Southwest offers a handful of credit cards that you can use to earn Southwest Rapid Rewards Points across your everyday purchases. You can also earn a bunch of points with Southwest by using credit cards offered by Southwest's transfer partners which gives you alternative ways to build your points faster spending across different categories.
- Best For Flexible Travel Rewards: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- Best For High Value: Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- Best For Business Travel Rewards: Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
- Best For Frequent Southwest Travelers: Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
Best For Flexible Travel Rewards
If you want to earn a steady stream of flexible rewards on your spend without all the bells and whistles of the Chase Sapphire Reserve, then consider the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
It offers 5X points on travel purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3X on online grocery purchases, select streaming services, and dining purchases, 2X on other travel purchases, and 1X on everything else. Points can be transferred to Southwest Rapid Rewards at a 1:1 ratio.
Points earned with the card can be redeemed for 1.25 cents each towards travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards. This gives you a great alternative in the case you want to redeem your points for hotels, car rentals, or another airline.
You'll also receive an annual $50 hotel credit redeemable towards hotel bookings made through Chase Ultimate Rewards as well as superb travel insurance when you use the card to pay for your travel.
Overall, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great option if you enjoy flying Southwest and want to earn some excellent travel rewards.
Intro Bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Learn More about the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Best For High Value
If you're looking to maximize your spending on dining and travel, the easiest way to do that is by using the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.
It earns earns 10X Ultimate Rewards Points on Chase Dining purchases and both hotel and car rental purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 5X on airline travel purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3X on dining and other travel purchases, and 1X on everything else. Points can be transferred to Southwest Rapid Rewards at a rate of 1:1. This allows you to earn the equivalent of 3X on Southwest purchases.
As a Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholder, you'll be able to redeem Ultimate Rewards Points for a value of 1.5 cents each towards travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards. This gives you an easy, high-value redemption option that can be great if you can't find great award redemption with Southwest.
Other great benefits include up to $300 in annual travel credit, Priority Pass Select membership, and superb travel insurance.
Intro Bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Learn More about the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Best For Business Travel Rewards
Looking to earn a steady stream of Southwest Points for your business? Then divert your attention to the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card.
It earns 3X Ultimate Rewards Points on the first $150,000 spent on travel, shipping, internet, cable, phone, and advertising purchases and 1X on all other purchases. Points can be transferred directly to Southwest Rapid Rewards at a 1:1 ratio.
As a cardholder, points can be redeemed for 1.25 cents each towards travel redemptions in the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. This gives your business the ability to be flexible with how you want to redeem your rewards.
Like all Chase credit cards, the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card also offers top-notch travel insurance which is great if business plans change.
Intro Bonus: Earn 100k bonus points after you spend $15,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $1,000 cash back or $1,250 toward travel when redeemed through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Learn More about the Ink Business Preferred.
Best For Frequent Southwest Travelers
If you fly Southwest often and you're looking for the most benefits, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is going to be the best option.
The card earns 3X Southwest Rapid Rewards Points on Southwest purchases, 2X across local transit, commuting, internet, cable, phone services, and streaming purchases, and 1X on all other purchases.
Benefits of the card include an annual $75 travel credit, four upgraded boardings annually, 7,500 anniversary points annually, the ability to earn Tier Qualifying Points on credit card spend, and much more.
Overall, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card is the best option for Southwest and offers exceptional value that easily outweighs the annual fee.
Intro Bonus: Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
Learn More about the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card.
Best Credit Cards Summary
| Credit Card | Best For | Annual Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card | Flexible Travel Rewards | $95 |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve® | High Value | $550 |
| Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card | Business Travel Rewards | $95 |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card | Frequent Southwest Travelers | $149 |
Southwest Point Calculator
Use the Southwest Points Calculator to find out which credit cards will earn you the most Southwest Points based on the spend amounts you enter.
Results will be sorted by net return which is the average value of the rewards earned, plus annual credits, and minus annual fees. You'll want to take into consideration the benefits a card offers as well on top of the estimated value calculated.
Results will consist of top-rated credit cards that either earn Southwest Points directly or earn rewards that can be transferred directly to the Southwest Rapid Rewards program.
Click Search For The Best Cards to find out which credit cards will offer you the most value based on the spend amounts you entered.
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These estimates are to help guide you towards making the best decision when it comes to picking up a rewards credit card. They should be used for illustrative purposes only.
All spend entered in the fields above will carry over to every credit card rewards calculator on the site so there's no need to re-enter spend.
