The
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card is the best value among the current selection of Southwest Airlines credit card offers. That’s especially true early on. The Southwest Plus Card offers the same big initial rewards bonus as the other Southwest cards for personal use but charges a lower annual fee, at
$69.
Based on the
average person’s spending habits, the Southwest Plus Card figures to be worth more than $1,000 in net savings for users who avoid interest by always paying the monthly bill in full. The initial bonus has a lot to do with that, as does the card’s 2 point per $1 rewards rate on Southwest and Rapid Rewards purchases. Receiving 3,000 bonus points after each account anniversary helps, too.
For high odds of approval, Southwest Plus Card applicants need a good or excellent credit score (700+). If you’re still not sure whether the Southwest Plus Card is right for you, we’ll summarize the most important features of the offer below for your convenience.
Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card Review Highlights:
1. Initial Bonus: 50,000 points
New cardholders who spend
$1,000 within
3 months of opening a Southwest Plus Card account receive
50,000 bonus points. The bonus points are worth roughly
$695 in Southwest airfare, according to our calculations.
2. Annual Fee: $69
The Southwest Plus Card’s
$69 annual fee is well above the average credit card membership fee of roughly
$21.58. But it’s a big discount compared to what Southwest credit cards typically charge.
3. Ongoing Rewards Rate: 1 - 2 points per $1
Cardholders earn
2 points per $1 spent with Southwest and Rapid Rewards hotel and car partners, 2 points per $1 on local transit and commuting, including rideshare, 2 points per $1 on internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming, and 1 point per $1 on all other purchases. Southwest Rapid Rewards points are worth a little more than 1.33 cents apiece, on average, according to WalletHub’s calculations. That means the Plus Card’s regular rewards rates equal roughly 1.34% - 2.68% cash back, when redeemed for Southwest airfare.
4. Notable Benefits: 3,000-point anniversary bonus and 2 free checked bags on Southwest flights
Secondary benefits are where the Plus Card is really lacking compared to the other Southwest credit card offers.
5. Interest Rate: 21.49% - 28.49% (V)
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Card was not built for carrying a balance from month to month, at least not inexpensively. The average credit card offer has an APR of
22.9%, and many
credit cards with 0% introductory APRs are available to people with good or excellent credit right now.
6. Credit Requirement: Good or excellent credit (700+ credit score)
For a better sense of whether or not you’ll make the cut,
check your latest credit score for free on WalletHub.
You can learn more about how the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Card compares to the Premier and Priority versions from our complete
review of the latest Southwest credit card offers.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that if you happen to apply for the Southwest Plus Card and love it, you could get a referral bonus by sharing the joy. Chase’s Refer-A-Friend program gives Southwest credit card users 20,000 bonus points for each person they refer who gets approved for an account, up to a limit of 100,000 bonus points per year.
