Card benefits change often, and this page may be out of date by the time you read it. Always check the bank’s page and your card’s guide to benefits for the current terms before you rely on a benefit.
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus is the cheapest of Chase’s three personal Southwest cards: a $99 annual fee, 3,000 anniversary points, and since the 2025 refresh a free first checked bag and Group 5 boarding for you and up to 8 people on the same reservation.
Southwest now charges most passengers for bags and has assigned seats, so the card perks matter more than they used to, and the Plus gets you the ones that matter most for the lowest fee. Below is how it earns, what each credit takes, the protections in Chase’s own numbers, the application rules, the Companion Pass angle, and my verdict.
Southwest Plus at a glance
- Annual fee: $99
- Current public offer: 50,000 points after $1,000 in purchases in the first 3 months (as of October 14, 2026, per Frequent Miler)
- Is it the best ever?: No. It was 80,000 points for the same $1,000 of spend until July 2, 2026, and 100,000 points in summer 2025, so if you’re not in a hurry, waiting for another increase is reasonable.
- Foreign transaction fee: None
- Best for: Anyone who flies Southwest at least once or twice a year with a checked bag, especially families, since the free bag and Group 5 boarding cover everyone on your reservation.
- Skip it if: You rarely fly Southwest, or you’d rather earn flexible points; the free bag is the whole reason to hold this card.
- Bank’s page: Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus on chase.com
Jump to: Highlights · Earning · Credits · Bags, boarding and perks · Insurance · Application rules · My take · The catch · Keep it? · Offer history · Quick Answers
The highlights
- 2x Southwest, 2x gas stations and grocery stores (first $5,000 a year combined), 2x Lyft through 12/31/2027, 1x elsewhere
- Top tier: free first checked bag for you and up to 8 people on the same reservation, tied for the most companions of any card I review (United’s cards cover one companion, the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select four), and the cheapest card that does it on Southwest
- Group 5 boarding for the whole reservation and a free Standard seat within 48 hours of departure, when available
- 3,000 anniversary points and a 10% flight promo code each anniversary year (not valid on Basic fares)
- 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each calendar year; points earned on the card also count toward the pass
- 25% back on inflight drinks and Wi-Fi
- $10 monthly Instacart credit while you have Instacart+ (3 months free), DashPass plus $10 off one non-restaurant DoorDash order a quarter, through 12/31/2027
- Lost luggage, baggage delay, secondary rental car coverage, purchase protection and extended warranty; no foreign transaction fees
How it earns
| Category | Rate | Caps and fine print |
|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines purchases | 2x | Flights, inflight, Southwest gift cards and Getaways packages |
| Gas stations and grocery stores | 2x | First $5,000 in combined purchases each anniversary year, then 1x |
| Lyft rides in the Lyft app | 2x | Through 12/31/2027; gift cards and car rentals excluded |
| Everything else | 1x | — |
Southwest points are worth roughly 1.3 cents each toward Southwest fares by Upgraded Points’ estimate, they don’t expire, and they stay in Southwest (they don’t transfer to other programs). Every point you earn on the card also counts toward the Companion Pass.
Credits and how to use them
Chase lists a handful of partner perks on this card. Only the anniversary points are automatic; the rest depend on services you may not use.
| Credit | Amount | How often | Where / how | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anniversary points | 3,000 points | Each account anniversary | Automatic | Worth roughly $40 toward Southwest fares. The easiest benefit on the card. |
| 10% flight promo code | 10% off the base fare | Each anniversary year | Code sent on your anniversary, valid one year | Base fare only, not Basic fares. |
| Inflight purchases | 25% back | Ongoing | Statement credit on Southwest inflight drinks and Wi-Fi | — |
| Instacart credit | $10 a month | Monthly | One $10+ Instacart order while you’re an Instacart+ member | Only the first 3 months of Instacart+ are free; after that it renews at $99 a year unless you cancel, so this is only worth it if you’d pay for Instacart+ anyway. Through 12/31/2027; unused months don’t roll over. |
| DoorDash non-restaurant promo | $10 off one order a quarter | Calendar quarter | Grocery, convenience and other non-restaurant DoorDash orders with DashPass | Needs its own non-restaurant order each quarter. Through 12/31/2027. |
| DashPass membership | 12 months free | Once | Activate between 2/1/2025 and 12/31/2027 | Renews at the monthly rate afterward unless you cancel. |
Bags, boarding and other perks
- Free first checked bag for you and up to 8 people on the same reservation, on Southwest-operated flights, as long as your Rapid Rewards number is on the reservation. Chase puts the savings at $45 per bag each way. Authorized users don’t get this benefit on their own reservations.
- Group 5 boarding for you and up to 8 people on the same reservation. Since Southwest moved to assigned seats, everyone boards in groups 1 to 8: A-List members and Choice Extra fares go first, cardmembers are in Group 5 unless they qualify for something earlier, and Basic fares board last in Group 8. With assigned seats this mostly decides how much overhead bin space is left.
- Standard seat within 48 hours: if your fare doesn’t include a seat choice, you can pick a Standard seat within 48 hours of departure when one is available, instead of being assigned one.
- 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each calendar year (by January 31, or within 30 days of opening the account). The Companion Pass lets one person you choose fly with you for just the taxes (from $5.60 each way) on every Southwest flight you buy or book with points. It takes 135,000 qualifying points or 100 one-way flights in a calendar year and lasts the rest of that year and all of the next; card points and the welcome bonus count, bought or transferred points don’t.
- Southwest perks for everyone: no change fees (you pay any fare difference), no blackout dates on reward seats, and points that don’t expire.
Insurance and protections
| Benefit | What the bank says |
|---|---|
| Auto rental collision damage waiver | Up to $60,000 for theft and collision damage, secondary in the U.S. (primary outside the U.S. or if you have no other insurance), rentals up to 31 days; you have to decline the rental company’s CDW. This comes from the guide to benefits; the card page doesn’t list it. |
| Trip delay | None |
| Trip cancellation / interruption | None |
| Baggage delay | Up to $100 a day for up to 3 days after a 6-hour delay One-way and award tickets: Yes to both: the guide covers round-trip or one-way fares paid all or in part with the card or its rewards, so putting the award taxes on the card counts. |
| Lost luggage | Up to $3,000 per covered traveler ($2,000 per bag and $10,000 per trip for New York residents) One-way and award tickets: Yes to both, same rule as baggage delay. |
| Travel accident insurance | Up to $500,000 on common carrier trips when all or part of the fare is on the card (per the guide) |
| Roadside assistance | Pay-per-use dispatch at a pre-negotiated price, not free |
| Purchase protection | 120 days, up to $500 per item (90 days for New York residents) |
| Extended warranty | Adds one year to U.S. warranties of three years or less |
The card page lists lost luggage, baggage delay, purchase protection and extended warranty. The rental car, travel accident and roadside terms, and the one-way and award ticket rules, come from the Guide to Benefits that the card page links to (Visa Signature, effective 10/01/24). Claims need receipts and the airline’s delay or loss report.
For how this compares with other cards, see my card travel benefits comparison.
Application rules for this card
- You can’t get this card if you have any Southwest personal card open now (Plus, Premier or Priority), and the bonus isn’t available if you received a new cardmember bonus on any Southwest personal card in the last 24 months. Chase’s page says this doesn’t apply to the Southwest business cards, so you can hold one personal and one business Southwest card (Chase rules).
- Chase’s 5/24 rule applies: you’ll be denied if you’ve opened 5 or more personal cards from any bank in the last 24 months.
- Because of the one-card rule, pick the Southwest card you want before you apply; you can’t collect bonuses on the Plus, Premier and Priority one after another.
The full rules for every bank are in my credit card application rules guide.
My take
A $99 fee minus the 3,000 anniversary points (roughly $40) makes it about $60 a year in my eyes, and one round trip where two people each check a bag ($180 at Southwest’s $45 a bag) pays for that three times over. For anyone who flies Southwest with bags even once a year, this is the Southwest card I would pick, since the Premier and Priority mostly add anniversary points and seat perks.
The Companion Pass angle: the welcome bonus and the yearly 10,000-point boost both count toward the 135,000 qualifying points, so the bonus alone gets you a good part of the way, and the pass lasts through the end of the following year. The usual approach is to have the bonus post early in a calendar year rather than late, so the pass runs for nearly two years. That’s only worth planning around if you’ll fly Southwest a lot with the same person.
In any case, I personally would hate to sign up at 50,000 points when 80,000 was available as recently as July 2026.
The catch
Southwest’s 2025 and 2026 changes (bag fees for everyone else, assigned seats, Basic fares that board last) are exactly why the card perks are worth more now, but they also made Southwest points less of a slam dunk than they used to be. The 2x on gas and groceries stops after $5,000 a year combined, and 3,000 anniversary points is a small thank-you.
The bag benefit only works on Southwest-operated flights with your Rapid Rewards number on the reservation, and authorized users don’t get it for their own trips.
The Instacart and DoorDash perks only help if you already pay for or use those services, and the Instacart credit needs a $99-a-year membership after the free 3 months. Chase, like other banks with similar hard-to-use credits, hopes that you forget to use these benefits.
Keep it after year one?
The fee to me is $99 minus the 3,000 anniversary points (about $40), which is roughly $60. If you take even one Southwest trip a year where someone checks a bag, keep it. If you’ve stopped flying Southwest, cancel it or ask Chase what it can switch you to, since Chase doesn’t offer a no-fee Southwest card.
Offer history
| Offer | Ended |
|---|---|
| 85K after $3K in 3 months (best ever) | 2025-12 |
Other recent offers, per Upgraded Points’ offer history: 80,000 points after $1,000 (May to July 2, 2026), a Companion Pass through February 2027 plus 20,000 points after $3,000 (February to March 2026), and 100,000 points after $4,000 in 5 months (July to September 2025).
Quick Answers
$99 a year as of October 2026. It isn’t waived the first year.
As of October 14, 2026 the public offer is 50,000 points after $1,000 in purchases in the first 3 months. It was 80,000 points for the same spend until July 2, 2026.
Yes. Since the 2025 refresh, the first checked bag is free for you and up to 8 people on the same reservation on Southwest-operated flights, as long as your Rapid Rewards number is on the reservation.
No. Chase only lets you hold one Southwest personal card, and the bonus isn’t available if you got a Southwest personal card bonus in the last 24 months. You can hold a Southwest business card alongside it.
Yes. The welcome bonus and all points earned on the card count toward the 135,000 qualifying points, and the card adds a 10,000-point Companion Pass boost each calendar year.
Last checked: October 14, 2026. Card terms change often, so confirm on the bank’s page before you apply. There are no affiliate or referral links on this site, ever; links go to the bank’s own page.