Card benefits change often, and this page may be out of date by the time you read it.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 Priority is Chase’s top personal Southwest card: a $229 annual fee, 7,500 anniversary points, 4x on Southwest, a free Preferred seat at booking, unlimited Extra Legroom upgrades within 48 hours, and the free first checked bag and Group 5 boarding for you and up to 8 people on the same reservation.
The 2025 refresh took away the $75 Southwest travel credit and the four upgraded boardings that used to make this card an easy keep, so the math is different now. Below is how it earns, what each perk takes, the protections in Chase’s own numbers, the application rules, the Companion Pass angle, and my verdict.
Southwest Priority at a glance
- Annual fee: $229
- Current public offer: 60,000 points after $2,000 in purchases in the first 3 months (as of October 14, 2026, per Frequent Miler)
- Is it the best ever?: No. It was 90,000 points after $3,000 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: Regular Southwest flyers who want a Preferred seat at booking and Extra Legroom seats when they open up, on top of the free bag and boarding for the whole reservation.
- Skip it if: You fly Southwest a few times a year at most; the $99 Plus has the same free bag and Group 5 boarding, and the Priority’s real cost is about $130 a year after the anniversary points.
- Bank’s page: Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority on chase.com
Jump to: Highlights · Earning · Credits · Seats, bags and perks · Insurance · Application rules · My take · The catch · Keep it? · Offer history · Quick Answers
The highlights
- 4x Southwest, 2x gas stations and restaurants (no cap listed), 5x 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)
- A free Preferred seat at booking and unlimited Extra Legroom upgrades within 48 hours of departure, when available, for up to 9 seats on the reservation
- Group 5 boarding for the whole reservation
- 7,500 anniversary points each anniversary year (the old $75 Southwest credit is gone)
- 2,500 tier qualifying points toward A-List for every $5,000 you spend
- 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, including authorized users’ purchases
- $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 | 4x | Flights, inflight, Southwest gift cards and Getaways packages; cruises, charters and cargo excluded |
| Gas stations and restaurants | 2x | No cap listed on the card page |
| Lyft rides in the Lyft app | 5x | 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, and every $5,000 you spend adds 2,500 tier qualifying points toward A-List.
Credits and how to use them
The $75 Southwest travel credit and the four upgraded boardings ended after December 31, 2025. What’s left is the anniversary points plus partner perks that depend on services you may not use.
| Credit | Amount | How often | Where / how | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anniversary points | 7,500 points | Each account anniversary | Automatic | Worth roughly $98 toward Southwest fares. The easiest benefit on the card. |
| Inflight purchases | 25% back | Ongoing | Statement credit on Southwest inflight drinks and Wi-Fi, including authorized users’ purchases | — |
| 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. |
Seats, bags, boarding and other perks
- Preferred seat at booking: a free Preferred seat when you book, when available, for you and up to 8 people on the reservation. The Plus and Premier only let you pick a seat within 48 hours of departure.
- Extra Legroom upgrades: unlimited free upgrades to an Extra Legroom seat within 48 hours of departure, when available, for up to 9 seats on the reservation. Southwest’s boarding page puts Extra Legroom seats on Choice and Choice Preferred fares in Group 2, and Chase’s terms say cardmembers can board earlier than Group 5 based on seat type, but neither page spells out the boarding group for an upgraded seat.
- 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 aren’t eligible.
- 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.
- Tier qualifying points: 2,500 toward A-List for every $5,000 in purchases each year. A-List boards in Group 1, but you’d still need a lot of Southwest flying (or a lot of spend) to get there.
- 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 $229 fee minus the 7,500 anniversary points (roughly $98) makes it about $131 a year in my eyes, compared with about $60 for the Plus. What the extra $70 or so buys you is a Preferred seat at booking, Extra Legroom upgrades when they’re open, 4x instead of 2x on Southwest and 2,500 tier points per $5,000. If you fly Southwest often and care where you sit, that can be worth it; if you fly it a couple of times a year, the Plus does the important part.
Without the old $75 credit, this is no longer the card that pays for itself that it used to be. The Companion Pass angle is the same on all three cards: the welcome bonus and the yearly 10,000-point boost both count toward the 135,000 qualifying points, and the pass lasts the rest of that year and all of the next, so the bonus is worth more if it posts early in a calendar year.
In any case, I personally would hate to sign up at 60,000 points when 90,000 was available as recently as July 2026.
The catch
$229 with no travel credit any more: the $75 Southwest credit and four upgraded boardings ended after 2025, so the case now rests on 7,500 anniversary points, the seat perks and the tier points. Seat selection and Extra Legroom upgrades are only “when available,” so on full flights they may not be there.
Southwest’s 2025 and 2026 changes (bag fees for everyone else, assigned seats, Basic fares that board last) made the card perks more useful, but they also made Southwest points less of a slam dunk than they used to be. The bag benefit only works on Southwest-operated flights with your Rapid Rewards number on the reservation.
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 $229 minus the 7,500 anniversary points (about $98), which is roughly $131. Keep it if you fly Southwest often enough that a Preferred seat at booking and Extra Legroom upgrades matter to you. If you mostly want the free bag and boarding, the Plus does that for about $70 a year less; Chase doesn’t offer a no-fee Southwest card, so ask Chase what it can switch you to before you cancel.
Offer history
| Offer | Ended |
|---|---|
| 90K after $4K in 3 months (best ever) | 2026-07 |
Other recent offers, per Upgraded Points’ offer history: 90,000 points after $3,000 (May to July 2, 2026), a Companion Pass through February 2027 plus 40,000 points after $5,000 (February to March 2026), 85,000 points after $3,000 (October to December 2025), and 100,000 points after $4,000 in 5 months (July to September 2025, the highest pure-points offer).
Quick Answers
$229 a year as of October 2026. It isn’t waived the first year, and the old $75 annual Southwest credit ended after December 31, 2025.
As of October 14, 2026 the public offer is 60,000 points after $2,000 in purchases in the first 3 months. It was 90,000 points after $3,000 until July 2, 2026.
No. The $75 Southwest credit and the four upgraded boardings a year ended after December 31, 2025. In their place the card has a free Preferred seat at booking, unlimited Extra Legroom upgrades within 48 hours, Group 5 boarding and a free checked bag for you and up to 8 people on the reservation.
Only if you care about seats. After the anniversary points it costs about $131 a year versus about $60 for the Plus, and the extra buys a Preferred seat at booking, Extra Legroom upgrades and 4x on Southwest. Both cards get the free checked bag and Group 5 boarding.
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.
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.