Southwest and Chase are offering increased sign-up bonuses on the personal Southwest credit cards. Sites with affiliate links are promoting this as the “best bonus this year.” This bonus is scheduled to end on 9/17/25.
The best Southwest credit card sign-up bonuses
 Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card Annual fee: $99 | Sign-up bonus: Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 in the first 5 months from account opening. Learn how to apply. Offers the lowest-cost way to get a 10,000 qualifying point boost toward Companion Pass® each year and the lowest-cost way to get a free checked bag on Southwest when Southwest changes its free checked bag policy. |
 Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card Annual fee: $149 | Sign-up bonus: Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 in the first 5 months from account opening. Learn how to apply. The lowest-cost card offering both tier-qualifying points and an annual Companion Pass® boost. All information about the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com. |
 Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card Annual fee: $229 | Sign-up bonus: Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 in the first 5 months from account opening. Learn how to apply. The best value card for Southwest flyers thanks to its $75 annual Southwest travel credit and 7,500 bonus Rapid Rewards points each year. |
 Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card Annual fee: $149 | Sign-up bonus: Earn 60,000 points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Learn how to apply. A lower-cost option for small business owners who wouldn’t get value out of the Performance Business card’s wifi credits. |
 Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card Annual fee: $299 | Sign-up bonus: Earn 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Learn how to apply. The best card for small business owners who frequently use Southwest’s in-flight wifi. |
My take on the welcome bonuses:
The current 100,000 bonuses on the personal Southwest cards are definitely worth considering if you plan to fly Southwest—these are the largest bonuses (in terms of points) that I’ve seen recently. And if Southwest has the best options for where/when you fly, it’s probably worth it to pick up a Southwest credit card now that the cards are your ticket to getting a free bag on Southwest.
Personally, I won’t be picking up a new Southwest airlines credit card this time around—historically, I’ve used Southwest as a “secondary” airline. When Delta got too greedy with its pricing, Southwest was historically a good option for me, thanks to its (previous) two bags fly free policy. And the miles were a reasonable value because they could be used consistently for about 1.3 cents of travel each.
While having a credit card would get me free checked bags, I’m much less interested in Southwest miles these days, since the airline implemented dynamic point valuations, meaning that sometimes points are worth much less than they used to be. I don’t fly Southwest often enough to continue to pay a credit card annual fee, and if I don’t hold a credit card, I no longer get free bags—making the miles worth even less to me.
