Southwest Priority Credit Card review: Earn 90,000 bonus points

The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is the most premium version of the personal Southwest cobranded credit cards (see rates and fees). This card was designed for travelers who fly with the airline on a regular basis and for those who can take advantage of the many perks offered.

With benefits like 7,500 annual anniversary points, four Upgraded Boardings each year, travel insurance, no foreign transaction fees and broad spending categories — this card is a great fit for an avid Southwest flyer.

Below, Select breaks down the rewards, benefits and fees associated with the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card to help you decide if it's right for your needs.

• Welcome bonus
• Benefits and perks
• How to earn and redeem Southwest Rapid Rewards points
• Rates and fees
• Card comparison
• Who the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card is best for
• Bottom line

The welcome bonus for the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card lets you earn 90,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Keep in mind that this bonus isn't available to everyone. You can't currently have a personal Southwest credit card and also must not have received a welcome bonus for a personal Southwest credit card in the last 24 months.

The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card offers cardholders access to the following benefits:

• 7,500 bonus points for each account anniversary
• Unlimited upgrades to an Extra Legroom seat within 48 hours prior to departure, at no additional charge, when available
• 25% back on inflight purchases
• You can earn 2,500 tier qualifying points towards Southwest A-List elite status for every $5,000 spent, with no limit on the amount of elite points you can earn.
• DoorDash benefits
• No foreign transaction fees when you use the card abroad

All points earned with the card count toward the highly-coveted Southwest Companion Pass®, which allows one person to fly with you for free (except for taxes and fees) when you buy or redeem points for flights after reaching the threshold of 135,000 qualifying points or 100 qualifying one-way Southwest flights in a calendar year

Earning miles for spending

When you spend on the card, you'll earn: 

• 4X Rapid Rewards point per dollar spent on Southwest Airlines^® purchases, including flights, inflight, and Southwest gift cards.
• 2X Rapid Rewards point per dollar you spend at gas stations and restaurants
• 1X Rapid Rewards point per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases

Other benefits

Southwest Airlines is a favorite airline for many as you get to enjoy no change fees on tickets. And all of the points you earn through flying or spending on a Southwest credit card will never expire.

And when you hold the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card, you'll also receive these benefits at no charge:

• Complimentary travel accident insurance and emergency assistance, reimbursement for lost luggage, auto rental collision damage waivers for car rentals, roadside dispatch service, purchase and extended warranty protection and baggage delay insurance

Earning Southwest Rapid Rewards points

Earning Southwest points is simple: either spend on one of the Southwest credit cards or fly with the airline.

However, it's difficult to earn heaps of points since you can only earn one welcome bonus every two years with a personal co-branded Southwest credit card. And unless you fly multiple times per month with Southwest, earning hundreds of thousands of points may not be realistic through these avenues.

If you want to earn large amounts of points, consider earning rewards through credit cards with transferable rewards. Cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees) and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and fees) earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, which can be transferred directly to Southwest Rapid Rewards. These cards are some of the best travel credit cards because you have the flexibility to redeem your rewards in a variety of ways, including transferring them to Southwest.

If you're thinking of adding a Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card to your wallet but aren't sure if the Southwest Priority card is right for you, consider another one of the airline's co-branded personal or business credit cards:

Personal

• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card (see rates and fees)

Business

• Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card (see rates and fees)
• Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card (see rates and fees)

Redeeming Southwest Rapid Rewards points

Once you earn enough points for a free flight, then comes the fun part of booking award travel.

And while some airlines make it difficult to use their rewards programs, Southwest has a straightforward redemption process. To use your miles, simply log into your Southwest Rapid Rewards account and when you search for a flight, click "points" rather than "dollars". Southwest points have a fixed value of around 1.3 to 1.4 cents apiece and prices for award flights are dependent on the current cash price of the ticket. So if a flight costs $100 you can expect to pay 6,000 to 7,000 points for that flight.

As you search for flights, you'll notice that you fill have to pay taxes and fees, depending on where you fly. If you're flying within the United States, you will pay $5.60 for each one-way flight. International fees will vary.

And you don't need to pay your taxes and fees with a Southwest credit card credit card, so feel free to use another card that you prefer.

The card has a $229 annual fee. It doesn't have any foreign transaction fees.

Late payment fees can be up to $40.

While the Southwest Priority credit card is a solid pick for Southwest flyers, how does it fare other value-packed rewards credit cards?

Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card vs. Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is a great travel credit card as it earns a consistent 2X miles per dollar spent on all eligible purchases. And it has benefits including a valuable one-time bonus of $250 to use on Capital One Travel in your first cardholder year, plus earn a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.

You'll also receive up to $120 statement credit for your application fee for either TSA PreCheck or Global Entry every four years.

So if you're deciding between the two cards, it comes down to a few factors:

• Do you only fly Southwest? If so, the Southwest card may be the better option.
• Do you prefer having spending categories or earning a flat-rate on all purchases? The Venture card has a flat-rate on all purchases, while the Southwest Card has different earnings for various category purchases.
• Do you value transferable rewards more, or the Companion Pass?

Based on these questions, you should quickly know which one of the two is a better fit for you. But at a high level, if you travel with a companion regularly and mainly travel domestically, the Southwest card will likely be the better fit. If you travel on various airlines and prefer to go outside the U.S., the Capital One Venture card would probably be the better choice of the two.

Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card vs. Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®

The Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® is a great choice for someone who enjoys flying internationally, and possibly lives near an American Airlines hub airport like Miami, Phoenix or Los Angeles.

With this card, you'll earn 2 AAdvantage® miles for every $1 spent at gas stations and restaurants, and on eligible American Airlines purchases, and 1 Loyalty Point for every 1 eligible AAdvantage® mile earned from purchases.

The welcome offers 80,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after $3,500 in purchases within the first 4 months of account opening, there are no foreign transaction fees and a waived annual fee the first year ($99 after that).

When you're comparing the two cards, it simply comes down to which airline loyalty program will serve your needs and if you value Southwest's Companion Pass benefit. The American Airlines loyalty program is part of the Oneworld airline alliance, which has 14 total airlines that partner to serve one another's customers. This means you can use American miles to fly around the world on over a dozen different airlines.

While Southwest isn't part of an airline alliance, the card comes with an extremely valuable automatic benefit in the Companion Pass, giving you the ability to travel with someone for free, less taxes and fees.

The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is a solid airline credit card and designed for consumers who fly regularly with Southwest.

The card has a hefty $229 annual fee but does offer ample benefits to Southwest flyers that can help offset the cost. For instance, the anniversary 7,500 Southwest points and plus, you'll get 25% back on Southwest inflight purchases. These perks are geared toward Southwest flyers but if you can use them, which shouldn't be too hard if you fly Southwest a handful of times per year, then you'll likely enjoy having the Southwest Priority card in your wallet.

The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is a great choice for someone who flies Southwest often.

The welcome bonus, as well as the benefits of earning Southwest Rapid Rewards points on all eligible purchases, and multiple Upgraded Boarding's each year make the card worth considering.

As always, its never advised to apply for a credit card when you're not in a solid financial situation. But as long as you follow your budget carefully and continue to invest for the future, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is worth considering for any avid Southwest flyer.

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Information about the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of the card prior to publication.

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the benefits may be provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.