welcome bonus terms:

You can only have one active Southwest consumer card, but you can have each of the Southwest business cards.

Consumer cards: You can get the bonus as long as you don’t have an active Southwest consumer card and haven’t received a Southwest consumer card bonus in the past 24 months.

Business cards: You can get the bonus as long as you don’t have the exact same business card active and you haven’t received a bonus on the exact same business card in the past 24 months.


5/24:

All Chase cards appear are subject to 5/24 restrictions, meaning that you are not likely to be approved if you have been approved for 5 or more consumer credit cards in the past 24 months. Note that the Chase system automatically counts cards like authorized user cards and store cards as cards that count towards 5/24, but if you explain to Chase that those cards are merely authorized user cards or store cards they can manually approve you for a new card.

The business cards won’t add to your count of 5/24 counts.

You can check your credit report for free at the federally authorized annualcreditreport.com to check how many accounts are shows as being open in the past 24 months.


Value of Southwest points:

The value of Southwest points is variable based on the paid fare.

If you’ll redeem points for an average of 1.6 cents each, that makes a 60K signup bonus worth $960. If you qualify for a companion pass that number can double to a whopping $1,920 signup bonus. The 80K signup bonus would be worth $1,280. If you qualify for a companion pass that number can double to a whopping $2,560 signup bonus.

Plus each Southwest cards comes with anniversary bonus points!

For example:

  • A one-way Honolulu-Kauai nonstop flight on 1/22 is $28.80 with tax. It can also be bought for 1,379 points plus $5.60 tax. So 1,379 points gets you a value of $23.20 ($28.80 airfare less the $5.60 tax on the points ticket), imputing a value of 1.68 cents (23.20/1,379) per point.
  • A one-way Los Angeles-San Francisco nonstop flight on 1/22 is $53.98 with tax. It can also be bought for 2,879 points plus $5.60 tax. So 2,879 points gets you a value of $48.38 ($53.98 airfare less the $5.60 tax on the points ticket), imputing a value of 1.68 cents (48.38/2,879) per point.
  • A one-way Philadelphia-Orlando nonstop flight on 1/21 is $68.98 with tax. It can also be bought for 3,968 points plus $5.60 tax. So 3,968 points gets you a value of $63.38 ($68.98 airfare less the $5.60 tax on the points ticket), imputing a value of 1.6 cents (63.38/3,968) per point.
  • A one-way Philadelphia-Fort Lauderdale nonstop flight on 1/21 is $78.98 with tax. It can also be bought for 4,694 points plus $5.60 tax. So 4,694 points gets you a value of $73.38 ($78.98 airfare less the $5.60 tax on the points ticket), imputing a value of 1.56 cents (73.38/4,694) per point.
  • A one-way LaGuardia-Denver nonstop flight on 1/20 is $88.98 with tax. It can also be bought for 5,419 points plus $5.60 tax. So 5,419 points gets you a value of $83.38 ($88.98 airfare less the $5.60 tax on the points ticket), imputing a value of 1.54 cents (83.38/5,419) per point.
  • A one-way LaGuardia-Chicago nonstop flight on 1/21 is $88.98 with tax. It can also be bought for 5,419 points plus $5.60 tax. So 5,419 points gets you a value of $83.38 ($88.98 airfare less the $5.60 tax on the points ticket), imputing a value of 1.54 cents (83.38/5,419) per point.
  • A one-way LaGuardia-New Orleans nonstop flight on 1/21 is $95.98 with tax. It can also be bought for 5,927 points plus $5.60 tax. So 5,927 points gets you a value of $90.38 ($95.98 airfare less the $5.60 tax on the points ticket), imputing a value of 1.52 cents (90.38/5,927) per point.
  • A one-way LaGuardia-Houston nonstop flight on 1/19 is $118.98 with tax. It can also be bought for 7,596 points plus $5.60 tax. So 7,596 points gets you a value of $113.38 ($118.98 airfare less the $5.60 tax on the points ticket), imputing a value of 1.49 cents (113.38/7,596) per point.

Annual travel credit:

If you have the Southwest Consumer Priority card you’ll get reimbursed for $75 in annual spending on Southwest flights!


Upgraded boarding certificates:

If you have the Southwest Consumer Priority Card or the Southwest Performance Business Card you’ll get reimbursed for 4 annual purchases of upgraded A1-A15 boarding positions so that you can get some of the best seats on the plane.  Upgraded boardings may be purchased at the departure gate or ticket counter on the day of travel. These cost $30-$50, so this is a benefit worth up to $200 per year.


20% cash back on in-flight purchases:

If you have the Southwest Consumer Priority Card you’ll get 20% cash back on top of points for purchases of drinks and Wi-Fi on Southwest flights!


Inflight WiFi Credit: 

If you have the Southwest Performance Business Card you’ll receive a statement credit equal to $8 Southwest WiFi charge on up to 365 charges per year! That will let you connect all of your family’s devices when you fly Southwest so that you can save a bundle!


Global Entry/Pre-Check credit:

If you have the Southwest Performance Business Card you’ll get reimbursed for Global Entry/Pre-Check MembershipYou can get reimbursed for those fees ($85 for Pre-Check or $100 for Global Entry and Pre-Check) every 4 years. Membership lasts for 5 years, so you will be able to renew before your membership lapses. Global Entry/Pre-Check make flying so much easier and its great to see more cards add this benefit as I can get Global Entry and Pre-Check for free for my entire family that way!


A-List Status:

If you have the Southwest Consumer Priority Card or the Southwest Performance Business Card  you can earn 1,500 tier points towards A-List status for every $10,000 spent. You can earn a maximum of 15,000 tier points annually per card. You can learn more about A-List status here.


Free changes and cancellations. Lock in low fares with no penalty:

While other mileage currencies charge up to $200 to cancel an award ticket, Southwest continues to allow you to cancel an award flight and redeposit the points in your account for future use without any penalties.

Coupled with 2 free carry-ons and 2 free checked bags per person, that’s a lot of added value. A family of 4 needing to cancel award tickets on another airline would set you back $400-$800 versus it being a free change on Southwest. A family of 4 checking 2 bags each would run $560 round-trip on another airline versus paying nothing on Southwest.

Thinking of taking a trip but not 100% sure about it? With Southwest points you can lock in a good rate and just cancel the trip free of charge at any point before the flight if you can’t make it!

You can use the points for yourself or book award tickets for anyone else you want to give a ticket to.

Southwest allows you to redeem points for any seat on any flight. There are no blackout dates or capacity controls.

When Southwest has a fare sale the amount of points go on sale as well as it tracks to the price of the ticket. Best of all Southwest will refund your points if the price of your award ticket falls!  Just rebook your trip online for the same dates or give them a call for the credit.

Southwest points will never expire as long as you earn points every 24 months.


Don’t fly? Redeem for gift cards!

You can also use 60,000 points to get $600 worth of gift cards or 80K points to get $800 worth of gift cards to places like Alamo, Amazon, Avis, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Bloomingdales, Brooks Brothers, Budget, Carnival Cruises, Express, Fairmont, Gap, Hertz, Kohl’s, Lowe’s, Macy’s, National, Nike, Saks, Sea World, Shutterfly, Staples, Starbucks, Target, The Children’s Place, TJMaxx, Walmart, Zappos and more.


Companion pass:

You can get a free companion pass if you earn 110,000 points in a calendar year from select sources, including earnings from credit card signups and credit card spending!

If you earn 110,000 Southwest points in 2019 the pass will be good until 12/31/20. If you earn 110,000 Southwest points in 2020 the pass will be good until 12/31/21.  The pass allows you to bring a companion with you for free whenever you fly Southwest, including Hawaii, even if you are flying on a free ticket! That effectively doubles the value of your Southwest points. There is no limit to the number of free companion flights that you can take.

Your signup bonus will post after you complete your card spending, so if you time your spending so that you earn the signup bonus in 2020, you’ll get another year of companion pass usage!

You can designate a companion and change that companion up to 3 times in a calendar year, so you can name up to 4 companions over the course of a year.

You can have one consumer Southwest card and both business Southwest cards.


Transfer Chase Points To Southwest to maximize the value of your Companion Pass:

You can transfer points from the following Chase cards to Southwest at a 1:1 ratio. You can redeem those Southwest points and bring a companion with you for free, doubling the value of your points!

Chase premium cards with transferable points:

  • Chase Sapphire Preferred
    • $95 annual fee, 60K points signup bonus, earn 2 points per dollar on dining/travel, 25% bonus value on using points for paid travel redemptions.
  • Chase Ink Business Preferred
    • $95 annual fee, 80K points signup bonus, earn 3 points per dollar on select business spending and travel, 25% bonus value on using points for paid travel redemptions.
  • Chase Sapphire Reserve
    • $450 annual fee, $300 in annual travel credit, 50K points signup bonus, earn 3 points per dollar on dining/travel, 50% bonus value on using points for paid travel redemptions, Global Entry/Pre-check, Priority Pass lounge access.

Chase no annual fee cards with transferable points if you, a spouse, or an additional user have one of the premium cards above:


Cash back on top of points

Chase business cards in the chart above are eligible for additional cash back via Visa Savings Edge. That means you can get points plus 2% cash back at Chevron, Sheetz, AutoZone, or Texaco. You’ll earn points plus 3% cash back at Boost Mobile. You’ll earn points plus 4% cash back at Alamo, National, and MGM hotels. You’ll earn points plus 5% cash back at Lenovo and Wyndham hotels.


Business card information, benefits, and 5/24

3 of the cards in the chart above are business cards, but you may already have a business that needs a card to keep track of expenses. For example if your name is Joe Smith and you sell items online, or if you have any other side business and want a credit card to better keep track of business expenditures you can open a business credit card for “Joe Smith” as the business. You don’t need to file any messy government paperwork to be allowed to do that. Just be sure to select “Sole Proprietorship” as the business type and just use your social security number in the Tax Identification Number field.

It’s important to just write your own name as the business name if you are just applying for your own small business as a Sole Proprietorship that doesn’t have any business paperwork.

All of the cards in this post are subject to 5/24 restrictions. However, it’s important to note that business cards from most banks, including Chase business cards, do not get added to your 5/24 count of recently opened cards. That’s because business cards from most banks don’t show up on your personal credit report and the 5/24 count is based off of your personal credit report.

Another benefit of business cards not reporting on your personal credit report is that your credit score won’t be hurt when you spend money on your cards. When you spend money on personal cards your score will be hurt even if you pay your bill on time. That’s because a whopping 30% of your credit score is based on credit utilization, so you lose lots of points even if you pay your bills before the statement due date. You can pay off your credit card bill before your statement close date to avoid that, but that takes effort and laying out money well before you have to. Additionally it’s good to have the statement close with a couple dollars to show the card is active and being paid every month. On business cards from banks like AMEX and Chase the spending is not reported on your personal credit report, so you can wait until the money is due without it having a negative effect on your score. That also means if you close the card, it won’t have an effect on your credit score.


As always, Southwest benefits include:

  • 2 free checked bags per passenger.
  • Free in-flight messaging.
  • Free in-flight streaming entertainment, including movies, live TV, on-demand TV, music, destination guides, and games.
  • No change fees to switch your flight. Whether you are on a paid or an award flight you can change without penalty!
  • No cancellation fee to cancel your flight (you will get Southwest credit for the full amount paid, even on non-refundable wanna get away fares) or to cancel and redeposit your award flight.
  • A refund of the fare or point difference if the price of your flight goes downafter you buy it, just call to get the credit at any time before your flight!

Will you signup for any Southwest cards?

56 COMMENTS

Older First
  1. ?

    So whats the limited offer till?

      • YoniPDX

        @Dan.

        Post on DOC has SS of FB Chase SW ad with end date for 80K biz card of 10.16.19.

        So one could time Apps and spend for SUB to post 01/2020 to get CP thru 2022.

  2. Bob dole

    Can you get the annual fee waived?

    • Dan

      The signup bonus far outweighs the annual fee. Gotta spend money to make money sometimes!
      The anniversary bonuses on these cards are great as well.

      • dave

        not if you don’t want to fly or get gift cards

        so what’s the answer to getting first year AF waived?

        • Dan

          You know you can sell Amazon gift cards for nearly their full value, right?

          • dave

            good point
            cardcash is best option?

          • Dan

            Or sell on DDF.

          • Michael

            Where can you sell amazon gift cards?

        • E

          If you don’t want to fly and you don’t want gift cards, then this card isn’t for you (regardless of an annual fee or not).

  3. Dave Black

    How’d the ink creep in there ? 😉

    • Dan

      As the chart shows, it can earn more points on Southwest flights than any other card.

  4. Shilo

    Hey dan,
    If i transfer points from chase to southwest, does that count towards the required 110,000 for a companion pass?

  5. jenny

    Makes most sense to wait until closer to 10/16 and hit the minimum spend in beginning of 2020 if I am going to want to open two cards and get companion pass, correct?

    • Dan

      Sure, timing will be tight, but doable.

  6. Nojo

    Can you transfer southwest points to other airlines

  7. Ben

    I got the Companion Pass earlier this year during the previous 60k promo + the Biz card, but with SW stopping to fly out of Newark that takes away most of the value of it because the flight times from Philly generally are poor times for me. Is amazon gift cards the best way for me to cash out my 125k points?

  8. Yehuda_H

    Any issue with personal expenses being put on a business card, if its a sole proprietorship?

    • Dan

      It’s intended for business expenses, but practically speaking there are no issues.

  9. Mott

    Do the free points that are awarded every year on the anniversary count towards the 110,000 points for companion status?

  10. Esti A

    I tried to get refunded on a paid fare after it dropped in price and was refused.

    • Dan

      You can get a credit online for price drops. Just change your flight to the same flight.

  11. rediplus

    when is southwest leaving newark ?

  12. Chris

    So I have a biz card from Chase already (Ink Cash) but when I applied I did not just use my own name as I should have. Applying for these just I use my own name or the one I have on my Ink Cash? (FYI I dont have any documentation to provide them with if they ask)

  13. deb

    Can I open the new Freedom Unlimited (with the 3% cash back) if I already have an older Freedom Unlimited card?
    And, how do I apply for Southwest Consumer Priority at the same time so that there is only 1 credit pull?
    Thanks.

    • Dan

      You would have to convert that into another card first as they won’t approve you for 2.

  14. Ash

    Does anyone know if an au counts for 5/24 if the primary account was opened more than 24 months ago?

    • Dan

      AUs don’t count. Just need to call Chase to manually not count them.

  15. Yoni

    If I get the business card for 60k and the consumer priority for 40k and spend 4K in first 3
    Months, with just a few more thousand in spending it seems that would earn the companion pass. Do those two card bonuses combine for the 110k needed?

  16. Shalom

    I got approved for the Business card on September 22 which makes my 90 days end on December 22.. misjudged the timing to get it to end in January.
    But if i am able to change the statement date to end in January as long as i spend the threshold before the 22 will it post in 2020 and count from there?
    or does it go from the end of 90 days?

    • dave

      from the when the points post.. so you should be good as long as your statement closes in jan.

  17. Yossi

    would applying for both the business & consumer cards in the same day create a risk of a chase shutdown ?

  18. Maxii

    What’s if I have a companion pass already and it expires at the end of 2019 will it affect it in anyway?

  19. Leor

    Are you still limited to one southwest bonus every 2 months?

  20. Erika Hamilton

    Now is one of the worst times to earn a companion pass (end of the year). I thought Dan was better than peddling credit cards with bad information.

    • Dan

      No. You can now time your spending to earn the bonus points on January 1. That means you can have 24 months of companion pass usage.

    • DG

      @Erika,
      You seem to have missed the post’s text. he clearly says that you need to time your spending and thus, your spend bonus, in order to get the companion pass to be active through 2021.
      Dansdeals readers know better than to skip the fine print 🙂

  21. Bill

    I’m a little confused and I apologize if this has been answered already. If I get a business and personal card and therefore earn the 110k miles in bonuses credited in January or February 2020, does that mean a companion can fly with me free on unlimited Southwest flights until 12-31-21?

  22. hahabye

    If you get a decision pending response from Chase, will the 80k [pint offer still be on the table if they decide after 4:59?

  23. Carl

    Looks like it’s still there at 5:45 eastern time.

  24. See

    I didn’t use my name like Dan instructed and now am being asked for more information when applying for business card. Any suggestions on how to navigate?

    • Dan

      Why didn’t you use your name?

      • See

        Because I didn’t see this post until after I applied:(

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