Chase Southwest co-branded credit cards launch a wave of 100,000-point offers, with improved benefits across the board

About this 100,000-point welcome bonus

Chase has increased the welcome bonus on all three personal cards—Southwest Plus, Premier, and Priority—to 100,000 points. The spending requirement is the same for all three: earn 50,000 points after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months, then earn the remaining 50,000 points after spending $12,000 in the first 12 months. The business version of the card still has the same 80,000-point bonus as before. This welcome bonus makes it very easy to earn the buy-one-get-one Companion Pass. In addition, each card has received some benefit improvements, including more everyday bonus categories.

Companion Pass

Beyond the welcome bonus, you can also use this opportunity to pick up one of the best perks for two people flying Southwest: the Companion Pass (CP). Once you have CP, Southwest tickets essentially become buy one, get one, which is especially useful for trips with two travelers. Without relying on credit cards, CP is actually pretty hard to earn: you need to earn 125,000 Southwest points in a calendar year, or fly 100 qualifying one-way flights.

Fortunately, the welcome bonus from Southwest co-branded cards counts toward CP, and CP requires 125,000 points. One option is to apply for a business card as well, since you can only apply for one of the three personal cards. The business card currently offers an 80,000-point bonus, so if you complete the spending requirements on both cards, you can earn CP directly. However, for people without a business or for typical international students, applying for a business card still carries some risk. Another option is to fly Southwest or put more spend on the card, then earn the remaining 25,000 points to get CP.

Once you earn CP, it remains valid through the end of the following calendar year. So ideally, you would earn CP as soon as possible, in which case it would last through the end of 2022. Or, you could time your spending so that you earn the 100,000-point bonus in early 2022; then it would remain valid through December 31, 2023, effectively giving you nearly two years of CP. It is also worth noting that CP works not only on paid tickets, but also on award tickets. For two people traveling together, that means the value of your 100,000 points is effectively doubled.

• Detailed guide to Southwest Companion Pass

Southwest Plus

New benefits include:

• 2x on local transit and rideshare
• 2x on internet, cable TV, phone services, and select streaming
• 2 EarlyBird Check-In reimbursements per cardmember year: you can purchase the EarlyBird service when booking your ticket and get reimbursed for it. This service lets you board earlier and gives you more seat choices. See: EarlyBird service details
• 25% discount on inflight purchases

For long-term holders, this card is close to no-cost to keep if you actually use Southwest. After paying the $69 annual fee each year, you receive 3,000 points, making the effective annual fee just a little over $20.

Southwest Premier

New benefits include:

• 3x on Southwest purchases (previously only 2x)
• 2x on local transit and rideshare
• 2x on internet, cable TV, phone services, and select streaming
• 2 EarlyBird Check-In reimbursements per cardmember year: you can purchase the EarlyBird service when booking your ticket and get reimbursed for it. This service lets you board earlier and gives you more seat choices. See: EarlyBird service details
• 25% discount on inflight purchases
• Earn 1,500 tier qualifying points for every $10,000 spent, which can help you reach higher elite status

For long-term holders, this card is close to no-cost to keep if you actually use Southwest. After paying the $99 annual fee each year, you receive 6,000 points, making the effective annual fee about $3.

Southwest Priority

New benefits include:

• 3x on Southwest purchases (previously only 2x)
• 2x on local transit and rideshare
• 2x on internet, cable TV, phone services, and select streaming
• 25% discount on inflight purchases
• Earn 1,500 tier qualifying points for every $10,000 spent, which can help you reach higher elite status

After paying the $149 annual fee each year, you receive 7,500 points, and there is also a $75 annual Southwest travel credit, which makes this effectively a negative annual fee card.

Southwest Performance Business

New benefits include:

• 4x on Southwest purchases
• 2x on local transit and rideshare
• Earn 1,500 tier qualifying points for every $10,000 spent, which can help you reach higher elite status
• Up to $500 in reimbursement for point transfer fees. Southwest charges a $10 fee for every 1,000 points transferred from one account to another, so this effectively allows up to 50,000 points to be transferred to another account for free each year. Realistically, this seems mainly useful for buying or selling points.

Summary

The 100,000-point welcome bonus is quite good, and with some planning, you can also time your CP earning to get nearly two years of value out of it. But whether this makes sense really depends on whether you have actual travel needs and whether Southwest has suitable routes from your home airport. From a benefits perspective, these changes are decent for people who can use them, but they are not the kind of perks that make the cards broadly compelling or easy to cash out. Overall, these cards are still best suited for people who genuinely fly Southwest. Otherwise, there is not much point in collecting a bunch of Southwest points, especially since Southwest does not really serve international long-haul needs.