An affordable way to earn Southwest points
Airline credit cards are great if you fly often with a specific airline, because you can earn points on all your spending. This Southwest card is a solid earner, and it has a fantastic sign-up bonus of 50,000 points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
Here's how much it earns on purchases:
- 2X points per $1 on Southwest purchases
- 2X points per $1 on purchases with Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partners
- 2X points per $1 on local transit and commuting, including rideshares
- 2X points per $1 on internet, cable, and phone services, as well as on select streaming services
- 1X point per $1 on other eligible purchases
To top it off, you'll get 3,000 points every year on your cardholder anniversary. We've done the math and found that Rapid Rewards points are worth about $0.014 to $0.016 each. Using that value, a 3,000-point bonus is worth $42 to $48, wiping out a large chunk of this card's annual fee.
Those are all qualifying points toward a Companion Pass, too. Opening a Southwest card is one of the best ways to earn enough points for a Companion Pass.
While this Southwest card doesn't have a ton of features, there are a couple of valuable perks. As a cardholder, you get two EarlyBird Check-In® credits each year. With EarlyBird Check-In®, Southwest automatically checks you in and reserves a boarding position for you 36 hours before your flight's departure.
Southwest is making some changes in 2025, including switching to assigned seating. Checking in early won't be as much of an advantage at that point, so it will be interesting to see what happens with this benefit. For now, it's still useful to get an early check-in and be one of the first on the plane.
You also get 25% back on in-flight drink and wifi purchases when you pay with your Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card. That's a pretty good savings on a beverage or internet service. You receive this as a statement credit within one to two billing cycles.
It's never fun to be at the baggage carousel and slowly come to the realization that your checked bag isn't showing up. While that's always a lousy experience, this Southwest card at least has a couple of built-in protections for these kinds of situations:
- Lost luggage reimbursement with coverage of up to $3,000 per passenger
- Baggage delay insurance for essential purchases during baggage delays of over six hours, up to a maximum of $100 per day for three days
It also has two shopping protections that could come in handy. Purchase protection covers new purchases against damage or theft for the first 120 days, up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account. Extended warranty protection extends the U.S. manufacturer's warranty by one year on eligible warranties of three years or less.
Save on food deliveries with one year of DashPass
Several Chase credit cards have special partner benefits, and this one is no exception. You get one complimentary year of DashPass, a membership service for DoorDash and Caviar. DashPass provides unlimited deliveries with $0 delivery fees and lower service fees on eligible orders. To take advantage of this benefit, you need to activate it by Dec. 31, 2024.
When the one-year membership ends, you're automatically enrolled in DashPass at the monthly rate. If you want to avoid that, make sure you cancel it.
Fact Checked
Eric McWhinnie
