Southwest Credit Cards 2026: The 5-Card Lineup Compared

Key Points

• Southwest's co-brand portfolio with Chase has five cards in 2026: Plus ($69), Premier ($99), Priority ($149), Performance Business ($199), and Premier Business ($99); the right pick depends on how often you fly and whether you can route business spend through a separate account.
• The Companion Pass kicks in at 135,000 qualifying points in a single calendar year, and stacking a personal-card welcome bonus with a business-card welcome bonus in the same year is the fastest legitimate way to get there.
• Chase 5/24 applies to all Southwest personal cards, and Chase enforces a once-per-product welcome-bonus rule on this family, so the order you apply matters more than the cards themselves.

TL;DR

As of April 2026, the Southwest lineup is Plus ($69), Premier ($99), Priority ($149), Premier Business ($99), and Performance Business ($199). Pick by flight frequency. Companion Pass takes 135K qualifying points.

Introduction

If you're trying to figure out which Southwest card to put in your wallet, the first thing to know is that Southwest doesn't make this easy. Chase issues five different Southwest co-brand cards in 2026, three personal and two business, and they all earn the same Rapid Rewards points. The differences live in the annual fees, the anniversary bonuses, the boarding upgrades, and a handful of inflight credits that most cardholders forget to use.

I've spent the last few years watching this lineup shift. The annual fees ticked up across the board in late 2024, the Performance Business jumped to $199, and the Companion Pass threshold moved from 125,000 to 135,000 qualifying points. The math has changed. Here's how the five cards stack up right now, who each one is built for, and the wallet-strategy questions worth asking before you apply.

The 5-Card Lineup at a Glance

Three personal cards, two business cards, all issued by Chase. All earn Rapid Rewards points, all are subject to the once-per-product welcome-bonus rule, and all of the personal cards count toward Chase 5/24. The business cards do not.

Personal cards:

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus ($69 annual fee). The entry-level card. 2x on Southwest purchases, 2x on local transit and commuting, 1x everywhere else. 3,000 anniversary points. Charges a 3% foreign transaction fee.
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier ($99 annual fee). 3x on Southwest, 2x on local transit, hotels, and rental cars when booked through Southwest, 1x elsewhere. 6,000 anniversary points. No foreign transaction fees. Earns tier qualifying points toward A-List status.
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority ($149 annual fee). Same earning structure as the Premier. 7,500 anniversary points. $75 annual Southwest travel credit. Four upgraded boardings (A1-15) per year. 25% back on inflight purchases. 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each year toward the 135K threshold.

Business cards:

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business ($99 annual fee). 3x on Southwest, 2x on social media and search engine advertising. 6,000 anniversary points. Does not count toward 5/24.
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business ($199 annual fee). 4x on Southwest, 3x on Rapid Rewards hotel and car partners. 9,000 anniversary points. $100 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit every four years. Four upgraded boardings per year. 9,500 Companion Pass qualifying points annually. Does not count toward 5/24.

Welcome bonuses on this family fluctuate. Plan around the offer that's live when you apply, not the offer you saw in a roundup written eighteen months ago. As of this writing, public offers across the lineup tend to land between 50,000 and 85,000 points after meeting a spend requirement in the first three months, with the business cards occasionally running higher targeted offers.

Card-by-Card: Who Each One Is For

Southwest Plus ($69): only if you fly Southwest once a year and never internationally

The Plus is the cheapest card in the lineup and it earns the lowest anniversary bonus. 3,000 points at 1.4 cents each is roughly $42 of value, which doesn't quite cover the $69 fee on its own. The card also charges a 3% foreign transaction fee, which makes it a poor companion for any international purchase, including the Mexico and Caribbean routes Southwest itself flies.

The Plus is outclassed for almost everyone by the Premier. The $30 annual fee bump to the Premier buys you 3,000 extra anniversary points (worth about $42 on its own), elimination of foreign transaction fees, and tier qualifying points toward A-List. The math turns positive immediately.

Pick the Plus only if you fly Southwest exactly once a year, never travel internationally, and want the cheapest possible card that still earns Rapid Rewards. For most readers that's a narrow box.

Southwest Premier ($99): the default personal card pick

If I had to recommend a single Southwest personal card to someone who flies the airline a couple of times a year, this is it. The Premier earns 3x on Southwest purchases, 2x on local transit and on hotels and rental cars booked through Southwest, and 1x on everything else. It throws off 6,000 anniversary points each year, which at 1.4 cents per point is about $84 of value before the $99 fee. That's net negative, but only by $15.

Two structural features earn the Premier its spot:

1. No foreign transaction fees. Useful for Mexico, the Caribbean, and Costa Rica, where Southwest actually flies, and useful as a fallback international card if you don't have a dedicated travel card with you.
2. Tier qualifying points. The Premier's earnings count toward A-List status, which the Plus does not. If you're flying Southwest twenty or more segments a year, the difference matters.

The Premier is the answer for the reader who flies Southwest two to four times a year, wants no foreign transaction fees, and doesn't want to do the math on a $149 annual fee.

Southwest Priority ($149): best value if you actually use the credit

The Priority's $149 fee looks steep until you do the credit math. You get a $75 Southwest travel credit each cardholder year (it auto-applies to your first $75 of qualifying Southwest charges), four upgraded boardings worth $30 to $80 each, 7,500 anniversary points worth roughly $105, and 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points that count toward the 135K threshold.

If you use the $75 travel credit and even two of the four upgraded boardings, the effective annual fee drops to $14. If you redeem the four boardings on full flights where they're worth the most, the math goes negative. For someone flying Southwest four or more times a year, the Priority is the clear pick.

The caveat: the $75 credit is only useful if you're actually buying Southwest travel each year. If you don't, the credit doesn't matter, and the Premier becomes the smarter pick at $50 less per year.

Southwest Performance Business ($199): for business owners chasing Companion Pass

The Performance Business is the highest-fee card in the lineup, and it's also the most generous on benefits if you can use them. 4x on Southwest purchases is the highest earn rate on the airline anywhere. The card includes four upgraded boardings, a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck statement credit, in-flight Wi-Fi credits, and 9,500 Companion Pass qualifying points each year.

Two reasons a business owner picks this card:

1. It doesn't count toward 5/24. That's a quiet but important benefit. You can hold the Performance Business and still apply for a Sapphire Preferred or other 5/24-restricted Chase card without burning a slot.
2. It pairs with a personal Southwest card to clear Companion Pass in a single year. A Performance Business welcome bonus stacked with a Premier or Priority welcome bonus in the same calendar year often clears the 135K qualifying-point threshold by itself. More on that below.

If you don't have legitimate business spending (a freelance side hustle, a sole proprietorship, an online store) this card isn't the right fit. Apply for a business card without business activity at your own risk.

Southwest Premier Business ($99): the lower-stakes business option

The Premier Business is the business equivalent of the Premier personal card. $99 annual fee, 3x on Southwest, 2x on advertising, 6,000 anniversary points. It also doesn't count toward 5/24. It earns 6,000 Companion Pass qualifying points per year through the anniversary bonus, lower than the Performance Business's 9,500.

Pick the Premier Business if you want a business Southwest card but $199 feels like too much for the Performance Business's extra benefits. The math here mirrors the Premier-vs-Plus comparison on the personal side: a small fee bump buys meaningfully more value, but in this case the gap is closer, and either business card makes sense depending on how much you spend on the airline.

The Companion Pass: How It Actually Works in 2026

The Companion Pass is the reason most people in the points world care about Southwest. Here's the current shape:

• Threshold: 135,000 qualifying points earned in a single calendar year, or 100 qualifying flights flown in that year.
• Validity: The Pass is valid for the rest of the calendar year you earn it in, plus all of the following year. Earn it in February 2026, and you have a Companion Pass through December 2027.
• Benefit: Your designated companion flies free (paying only the $5.60 minimum tax per leg) on any Southwest flight you book, including award flights. You can change the named companion up to three times per calendar year.

What counts toward the 135K? Welcome bonus points from cards count. Spending on cards counts. Anniversary bonus points count. Tier qualifying points from flights count. Points you transfer in from Chase Ultimate Rewards or buy from Southwest do not count.

The two-card welcome-bonus path

The cleanest path to Companion Pass uses two card welcome bonuses in the same calendar year. The exact math depends on the offers live when you apply, but the structure looks like this:

1. Apply for a personal Southwest card (Premier or Priority). Earn the welcome bonus, plus the spend points it took to get there. Call it 60K-85K qualifying points.
2. Apply for a business Southwest card (Performance Business or Premier Business). Earn that welcome bonus and its spend points. Call it another 60K-85K qualifying points.
3. Combined, that's 120K-170K qualifying points. If your stacked offers clear 135K, you have your Companion Pass for the rest of the year and all of the next year.

The order matters. The business card doesn't count toward 5/24, so applying for it first preserves your personal card slots. If you're already at 4/24, applying for the business card first is the right move; the personal card after.

A note on Chase's welcome-bonus rule: Chase will not pay you a welcome bonus on a Southwest personal card if you've earned a welcome bonus on any Southwest personal card in the previous 24 months. The same rule applies to the business cards as a separate category. Plan around this. If you're chasing Companion Pass, you only get one chance per 24-month window on each side.

The single-card spending path

If you can't or don't want to apply for a second Southwest card, you can earn the Companion Pass with a single card and a lot of spending. At 2x on Southwest purchases (Plus) or 3x (Premier and Priority), and 1x on everything else, you're looking at roughly $130,000 of non-Southwest spending or $45,000 of Southwest spending to clear 135K from spend alone.

For most cardholders this isn't realistic in a single calendar year. The two-card welcome bonus path is the strategy that actually works.

Transferable Points as the Better Path

Here's the wallet-strategy question worth asking before you apply for any Southwest card: do you actually want airline-specific points, or do you want flexible points that can become Southwest points when you need them?

Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer to Southwest Rapid Rewards at a 1:1 ratio. That means a Sapphire Preferred at $95 a year, or a Sapphire Reserve at $550 a year, can fund Southwest flights without holding a Southwest co-brand card at all. The trade-off is real:

• You give up: Companion Pass eligibility (transferred points don't count toward the 135K threshold), the anniversary bonuses, the upgraded boardings, the inflight credits, and the $75 travel credit on the Priority.
• You gain: Flexibility. Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer to Hyatt, United, British Airways, and a handful of other partners. If your travel plans shift, your points come with you.

The right answer depends on whether you fly Southwest enough to care about the Companion Pass. If you fly Southwest twenty times a year, the co-brand card is the obvious pick. If you fly Southwest twice a year and might switch to Delta or American next year, a Sapphire Preferred and a transferable points strategy is the smarter long-term hold.

A common mistake: holding both a Southwest co-brand card and a Sapphire Preferred and treating them as duplicates. They're not. The co-brand card earns Companion Pass qualifying points and gives you access to the airline's onboard perks. The Sapphire Preferred earns flexible points and protects you against Southwest devaluations. They complement each other.

Chase 5/24: What It Actually Means for Southwest Applicants

Chase's 5/24 rule says Chase will deny most credit card applications if you've opened five or more credit cards (across all issuers, not just Chase) in the past 24 months. For Southwest applicants, here's how it shapes the decision:

• All three Southwest personal cards are subject to 5/24.
• Both Southwest business cards are not subject to 5/24 themselves, but Chase still pulls 5/24 to evaluate your application.

What this means in practice: if you're at 4/24 and want to chase Companion Pass via the two-card strategy, apply for the business card first. The business card doesn't increment your 5/24 count when it's approved (business cards from Chase don't report to personal credit, with rare exceptions). After you've collected the business card welcome bonus, the personal card slot is still available.

If you're at 5/24 or above, you'll need to wait for cards to fall off (24 months from the open date) before Chase approves a personal Southwest card. The business cards may still be approvable in that window.

A Note on Cash Cards for Southwest Fare Payments

Most travelers still pay cash for Southwest flights, even with a Companion Pass in hand, so the question of which card to swipe at checkout matters. The Southwest co-brand cards earn 3x on Southwest purchases. A flat-rate 2% cash-back card earns 2x effective when you're spending on Southwest, which sounds worse but isn't always.

Here's the math: 3x Rapid Rewards points at 1.4 cents each is 4.2% of value. 2% cash back is 2.0% of value. The co-brand card wins on raw return.

But there's a wrinkle. The 4.2% only matters if you actually use the points. If you accumulate 50,000 Rapid Rewards points and never redeem them, the cash-back card was the better pick. The co-brand card is the right swipe for travelers who fly Southwest enough to redeem their points each year. The cash-back card is the right swipe for travelers who pay cash for one Southwest flight a year and don't want to manage a points balance.

Common Mistakes Before You Apply

1. Ignoring the once-per-24-months welcome-bonus rule. Chase will approve your application but pay no welcome bonus if you collected a personal Southwest welcome bonus in the previous 24 months. Check your records before you apply. The same rule applies to the business cards as a separate window.
2. Earning the Companion Pass in November. The Pass is valid for the calendar year you earn it plus the next year. Earn it in February, and you get nearly two full years. Earn it in November, and you get six weeks plus one full year. Time your card applications around January and February for maximum value.
3. Forgetting the $75 Priority travel credit. It auto-applies to qualifying Southwest charges, but if you don't make any Southwest charges in your cardholder year, the credit expires. If you have the Priority and you're not flying Southwest, downgrade to the Premier or cancel.
4. Applying without checking offers. Welcome bonuses on this family fluctuate by tens of thousands of points. Targeted offers in your Chase login can run higher than public offers. Always check the offer screen before you click apply.

The Bottom Line

The Premier is the default Southwest personal card pick at $99. The Priority earns its $149 fee back through the $75 credit and four upgraded boardings if you fly Southwest four or more times a year. The Plus is outclassed for most readers. On the business side, the Performance Business pays for its $199 fee through 4x on Southwest and the upgraded boardings, and it's the right pair card for the two-card Companion Pass strategy. The Premier Business is the lower-stakes business option for owners who want the Companion Pass qualifying points without the $199 fee.

Before you apply, ask: do you fly Southwest enough to care about Rapid Rewards points and the Companion Pass, or are you better served by a flexible-points card like the Sapphire Preferred? The cards exist to reward Southwest loyalty. If your travel plans aren't loyal to Southwest, your wallet probably shouldn't be either.

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