Chase Southwest Priority Credit Card Review
Chase has been the provider of the Southwest credit cards for a while now. They recently added a new member to the Southwest credit card family and it is supposed to be their premium card. In this Chase Southwest Priority credit card review we will go over the welcome bonus, card perks, earning structure and give our overall recommendations.
It is rumored that this card may be replacing the old Southwest Premiere credit card. Some Southwest Premier cardholders are even being sent 5,000 mile upgrade offers.
SOME OF THESE OFFERS MAY HAVE ENDED OR CHANGED
Current Welcome Bonus vs Historical High
The new Southwest Priority credit card comes with the following welcome bonus:
- 40,000 Rapid Rewards points after $1,000 in spend within the first 3 months
- $149 Annual fee is NOT waived
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Bonus Restrictions
The Chase Southwest Priority credit card does fall under the dreaded Chase 5/24 rule.
The card also has the standard 24 month bonus restriction language:
“The product is not available to either current cardmembers of any Southwest Rapids Rewards credit card, or previous cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card who received a new cardmember bonus within the last 24 months. This does not apply to cardmembers of the Southwest Rapid Rewards business card and employee credit card products.”
This language lumps all personal Southwest cards together. Because of this newer rule if you currently have a personal Southwest card you can not get this card.
It is worth noting that Chase has been shutting down accounts of people with too many recent applications and for people with to much credit available to them across all banks. These are two things to be aware of before applying.
Earning Structure
The Chase Southwest Priority credit card comes with the following earning structure:
- 2x Southwest points per $1 spent on Southwest purchases
- 2X Southwest points per $1 spent on Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases
- 1X Southwest point per dollar on every other purchase
Cardmember Perks
Chase added some cardmember perks that are unique to the Southwest Priority credit card. The card’s perks are as follows:
- 7500 Rapid Rewards points once your annual fee is paid every year
- $75 in annual Southwest credit (does not work for upgrades or inflight purchases)
- 4 upgraded boardings per year (when available)
- 20% back on inflight purchases
- No foreign transaction fees
- Earn tier points towards status through spend
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Fees
The Chase Southwest Priority credit card comes with a $149 annual which is NOT waived the first year.
SOME OF THESE OFFERS MAY HAVE ENDED OR CHANGED
Welcome Bonus Value – $600 ($451 Net)
Southwest Rapid Rewards points are worth 1.5 cents a piece on average, when taking taxes into account. That puts the 40,000 point welcome bonus at a value of $600. Once you subtract the $149 annual fee you are left with a net value of $451.
This calculation does not include the $75 in Southwest credit. You can add that into your calculations if you so choose.
Summary
Chase had a great opportunity to make this a compelling premium product for Southwest loyalists. The Chase Southwest Priority credit card falls a little flat of that mark.
The earning structure is essentially the same as the other Southwest products and below the Chase Sapphire Reserve. The perks are middle of the road as well.
The $75 credit is nice and it should be easy to use for Southwest loyalists but it is a shame that in flight purchases and upgrades don’t count. The 4 upgrades can save you up to $160 but it is more like $60 since you can purchase early bird ahead of time for $15. If you should forget to check in for a flight or get an undesirable boarding assignment these can be your get out of jail free card. Especially if you have issues with the Southwest boarding procedure to begin with.
Since this is supposed to be a premium product it would have been nice to see lower tier status attached since it doesn’t get you much to begin with. Or at least 3 points per dollar on Southwest purchases.
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Long Term Keeper?
If you fly Southwest often and value the perks of the card it could be a long term keeper. After taking the $75 yearly credit into account the annual fee drops below $100. The 7500 anniversary points are worth $112.50 so you are coming out a little ahead already. Then you throw in the 4 upgraded boarding passes each year and there is some value to be had. But that only makes sense if you fly Southwest a half a dozen times or more per year.
Earning tier credits through spend is too costly to be seriously considered. They have it at a rate of 1,500 tier credits per $10,000 in spend.
Conclusion
The Chase Southwest Priority credit card comes with a large welcome bonus but it comes with a hefty amount of spend required. The earning structure is below average and the card perks are middle of the road.
Having said that there is some value in the card on a year to year basis if you maximize the perks. If you fly Southwest often this could be a card you keep long term because of the anniversary points and yearly credit. If you do decide to keep it you probably won’t pull it out of your wallet all that often.
Overall the Southwest Plus card is probably the better option when the welcome offer is in the 50-60,000 point range.
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If there’s a poor response to this card do you think they will increase the bonus?
I think it will most likely drop at the end of August. I don’t see it going higher than 65k in the future. I think it would be more likely for the 15k min spend to be lowered at some point.
Can the $75 annual credit be used to pay the $5.60 segment fee on flights booked with points?
The terms don’t specify either way. I would lean towards yes that they would but I can not say for sure.