
Verdict: A great card for consumers that fly frequently with Southwest Airlines. Earn reward points on every purchase, with double points at Southwest Airlines and certain hotels and rental car services.
Overview:
The rewards you earn with your Southwest Airlines card can be traded in for fully transferrable roundtrip tickets to any of 64 Southwest locations, including Las Vegas, Orlando, and the new New York location. With a low APR and annual fee, this card makes sense for people that fly with Southwest Airlines.
How This Card Works:
The Southwest Airlines card earns reward dollars on every purchase, with double points earned on certain things, such as Southwest Airline flights and certain hotels and rental serices. 1,200 reward dollars is equal to 1 rapid reward credit. 16 credits within 2 years is good for one roundtrip flight. You also receive up to 16 reward credits during your first 90 days when you use your Southwest card for the first time and make balance transfers.
This card is good anywhere Visa is accepted and comes with lost luggage insurance, auto car insurance, travel accident insurance, and emergency cash and card replacement.
Shopping and Travel Benefits:
You earn 8 Rapid Rewards credits the first time you use your Southwest Airlines card and up to 8 additional credits with balance transfers during the first 90 days. This is enough credit for a roundtrip ticket to any of 64 Southwest destinations, including Las Vegas and Orlando. You also receive 1 Reward Dollar for every $1 you spend on anything, with bonus Reward Dollars earned on Southwest flights, vacation packages, Southwest Gift cards, and certain hotels and rental car services partnered with Southwest. 1,200 Reward Dollars is equal to 1 Rapid Reward credit. 16 credits within 24 months is enough for one fully transferrable roundtrip flight. You’ll also automatically receive 2 Rapid Reward credits every year on your cardmember anniversary.
Your Southwest Airline card also gives you the protection of emergency cash and card replacement, travel accident insurance, auto car coverage, lost luggage insurance, and lost/stolen card reporting.
If you qualify for the Visa Signature you also get access to exclusive events and concerts, discounts and hotel upgrades, last minute dinner reservations, 24 hour personal assistance, and no pre-set spending limit.
Fees:
The variable APR for purchases is 13.24%, with a default APR of 29.99%. For balance transfers, a variable rate of 13.24% applies; for cash advances, 19.24%. The overdraft APR for the Southwest Airlines card is 19.24% as well. The grace period for this credit card is 20 days. An annual fee of $59 is charged for Signature cardholders and $39 for Classic cardholders. The transaction fee for balance transfers is 3%, a minimum of $5. For cash advances, a transaction fee of 3% also applies, with a minimum fee of $10. Late fees are $15 for balances up to $100, $29 if the balance is between $100 and $250, and $39 for balances over $250. The over the limit fee is $39 for Classic cardholders. There is no over the limit fee for Signature cardholders.
Pros:
- Earn fully transferrable roundtrip tickets
- 64 Southwest locations
- Low APR
- Low annual fee
- Travel insurance
Cons:
- Very high default rate








Comments:
April 14th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
[...] Shout presents Southwest Airlines Card from Chase Review posted at [...]
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:10 pm
The rapid rewards and everything is all OK, but the chase people are not very customer friendly. I would ask everyone to be very careful with their rules, as there is no forgiving even if you make a small mistake. They wont forgive you even for a single day delay in payments.
May 13th, 2010 at 6:54 am
I love my Southwest Rapid Rewards card! You are able to earn flight credits through many other card sources, supplementing flights and contracted purchases. There was a Teleflora deal for Mother’s Day this year I was able to use. Check your email for those specials.