New Southwest Business Card with 80k Bonus

The brand new Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Credit Card is exciting. Its benefits package is loaded, the 80,000 point bonus is huge, and it makes getting a Companion Pass easy.

If you are eligible to open a business card, keep reading. If you’re not sure you’re eligible, don’t move on so fast. Read the linked post and make sure whether you’re eligible or not, because ignoring business credit cards leaves a lot of bonus miles and points on the table. You don’t need employees nor even an Employee Identification Number to be eligible.

What’s up With the Companion Pass

A Southwest Companion Pass allows your chosen Companion, which you can change three times per calendar year, to fly for free with you apart from a few dollars in taxes for the remainder of the calendar year you earn it in + the following year. Earning 110,000 qualifying points will get you a Companion Pass, and points earned from the Southwest credit cards count. You’d earn at least 85,000 Rapid Rewards for meeting the minimum spend on the Southwest Performance Business Card, leaving you only 25,000 points away from the Companion Pass. You can earn the rest by…

• booking Southwest flights
• spending on your new credit card (the category bonuses should help you earn points faster)
• opening one consumer Southwest credit card (read about all your options in our Southwest Companion Pass overview), all of which have 40k bonuses for $1k minimum spend
• opening the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Credit Card (more on eligibility below, but yes, you can open and hold both of Southwest’s business credit cards at once)

But beyond the fact that this new business card makes getting the Companion Pass easy, it comes with a handful of valuable benefits that make it very attractive for any regular Southwest flyer.

Quick Facts

• Sign up bonus: 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. With points that are worth about 1.5 cents each, that’s ~$1,275 in Southwest flights!
• Anniversary Bonus: 9,000 bonus points after your Cardmember anniversary (worth ~$135, bringing the effective annual fee to $64)
• Category Bonuses:
  • 3 points per $1 spent on Southwest Airlines® purchases.
  • 2 points per $1 spent on social media and search engine advertising, Internet, cable and phone services and 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
• Inflight Perks:
  • 4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available
  • 365 $8 Inflight WiFi Credits (wifi access on one device costs $8)
• Global Entry or TSA Pre✓^® Fee Credit (worth up to $100)
• No foreign transaction fees
• Annual Fee: $199

I already have (or had recently) the Southwest Premier Business card. Can I still get this new business card?

Yep.

These are the terms from the application for the Performance card,

This new Cardmember bonus offer is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of this business credit card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of this business credit card who received a new Cardmember bonus for this business credit card within the last 24 months. 

That means the only people who are not eligible for the bonus on the Performance Business card are those who already have one or have earned a bonus on one within the last 24 months. The terms do not reference the Premier Business card (nor any of the consumer cards, but that’s not a surprise as consumer and business cards are almost always considered separate products in terms of eligibility rules).

This means there’s now another path to the Companion Pass: opening and meeting the minimum spends on a Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Credit Card as well as a Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Credit Card.

Back in early 2018 they made it harder to get the Companion Pass by closing the door on the ability to open multiple Southwest consumer cards. Having any of the Southwest consumer cards renders you ineligible for another. You aren’t eligible for another until you close the existing one and wait 24 months past when you earned the bonus on the old one. This rule does not apply to either of the business cards, so if you’re trying to figure out way to earn 110k points for the Companion Pass but can’t get another consumer card, go for another business card! It’s also the smart way to earn the Companion Pass if you’re trying to keep your 5/24 total under 5/24, as business cards don’t add to your total. To be clear, you do need to be under 5/24 to begin with to be eligible for ANY Chase card, including business cards.

IMPORTANT NOTE: It’s not recommended to apply for more than one Chase business card in a 30 day period, so if you decide to apply for both, space out your applications appropriately.

Bottom Line

Chase and Southwest just introduced a new co-branded credit card: the Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Credit Card.

It comes with a huge 80k bonus for a $5k minimum spending requirement, a shiny benefits package, and a kind of expensive $199 annual fee to match. And interestingly, it appears from the wording of the terms on the Performance card that one person can open and earn the bonus on both Southwest business cards.

If you’re a Southwest fan, don’t forget to enter our $101 Southwest Gift Giveaway! I’ll be picking a winner this Saturday. Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business card.