by Daniel | Last Updated August 9th, 2021
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So today I am going to review and compare the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus, Premier, and Priority credit cards.
This is just to give you an idea of the difference between the 3 cards and what you get for the extra annual fee of both the Premier and Priority cards.
And if you are actually trying to decide what card to get, hopefully, this review can help you make that decision a little easier.
Annual Fee
So when it comes to the annual fee, all of these cards are reasonably priced.
The Plus card has an annual fee of $69, the Premier card is $99 and the Priority Card has an annual fee of $149.
So compared to some of the more exclusive credit cards such as the Amex Platinum which costs $695 or the Chase Sapphire Reserve card which costs $550 It is not too bad in terms of cost.
But next, let’s have a look at the sign-up bonus that you get with each card.
Sign Up Bonus
So all 3 cards offer the ability to earn 40,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 within the first 3 months of opening the account.
And these points are worth approximately 1.4 cents per point which would give the 40,000 bonus points a value of about $560.
And these points can be used for a large range of different things including flights, hotel stays, rental cars, gift cards, and more.
Along with the 40,000 sign-up points, each card also gives you an anniversary points bonus.
The Plus card gives you 3,000 points, the Premier card gives you 6,000 points and the Priority card gives you 7,500 points, and this is after your cardmember anniversary which is 12 months after you first signed up.
So the Plus card provides up to 43,000 points in the first year which is equal to approximately $602, The Premier card offers 46,000 points which is equal to approximately $644, and the Priority card gives you a total of 47,500 points which are worth approximately $665.
So I think it’s fair to say that all 3 of these cards offer a sign-up bonus that quite easily covers the annual fee and then some.
One more thing to note with the Priority card is that it offers a $75 Southwest annual travel credit, and this can be used to book flights on Southwest airlines but it excludes Upgraded Boardings and inflight purchases.
Now assuming you make one flight a year with Southwest you will receive this credit, and just this alone brings the annual fee back down to $74, which is only $5 more per year than the Plus card and actually $25 less than the Premier card.
So taking that into account and the fact that you get a larger anniversary points bonus that is 75% more than the Plus card, it makes it the best card to choose from between the three cards.
Earning Points
Now when it comes to earning points all 3 cards have the same points earning potential.
So for the first year of card membership, you will receive 3x points per $1 spent on dining, which also includes takeout and eligible delivery services.
You will then receive 2x points per $1 spent on Southwest purchases.
And all other purchases will earn 1 point per dollar spent.
So at least for the first year of card ownership, you should be able to accrue quite a lot of points assuming you either dine out or get takeout a few times per month.
Benefits and User Perks
So now let’s take a look at what each card offers in terms of benefits, starting with the Priority card.
So as I mentioned before you will receive 7,500-anniversary points each year that are worth approximately $105, and you also get the $75 Southwest annual credit each year.
Next up you will receive 4 upgraded boardings per year when available, and this needs to be on a Southwest flight.
To receive this benefit you must purchase the upgrade on the day of your flight at either the departure gate or ticket counter.
You will also receive 20% back on in-flight drinks and WiFI on Southwest flights.
There is also the ability to earn Tier qualifying points towards A-List status, and basically, this will give you a few airline perks such as priority boarding, which on Southwest flights, seats aren’t assigned, so you will be able to choose a good seat and overhead bin space before the plane fills up.
Both your 1st and 2nd checked bags are free on all Southwest flight
There is no change fee for Southwest flights, but fare price differences will apply.
And finally, there are no foreign transaction fees.
Next, Let’s look at the Premier card,
So most of the benefits are the same as the Priority card but you miss out on a few of the benefits that the Priority card has.
What you miss out on is the $75 Southwest annual travel credit, the 4 upgraded boardings per year when available, and the 20% discount on inflight drinks and WiFi.
And finally, let’s look at the Plus card.
Basically, you will get the least amount of benefits with this card as it has the lowest annual fee of all three cards.
The main difference between the Plus card and the Premier card is that the Plus card actually has a 3% charge for foreign transactions (so not a great card to use if you travel overseas a fair bit).
Also, you will not get the benefit of earning A-List status.
So besides these two things, everything else is the same as the Premier Card.
Final thoughts
So as you can see there is a little bit of difference between the 3 cards, personally, I think the Priority card is the obvious card to get if you are considering one of these cards as it has the most benefits of all 3 cards, and assuming you travel with Southwest a couple of times each year, the $75 Southwest annual travel credit will bring the annual fee down to $74, which is only $5 more than the base level Plus card.
You also get an extra 4,500 bonus points the first year of card ownership which itself is worth approximately $63, which brings the annual fee down to $11.
Then as with the other cards, you get the 40,000 bonus points upon sign up which are worth approximately $560.
So that leaves you with about $549 in value for the Priority card not including the 4 upgraded boardings per year and the 20% discount on inflight drinks and Wifi on Southwest flights, both of which are not included with the other 2 cards.