The Southwest Rapid Rewards 50,000 points offer from Chase is back (OFFER EXPIRED).
As expected the bonus offer increased again to the 50,000 level after dropping down to 25,000 points for a few months. This is one of my all-time favorite bonus offers because there are four versions of the card–both a business and personal card in the premier and plus versions.
Over my last two rounds of credit card applications I have been approved for both the personal and business card at the same time, racking up a total of 200,000 Rapid Reward points and the companion pass.
Application links:
(Note: The 50,000 offer is only valid for first time card holders of each product. That means you can only earn the bonus once for each version of the card.)
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Card
- Earn 50,000 points after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months (OFFER EXPIRED)
- $69 annual fee
- 3,000 bonus miles each year on anniversary
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Card
- Earn 50,000 points after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months (OFFER EXPIRED)
- $99 annual fee
- 6,000 bonus miles each year on anniversary
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Business Card
- Earn 50,000 points after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months (OFFER EXPIRED)
- $69 annual fee
- 3,000 bonus miles each year on anniversary
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Card
- Earn 50,000 points after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months (OFFER EXPIRED)
- $99 annual fee
- 6,000 bonus miles each year on anniversary
The offer is advertised as 2 roundtrip flights, but I have found that I have been able to get about 4 free roundtrip flights if I book them as Southwest®’s Wanna Get Away® Fares like when booking an award ticket from Oregon to California. The number of flights you will get out of the offer will be less if you are taking longer flights across the country, but you will get enough for 2 average round trip fares.
Since Southwest bases its points on a fixed rate redemption value, you will get $800 in travel in Wanna Get Away Fares. When redeeming at the ‘Wanna Get Away’ fare level you will get a value of 1.67 cents per point. Award availability is also very good with Southwest and if a ticket is for sale you can purchase it with points. I have found that Wanna Get Away fare are easily available to book far enough in advance.
The Companion Pass
One of the most lucrative aspects of the Southwest offer is that after you earn 110,000 qualifying points in one calendar year, then you will earn the Southwest Companion Pass. This lets you assign one person as your ‘companion’ to fly with you for free (only pay $10 in taxes) anytime you book a ticket, even with the points you earned from the offer. In essence if you earn the companion pass, you are doubling the value of the points.
The best part is that the 50,000 points you can earn from this offer are eligible to go towards Companion Pass status. The easiest way to do this is by getting both the personal and business card offers for a total of 100,000 miles and earning an additional 10,000 points through spending.
This is normally a limited time offer, but in the past it has been available for about a month or longer, but technically it is a limited time offer so who really knows when it will end.
*If you found this post useful, why don’t sign-up to receive free blog posts via email (max of 1 email per day!) or like us on Facebook…and never miss an update!