UPDATE: This offer has expired.
I am very happy to see the return of the 50,000 point offer with the Southwest credit card. With this offer, new card applicants will essentially receive $833 towards a Southwest “Wanna Get Away” fare (with the cut and dry program 60 points = $1 of travel). The best part of this offer is that there is no minimum spend needed, all you need is one purchase on the card and you will receive the 50K points. There is an annual fee of $69 with the Plus card of $99 with the Premier card (not waived the first year), however, you will get an additional 3,000 points (Plus card) or 6,000 points (Premier card) on your cardmember anniversary. The 3,000 points is equal to $50 for a “Wanna Get Away” fare and the 6,000 points is equal to $100 towards a “Wanna Get Away” fare. The Premier card annual perk ends up paying for the annual fee, while the Plus card comes pretty close. This is a limited time offer and actually has a lower annual fee than the 50,000 point offer from this past summer.
For domestic travel I am a personal fan of Southwest despite the bad rep they get for not having first class nor assigned seating. With Southwest, I am able to change flights with ease and no fees associated, which to me is a big perk. I am also pretty low key, so I would never pay for business/first class or redeem more miles for these cabins. The only time I fly business/first class is when I am upgraded due to my status or for my honeymoon (I folded). Aside for that, I’d prefer to maximize the number of trips I can take utilizing points.
If your goal is to travel internationally, this is not the card for you. There are many other credit cards out there that will help you obtain a free international trip – check out the Travel Deals page.
Earning and Redemption Value:
Unlike the other airline credit cards there is no strategy for redeeming points. It is plain and simple – when redeeming on a “Wanna Get Away Fare†(which is the best value), every dollar spent on the card get you $.0167 back to redeem on Southwest (1.67% back). Also, when using the credit card for Southwest travel and partner travel you will get double points, giving you $.033 value back per dollar on these purchases (3.3% back). While some other credit cards give you a better value when redeeming internationally, for the domestic traveler who is loyal to Southwest, this is a great credit card with no black out dates or limited availability. You can also redeem with their partners, but will not receive as great of a redemption value, more to the tune of 1% (still not a bad way to get $500 of free stuff!)
Companion Pass
The companion pass is by far the best benefit of Southwest. I actually currently hold a companion pass, which will expire at the end of this year, and it has allowed many members of my family to fly with me for FREE quite often.
There are two options to earn the companion pass: 100 qualifying one-way flights or earning 110,000 Qualifying Points in one calendar year. You can earn Qualifying Points with credit card spend, Rapid Reward partners (i.e, Marriott, Avis, Hyatt), and flying Southwest.
With the companion pass there are again no black out days or seat restrictions – if there is a seat available for purchase, it is available for your companion. You can switch your companion up to three times during the validity of the pass. Companion passes are good for the remainder of the calendar year in which the pass was earned as well as the following calendar year. To change your pass, you can call Southwest Customer Service and ask for your pass to be changed. They will be able to do it for you immediately and send out a new card. I have gone this route every time I needed to change my own companion pass. Just make sure to call customer service and not their 1-800-IFLYSWA number (they will tell you to send in your companion pass and it will take up to 21 days). While this is the rule, it can easily be avoided.
Tier Qualifying Points
When Southwest revamped their Rapid Rewards program, they put in place a two-tier elite status program:
- A-List benefits (35,000 Tier Qualifying Points or 25 qualifying one-way flights): Priority Boarding, 25% Earning Bonus, Standby Priority, Priority Check-In and Security Access, Special Customer Service Line
- A-List Preferred benefits (70,000 Tier Qualifying Points or 50 qualifying one-way flights): All the benefits as regular A-List status plus 100% Earning Bonus and free in-flight WiFi.
Remember, the bonus is for a limited time only. The previous card offer was 25,000 points, so this is really a great offer.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I have the Southwest card (I got it before they changed their point system, my sign-up bonus was 4 one-way flights, as compared to a certain number of points). I’m about to get my third free round trip flight (this time based on points).
I just wanted to point out that your statement “If your goal is to travel internationally, this is not the card for you” is not fully correct. It might not be the best card for booking international travel in terms of bonuses or extras, but you CAN book international flights with Rapid Rewards points if you’re also a Southwest credit card holder. I don’t think you can book international flights with Rapid Rewards if you don’t have the credit card.
@Jen – That is correct. While you can book international travel, it is not the best use of your points and there are far better credit cards that will give you better redemption.
I have had a Southwest Card for about three years and have quite a bit of difficulty using a free flight. When I ran Nashville I had to cash in TWO reward flights to get the one flight I needed. This year my wife’s father is having some medical issues and I just booked my second flight for her that I had to pay for since the rewards flights are never available at decent times. My next reward expires in early December and I may scrap this card.
@Dan – I hear ya, however, they have revamped their program. It used to be 16 credits equals a free roundtrip, but now it is points that needs to be used based on the cost of the flight. With this new system as long as there is a seat available you can use your points (from the new program). Credits earned from the old program still have limited availability.
Do you know how long this 50K offer will be available for? I’m debating whether to apply for it now or wait until my next churn in December if possible… Thanks! 🙂
@Jenny – I was not told yet how long the offer will be good for, however, it is a limited time offer. The last time a Southwest offer was around this past Summer they ended up extending the offer a few months. Chase/Southwest has always given advance notice before offers are pulled, so you will absolutely get notice.
Thanks!! I will wait for the notice then. 🙂
If you are using award tickets from the old Rapid Rewards program, keep checking for the flight you want, especially within the last week as space often opens up and the beauty of SWA is that you can then cancel the flight you bought with no change fee and get a full refund or, if you bought a wanna get away fare, use the non-refundable money towards another flight within a year of your original purchase. Keep checking even if you had to use double coupons, as a standard slot may open up.
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We signed up for this card over summer only to receive the 25,000 points. We’ve only had it for about two months…any opinion on the chances of getting the extra 25,000 points if I give them a call? I don’t have much to leverage it out of them but it sure would be nice. Thanks!
@Kevin – I would suggest calling and requesting them to catch the current bonus. If that does not work, send a secure message to Chase giving them the details of when you applied and that there is now a new offer of 50,000 points. Goodluck!
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how long is the 20% gift card discount going to last –
i only want to get the card for those cards but with the $69 fee i figure it is only worth it for the $625 in cards.
@Israel – I believe the 20% off promotion runs through December 15th. I personally do not think getting this card is worth it if you are going to solely use it on gift cards. With the annual fee it will result in a net gain of $556. If you still want a card for travel redemption, aside from Southwest, then I am going to recommend the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card of the Citi ThankYou Premier Card – both have a 50K bonus offer and the annual fee is waived for the first year. With both cards you can use your points to pay for any travel through their travel specific website. For Chase Sapphire Preferred, this will result in $625 towards airfare of your choice and you will still get the miles for your flight as if you paid in cash. The Citi ThankYou Premier Credit card will result in $665 for travel on any airline. With both credit cards you must meet a minimum spend requirement to get the bonus offer ($3K in 3 months for Chase Sapphire Preferred and $2.5K in 3 months for Citi ThankYou Premier). You can read more in detail in these two previous blog posts: http://dealswelike.boardingarea.com/2011/10/21/citi-thankyou-premier-credit-card-offer-50000-points-665-in-travel-free-companion-ticket/ & http://dealswelike.boardingarea.com/2011/08/01/50000-point-bonus-for-chase-saphire-credit-card-limited-time-only/
Hey, just wanted to follow-up for anyone with the same question as me (see above). I called customer service and they weren’t too helpful – they basically suggested I apply for the new card and then cancel the old one. That seemed like a very roundabout way of getting the points. I then sent a secure message through Chase. They responded quickly and let me know they’d be crediting the difference to my account on the next statement. Great customer service, and thanks to you also for the recommendation!
@Kevin – That is great to hear! Glad it worked out for you!
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For the hotel double points, do you have to book through Southwest’s website or can you book through the hotel and pay with the SWA credit card?
@NewTraveler – with the southwest credit card you must book through the southwest website. There are other cards, however, where you get the double points just be using the card regardless how you book, ie chase sapphire preferred.