Credit Card News
Southwest Increases Annual Fees on Rapid Rewards Credit Cards
As Southwest Airlines continues to revamp its operations, the carrier has unveiled updates to its co-branded credit cards that include new benefits alongside a hike in annual fees.
About the Updated Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Cards:
Chase and Southwest have unveiled revamped versions of their Rapid Rewards credit card line-up, including the Rapid Rewards Plus card, Rapid Rewards Premier card, and the Rapid Rewards Priority card.
First, the annual fees for all three cards will be increased. The Rapid Rewards Plus card will go from $69 to $99 per year, while the Rapid Rewards Premier card will increase from $99 to $149. Meanwhile, the Rapid Rewards Priority card will now come at a cost of $229 per year — up from the previous $149 annual fee.
With these changes, Southwest has also added some new benefits to each card. For example, cardholders will enjoy earlier boarding (Group 5) for themselves and up to eight travel companions on the same reservations. As previously announced, cardholders will also have new seating perks starting in 2026, including the ability for Priority cardholders to select preferred seats at booking for themselves and up to eight others on their reservation — and potentially upgrade to Extra Legroom seats 48 hours before departure at no additional cost.
There are also some card-specific updates to benefits. Starting with the Rapid Rewards Plus card, it will now earn 2x points on up to $5,000 in combined gas station and grocery store spending per cardholder anniversary year. Plus, each anniversary year, cardholders will receive a promo code for 10% off any non-Basic fare flight.
As for the Rapid Rewards Premier card, it will earn 2x points on up to $8,000 in combined spending at grocery stores and restaurants per cardholder anniversary year. Additionally, similar to the Plus perk, cardmembers will receive a promotion code for 15% off a non-Basic fare flight each anniversary year.
Finally, the Rapid Rewards Priority card will now earn 4x points on Southwest purchases versus 2x previously. It will also earn 2x points at gas stations and at restaurants (with no spending cap). Plus, for every $5,000 cardholders spend on the card, they’ll earn 2,5000 Tier Qualify Points toward A-List status rather than 1,500. However, the Priority card will no longer offer the $75 annual travel credit.
In celebration of the revamped cards launching, Chase and Southwest are offering a special weclome bonus. New Plus, Premier, and Priority cardholders can currently earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on the card withing their first five months (from account opening). This offer will be available through September 17th.
My Thoughts:
Once Southwest began charging for checked luggage but added a free bag perk to its credit cards, it was pretty clear that a fee hike such as this would be inevitable. To their credit, though, the Rapid Rewards Plus Card could still be a steal of a deal for flyers even with the increased $99 fee. In fact, a family of three could surpass that fee in checked luggage fee savings for just a single flight ($35 per bag for three people would be $105 per way).
Just as Southwest is starting to resemble the major domestic carriers it once stood out from, these updates to their co-branded credit card lineup put them in line with cards from those same rivals (although the five-month timeline for the welcome bonus is unique). So, while there is likely still value to be found with these Rapid Rewards cards, long-time fans will surely still mourn the direction things are headed in.
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