Southwest Airlines Co. and JP Morgan Chase have introduced a new priority credit card that come with more benefits than the previous card, which come at a higher price with an annual fee of $149 compared to the $99 Rapid Rewards Premier Card. The best part is, the card can earn customers with 65,000 bonus points within the first year of opening an account.
The new Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card comes with plenty of benefits for travelers, which includes 7,500 bonus anniversary points every year, allows up to four upgraded boardings each year when available, a $75 Southwest annual travel credit, and 20 percent back on in-flight purchases. Customers who spend $1,000 in the first three months after opening the account can get 40,000 bonus points and an additional 25,000 points more when they spend a total of $15,000 within the first year.
“Our customers are always out top priority, and we’re making it even easier for them to travel and get rewarded,” said Chase Co-Brand Cards President Leslie Gillin. “Our Southwest card members told us they wanted faster boarding and in-flight benefits, so we added brand new features to make them a priority both in the air and on the ground.”
Similar to previous card offerings, the Southwest Priority Card also come with two Rapid Rewards points earned per dollar spent on Southwest and on its rental car and hotel partners, one point earned per dollar on other expenditures, the ability to earn tier-qualifying points for A-List and A-list preferred status based on spending (1,500 tier-qualifying points per $10,000, up to a maximum of 15,000 points).
Additionally, points earned while using the card can count toward the airline’s coveted Companion Pass, which allows a friend or family member to travel with you for free for a year). All points earned don’t expire as long as the account remains open and any purchase on the card outside the U.S. will carry no foreign transaction fee.
The new card offering comes at the heels of previous announcements made by other credit companies like Barclays and its Arrival Premier card that offers more rewards for customers that keep their cards longer.