Southwest's cobranded Chase cards are running some hefty welcome bonuses right now, and the standout is on the business side: both the Performance Business and Premier Business cards are offering 80,000 Rapid Rewards points, valued at around $1,000 by The Points Guy. The catch is that they require different levels of spending — $5,000 in three months for the $299-fee Performance card, but just $3,000 for the $149-fee Premier Business card. That Premier bonus is among the best seen on the card in six years, so if you have a small business and fly Southwest, timing is on your side.
On the personal side, the lineup looks like this: the Priority card ($229 fee) offers 60,000 points after $2,000 of spend; the Premier ($149 fee) offers 55,000 after $1,500; and the entry-level Plus ($99 fee) offers 50,000 after just $1,000 in three months. Worth knowing: TPG rates the personal offers as fairly standard or even low for these cards, so patient applicants may see better deals later.
Every card in the family comes with a genuinely useful perk — a free first checked bag for the cardholder plus up to eight companions on the same reservation. That's significant now that bag fees on Southwest run $45 each way per bag, and it can pay for the annual fee in a single family trip. Cardholders also get Group 5 priority boarding, no foreign transaction fees, a 25% discount on inflight purchases, and an annual points boost of 10,000 toward the coveted Companion Pass, which lets a designated companion fly with you for just taxes and fees.
The higher-tier cards add extra-legroom seat upgrades (Performance and Priority), credits toward Global Entry or TSA PreCheck on the Performance Business (up to $120 every four years), and anniversary bonus points ranging from 3,000 on the Plus to 9,000 on the Performance Business. Earning rates favour Southwest purchases and Lyft rides, with bonus categories for gas stations, restaurants and — on the Premier personal card — grocery stores.
A few caveats before applying. Southwest uses dynamic award pricing, so the points you redeem can cost more or fewer depending on demand, and some perks like free same-day standby only apply to certain fare types. If your real goal is the Companion Pass rather than a pile of points, TPG suggests waiting for the return of a Companion Pass sign-up offer, which historically has been the strongest deal in the Southwest card lineup. But if you have a specific redemption in mind — or a business with regular Southwest spend — the current 80,000-point business bonuses are well worth a look.
