Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Premier Credit Card Review

The Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Premier Credit Card is certainly a card you should consider having in your wallet if you’re a regular Southwest Airlines flyer and belong to its Rapid Rewards® loyalty program and are looking for a quick way to earn A-List or A-List Preferred elite status as the card awards you 1,500 Tier Qualifying Points for every $10,000 spent on the card.

New card members can receive the following sign-up bonus: Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

If you’re looking for airline perks like airport lounge access and a bevy of travel-related benefits offered by other cards, you won’t find that with the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Premier Credit Card. In the end, it comes down to whether the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Premier Credit Card’s ability to earn bonus points that help with elite status, extra points for your cardmember anniversary and a few more travel and purchase perks make the higher annual fee worth it to you.

• Ability to earn Companion pass

  The coveted Companion Pass lets you choose one person to fly with you for free (you will only be responsible for taxes and fees from $5.60 one-way) each time you purchase or redeem points for a flight. The pass is valid for the remainder of the year in which you earned it, as well as the following full calendar year.

  To get the Companion Pass, you either have to fly 100 qualifying one-way flights or earn 125,000 qualifying points in a calendar year. The points you receive as a signup bonus count toward the Companion Pass.

• Generous bonus points

  The Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Premier Credit Card offers the following sign-up bonus: Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Plus, receive 6,000 anniversary points each year. Enjoy benefits including 3X points on Southwest® purchases, 2X points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare, 2X points on internet, cable, and phone services; select streaming, 2 EarlyBird Check-In® each year, 10,000 Companion Pass® qualifying points boost each year, and more.

  Plus, you can earn 20,000 bonus points for each friend who gets the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Premier Credit Card, up to 100,000 points a year.

• Ability to earn TQPs (tier qualifying points)

  Besides the Companion Pass, the biggest benefit of the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Premier Credit Card is the ability to earn 1,500 Tier Qualifying Points (TQPs) every time you spend $10,000 with the card — with no limit on the amount of TQPs you can earn. These TQPs go toward earning A-List or A-List Preferred elite status on Southwest.

  A-List status gives you priority check-in and dedicated security lanes (where available), along with priority boarding, a 25% points bonus on tickets booked, a dedicated customer service line and free same-day standby on flights. A-List Preferred members get all of the above, plus a 100% points bonus and free in-flight Wi-Fi.

• Limited flight availability outside U.S.

  Don’t get this card if you want to use your points on flights outside of the United States because the number of places you can go are very limited. You can fly Southwest Airlines to the Caribbean, Mexico, Belize and Costa Rica, but you’re out of luck if you want to go to other international destinations, since the airline doesn’t have partnerships with any global carriers.

• Preferred status doesn't include flying companions

  Cardmembers with A-List or A-List Preferred status flying with family members or travel companions cannot share their early boarding benefits.

Compare it with the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Plus Credit Card

 

If you’re trying to decide between the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Premier Credit Card and the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Plus Credit Card, it could be tough — they have the same sign-up bonus and points per $1 spent. They also both have the ability to earn the popular Companion Pass and many of the same travel and purchase benefits, but the annual fee for the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Plus Credit Card is a bit more affordable at $69.

With the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Premier Credit Card, you get 6,000 bonus points each account anniversary, compared to just 3,000 with the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Plus Credit Card.

However, like the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Premier Credit Card, the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Plus Credit Card offers 20,000 bonus points for each friend who is approved for the card, up to 100,000 a year).

But the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Premier Credit Card also offers the ability to earn 1,500 TQPs each time you spend $10,000 on the card toward elite status, which the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Plus Credit Card does not.

Neither card has blackout dates or seat restrictions and there are no limits on how many points you can earn.

The Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Plus Credit Card does charge a foreign transaction fee of 3% of each transaction in U.S. dollars where the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Premier Credit Card charges $0. But that’s to be expected for an airline card with such a low annual fee.

There’s not much difference between the sign-up bonus and rewards earning rate between the three Southwest Airlines consumer cards: the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Plus Credit Card ($69 annual fee), the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Premier Credit Card ($99 annual fee) and the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Priority Credit Card ($149 annual fee).

The Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Premier Credit Card is the mid-tier card, and for a few more dollars, you get double the anniversary bonus points, $0 foreign transaction fees and the ability to earn 1,500 TQPs every time you spend $10,000 on the card. If you’re a big spender, then this card can help you achieve A-List or A-List Preferred elite status faster. But if getting that elite status isn’t that important to you, you’ll probably be better with the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Plus Credit Card.