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The Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card is a great option for loyal Southwest flyers. Not only is it Chase's highest-earning Southwest co-brand card, but this card also gives Rapid Rewards members a second business card option alongside the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card.
But is the Southwest Performance Business Card right for your business? If you value bonus points, elevated earnings on Southwest purchases, and early boarding, it might be a valuable wallet companion. Let's take a closer look to see.
- Earn 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- 9,000 bonus points after your Cardmember anniversary.
- Earn 4X pts on Southwest® purchases.
- Earn 3X points on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partners.
- Earn 2X points on rideshare.
- Earn 2X points on social media and search engine advertising, internet, cable, and phone services and 1X points on all other purchases.
- 4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available.
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- 4X points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases
- 3X points per $1 spent on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car partners
- 2X points per $1 spent on social media and search engine advertising, Internet, cable and phone services
- 2X points per $1 spent on rideshare
- 1X point per $1 spent on all other purchases
Page Contents
- Southwest Performance Business Card Pros
- Southwest Performance Business Card Cons
- Southwest Performance Business Card Welcome Offer
- Southwest Performance Business Card Benefits
- Southwest Performance Business Card Earning Rates
- Redeeming Points With the Southwest Performance Business Card
- Southwest Performance Business Card Application Restrictions
- Cards That Compete With the Southwest Performance Business Card
- Bottom Line
Southwest Performance Business Card Pros
- Earn 4X points per $1 spent on Southwest purchases.
- 9,000-point anniversary bonus.
- Four Upgraded Boardings per year.
- Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit.
Southwest Performance Business Card Cons
- $199 annual fee.
- Earn 1X point per $1 spent on all other, non-bonused purchases.
- Subject to Chase's 5/24 rule.
Southwest Performance Business Card Welcome Offer
New applicants for the Southwest Performance Business Card can earn 80,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
To put this bonus into context, the value of Southwest Rapid Rewards points is tied directly to the price of airfare, which typically works out to between 1.25¢ and 1.54¢ per point. But on average, AwardWallet users redeem Southwest points for 1.52¢ apiece, which makes the 80,000-point bonus worth approximately $1,216 toward award travel on Southwest.
Related: The Best Small Business Credit Card Offers Currently Available
Southwest Performance Business Card Benefits
The Southwest Performance Business Card is packed with Southwest perks to justify its $199 annual fee and a powerful earning structure that should make it worth holding onto for the long term if you or your employees regularly fly Southwest.
Let's take a look at what the Southwest Performance Business Card offers each year:
9,000 anniversary Rapid Rewards points each year
You’ll receive 9,000 Rapid Rewards points each year on your account anniversary with the Southwest Performance Business Card. Based on the AwardWallet user redemption average, these bonus points are worth about $136.
Four complimentary Upgraded Boardings per year
Cardholders will be reimbursed for up to four Upgraded Boardings each year, guaranteeing a boarding position between A1 and A15. Depending on your itinerary, each upgrade costs between $30 and $50. Upgraded Boardings are available in the app or online from 24 hours to 30 minutes before departure.
Note that Upgraded Boarding differs from EarlyBird Check-In, which will get you access to a higher boarding position by checking you in just before the window of opportunity opens up for other passengers. There are two benefits of Upgraded Boardings:
- Upgraded Boardings are valid for positions A1 to A15, which puts you ahead of the EarlyBird Check-In folks.
- Thus, you don’t need to remember to check in exactly 24 hours before your flight or risk a C group boarding position.
A caveat is that we don't know how Southwest's upcoming switch to assigned seating in 2025 will affect this benefit.
Complimentary Wi-Fi on every Southwest flight
Southwest charges $8 per device per flight for Wi-Fi access. However, with the Southwest Performance Business Card, you practically get a Wi-Fi subscription for the year. You'll get an $8 statement credit back on every Southwest Wi-Fi purchase — up to 365 times per year!
Although most folks aren't flying every day, the fact that you can add authorized users to your account without paying an additional fee means that you can extend this benefit to employees and get even more value. To use this benefit, simply use your card to pay for Wi-Fi onboard.
In practice, we haven't found a limit on how many passes you can use on a particular flight or day. Thus, it is practically an unlimited Wi-Fi subscription.
Security program fee credit
Cardholders can get an application fee credit of up to $120 for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS. $120 is the maximum benefit, but you'll be reimbursed for the first program application fee that hits your account. You can enjoy this statement credit once every four years.
Spending toward A-List and A-List Preferred
Cardholders receive 1,500 tier qualifying points (TQP) for every $5,000 spent on the card, with no cap on the total TQPs you can earn. TQPs count toward qualification for A-List and A-List Preferred status with Southwest. TQPs are based on a calendar year rather than an account year. If you acquire the card mid-year, your TQP will be calculated up until your December statement before the count resets for the new year.
Insurance protections
You'll also enjoy several types of travel and purchase protections courtesy of your Southwest Performance Business Card. Here's an overview:
- Auto rental coverage
- Baggage delay insurance
- Extended warranty protection
- Lost luggage reimbursement
- Purchase protection
- Roadside assistance
- Travel accident insurance
- Travel and emergency assistance
For policy particulars and location-specific restrictions, please refer to the card's Guide to Benefits.
Other perks
In addition to the benefits listed above, the card doesn’t charge any foreign transaction fees — a nice bonus if you use it overseas.
You'll also receive a bonus of 10,000 Companion Pass-qualifying points in your account each year to help you earn the Southwest Companion Pass at 135,000 Companion Pass-qualifying points. Multiple Southwest credit cards offer this perk; unfortunately, you'll receive the boost just once per year, no matter how many Southwest cards you hold.
Lastly, you can be reimbursed for up to $500 in transfer fees per year when you transfer points to another member or an eligible charity.
Southwest Performance Business Card Earning Rates
The Southwest Performance Business Card was the first Southwest card to earn more than 2X points on Southwest purchases. The Southwest Performance Business Card currently earns:
- 4X points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases
- 3X points per $1 spent on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car partners
- 2X points per $1 spent on social media and search engine advertising, Internet, cable and phone services
- 2X points per $1 spent on rideshare
- 1X point per $1 spent on all other purchases
Outside of earning 4X on Southwest purchases, this earning structure doesn’t change the fact that the best way to earn Rapid Rewards points on most business purchases is with Ultimate Rewards-earning credit cards — with some important exceptions noted below. Since Southwest is a 1:1 Ultimate Rewards transfer partner, you can earn the equivalent of:
- 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year with the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (Rates & Fees). Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases.
- 5X points on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable, and phone services each account anniversary year (1x thereafter) with the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (Rates & Fees).
- 1.5X on non-bonused expenses using the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (Rates & Fees).
The Ink Cash and Ink Unlimited deliver rewards as cash back. But if you have an Ultimate Rewards-earning card offering access to transfer partners, you can then combine your Ultimate Rewards points and make 1:1 transfers to Southwest.
Points count toward the Southwest Companion Pass
While you can earn more Southwest Rapid Rewards points via earning Chase Ultimate Rewards in many cases, there's a big caveat: If you transfer Ultimate Rewards to Southwest, they will not count toward Companion Pass qualification.
However, points earned with spending on the Southwest Performance Business Card will count toward the Companion Pass requirement of 135,000 points earned in a calendar year. If buy-one-get-one-free Southwest flights are your goal, this card's higher earning rates could be a game-changer.
It’s worth reiterating that both the welcome bonus and base points earned from everyday spending count toward the Southwest Companion Pass. The current offer of 80,000 bonus points puts one of the most coveted benefits in domestic travel within reach.
Redeeming Points With the Southwest Performance Business Card
Redeeming points with the Southwest Performance Business Card is fairly straightforward. Because Southwest Rapid Rewards is a revenue-based rewards program, there aren't any award charts to worry about. Simply find the flight you want to book and then book it with your Rapid Rewards points.
To redeem points, search for a flight as you normally would. Before submitting, click on the “points” option. But if you forgot, Southwest makes it easy. Once your flight options are displayed, you'll have the option in the top right corner to switch from cash to points as your payment method.
From here, you'll see the price for your flight options, such as the ones below from Phoenix (PHX) to Las Vegas (LAS). If a seat is available, you can book it with points — there are no blackout dates here.
There are a few other ways to use your Southwest Rapid Rewards points, but they generally provide poor value. The best use of your Rapid Rewards points is almost always booking Southwest flights.
Southwest Performance Business Card Application Restrictions
Unlike Southwest's personal credit cards, Chase doesn't have any complex application restrictions to the Southwest Performance Business Card. Instead, you'll see these terms on the application page:
“This new Cardmember bonus offer is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of this business credit card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of this business credit card who received a new Cardmember bonus for this business credit card within the last 24 months.”
Thus, as long as you don't currently have this card and haven't earned a bonus on it in the past 24 months, you should be eligible — so long as you meet Chase's other requirements. But holding another Southwest card or earning a bonus on those other cards won't impact your eligibility for the Southwest Performance Business Card.
As the Southwest Performance Business Card is issued by Chase, Chase’s 5/24 policy applies, meaning you're unlikely to be approved for this card if five or more new credit cards are showing on your credit report from the past 24 months.
Lastly, Chase doesn't tend to approve applicants for more than one business card in a 90-day period.
Related: Understanding Rewards Credit Card Application Rules and Restrictions
Cards That Compete With the Southwest Performance Business Card
Not sure if the Southwest Performance Business Card is right for your business? Here are a few additional options to consider:
- If you want a Southwest Airlines business card with a lower annual fee, consider the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card. For a $99 annual fee, you'll enjoy 3X earnings on Southwest purchases, 6,000-point anniversary bonus points each year, and two EarlyBird check-ins each year. Plus, you'll still receive 10,000 Companion Pass-qualifying points and the ability to spend toward A-List or A-List Preferred status. For more details, check out our Southwest Premier Business Card review.
- If you want to earn points you can use with Southwest and other travel partners, the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card might be right for you. It has a $95 annual fee and earns 3X points on the first $150,000 of annual spending in bonus categories (then 1X), which include travel and popular business expenses. You'll be able to use your points with Chase's 14 transfer partners, including Southwest, United, Hyatt, Marriott, and more; you also can redeem points in the travel portal at 1.25¢ apiece. Our Ink Preferred review has more details.
- If you want travel rewards but aren't eligible for a Chase card, look into the Capital One Spark Miles for Business. The annual fee is waived during the first year, and it's $95 in years two and beyond. You'll earn unlimited 2X miles on all spending, but you'll earn 5X on hotels, vacation rentals, and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. You can transfer these miles to 19 airline and hotel partners, redeem them in the travel portal at 1¢ each, or use miles to reimburse yourself for recent travel purchases on your card. More details are in our Spark Miles review.
- 3X points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases
- 2X points per $1 spent on Rapid Rewards® Hotel and Car Rental Partner purchases
- 2X points per $1 spent on local transit and communting, including rideshare
- 1X point per $1 spent on all other purchases
- 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year
- 1X point per $1 on all other purchases
- 2X miles per dollar on every purchase, everywhere, no limits or category restrictions
- 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
Related: How To Choose the Right Southwest Airlines Credit Card
Bottom Line
Southwest and Chase offer a bevy of Southwest credit cards, easily enabling flyers to earn Rapid Rewards points while on the ground. The perks offered on the Southwest Performance Business Card are a definite positive evolution of benefits offered on other Southwest cards, adding tangible value for Rapid Rewards members. And the 80,000-point welcome bonus is a fantastic way to increase the balance of your Southwest account.
If you can make use of all the card's benefits, the $199 can be justified quite easily. But if you can't make use of all the benefits, you're better off looking for a lower-annual-fee option.
- Earn 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- 9,000 bonus points after your Cardmember anniversary.
- Earn 4X pts on Southwest® purchases.
- Earn 3X points on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partners.
- Earn 2X points on rideshare.
- Earn 2X points on social media and search engine advertising, internet, cable, and phone services and 1X points on all other purchases.
- 4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available.
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- 4X points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases
- 3X points per $1 spent on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car partners
- 2X points per $1 spent on social media and search engine advertising, Internet, cable and phone services
- 2X points per $1 spent on rideshare
- 1X point per $1 spent on all other purchases
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card (Rates & Fees), Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), and Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Should edit this article. Nowhere does it say $8/day. We’ve done multiple devices on a flight and been reimbursed. As long as you don’t go over 365/year. Southwest even confirmed this on their site.
You should get Southwest WiFi all day when you purchase it for $8, so you shouldn’t need to buy more than one WiFi pass per day. But, you are technically correct that it’s 365 reimbursements a year. We’ve updated the post.
> there is a limit of $8 per day, so you’ll only receive one credit if multiple employees purchase wifi on the same day
I can’t find that in the terms anywhere, is that restriction confirmed?
I’m pretty confident that is how it works. One credit per day across all authorized users.
There is a data point that says you can use multiple per day.
https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/djlc24/question_thread_october_18_2019/f48585v/?context=3
Thanks for sharing! Just for clarity, the terms officially say one credit per day, so this probably isn’t something to count on for the long term, but great while it works.
But the terms of the offer I see says…
“Inflight WiFi Credits are limited to a total of 365 $8 credits per year for all WiFi transactions on the overall business card account.”
Nothing about 1 a day, just says 365 a year.
Ok good to know. If other folks have received credit for multiple WiFi purchases in a single day, please share in the comments.
Any buzz on this offer extending past Oct 16?
This link is still showing the 80k offer…
https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/southwest/NAEPBizT?CELL=6RRW
If you have both a personal card and this business card, can you earn twice the tier qualifying points (15,000 max per card)? Or is the 15k max per Rapid Rewards member?
Great question. I couldn’t find any official info. SW says up to 15,000 TQPs per year, but doesn’t explicitly say one way or another whether you can double dip with multiple cards. Anyone have 1st hand experience?
How are the flights for SW out of LAX for exploring the west coast??? Anyone have experience there? Maybe I’ll invest in the venture to see some of the PNW.
Thank you for the update regarding the companion pass miles. Very much appreciated.
Great deal if you missed out on the free companion pass card.
That was a nice signup bonus but in reality wasn’t that great. It was for the rest of the year you received it but not the following year like normal.
I love Southwest!
I just moved to Toronto. Unfortunately, WN doesn’t fly to Canada. I still have a bunch of points I’ll need to use, which probably means driving to Buffalo to redeem them on WN there.
This rewards for this Southwest card are good but be careful as the points expire if you don’t have any new activity in a specified period of time. You have to actually earn miles to extend the expiration date, using points won’t do it.
The 9,000 annual miles are earned so even if you spend nothing in the card, you’re still good to go.
This card makes earning the companion pass much easier. I wonder how long this promotion will last. I would love to wait until december, to earn companion pass for the next 2 years.
WIll use for I especially like the TSA pre reimbursement. Thanks for the post
The combination of Chase (banking Scandal), Southwest (cattle style boarding), and high fee stops this for us.
If you dig hard enough, you can find anything about anyone that will make you want to turn your back like this…
This looks like a great card. I especially like the Global Entry fee recovery.
Great incentive for this card! Plus 9000 bonus points every year, upgraded boarding, points don’t expire, nor are there black out dates, which is great. Greatly considering since we’ve used Southwest quite a bit.
Looks nice, but $199 annual fee is a bit hefty. I dunno if it’s worth it…
It’s totally worth it if it gets you closer to that Companion Pass. Unless you travel frequently for work, it’s almost impossible to get the CP through regular purchases without going broke
If you fly Southwest at least 3 to 4 times per year, it’s probably worth it. I’m with you though. For me it’s not worth it.
3x Southwest still isnt great. Would have expected 4x for this card
Same. Unfortunately it’s all too common for airline cards to have crappy points multipliers.
looks like a good value, how do you go about getting it if you dont own a business though?
Can you get this card without a full time business? Perhaps as a sole proprietor since it is a business and not a personal card.
Yes, Chase is generally good about approving applications for sole proprietors. Just make sure the business name matches the tax ID. In other words, unless you have a business EIN, you need to use your name (as it appears on your SS card) as the business name to apply as a sole proprietor.
I did the math, and the signup bonus a value of up to $1,200 towards flights rreally makes sense.
if you go for SW CP just make sure to time it right. You want the points to post in Jan/Feb 2020 to make sure you get the CP for the full 2 years
Just don’t forget you have 30k points to go and using the card can help with that.
This card has a lot of attractive perks – complimentary WiFi, complimentary upgraded boardings. No transaction fees on foreign purchases, companion pass. Seems like a no brainer to me.
Need more sw points to take advantage of my companion pass for 1.5 more years. 100% worth getting if there isn’t 24 month bonus language for 2 business cards.
All the blogs I’ve read essentially stated that this is a new card and doesn’t matter if you’ve held the other card at any point in time.
80,000 points makes you close to the companion pass so might be worth it.
If Southwest airlines flew out of ORD I would get this credit card!
It looks like a great product. Are there any restrictions if you’ve had a Southwest Business card in the past?
Surprisingly, the only restriction for this card seems to be if you already have this card. So you should be good with a different SW biz card in the past.
I like what I’m reading here. I do need the CP again at the beginning of 2020.
I hope this offer is around in November. I LOVE the companion pass (had it for 6 years now) but it is time to re-up. 80K will certainly make it easier to do than getting two cards, which was my previous strategy.
We are flying on the companion pass to New Orleans for the weekend, to attend the Zydeco festival and eat char-grilled oysters.
If I wanted to get the companion pass, this card would definitely be the first step. But I agree with the poster who says it would be nice if this bonus was available in December (and qualify in January)to maximize the pass.
Just keep in mind that you can do your best to make the 80k hit on January 1st but you still have to account for 30k more points. If you combine this with a personal card this is a super easy dilemma but if you’re only using this card and organic flights, you might be best off signing up for the card in December and then spending away on planned purchases starting January 1st.
Southwest is looking juicer and juicer, especially with 80,000!
That’s honestly a card worth looking at. No question about this one.
Looks appealing and worth considering
Sounds like a great card! Unfortunately, Southwest doesn’t have a large enough presence where I am to justify investing in Southwest.
This is definitely a card worth investigating if you want a companion pass. It gets you most of the way there and comes along with some valuable perks. If you are flying domestically it is a good deal.
Might just be time to get a southwest card
This looks like a very attractive card. I wonder if the 80K bonus offer will be a permanent one or just a launch promo. If you strategize it right, you can get this card some time in Nov/Dec and then hit the 5K spend in Jan to get the 80 K counted in the next year. Then combine that with one of thee personal cards and you get a companion pass for almost two years.
Exactly what I was thinking. Just hope the offer is still good by then.
You have presented an excellent strategy.
Thanks for pointing out that the timing of one’s card applications can frequently be part of a strategy to maximize benefits!
I think the 80K is just an introductory promo.
I would bet on that.
And The Points Guy just ran an article stating that referral bonuses count towards the companion pass too so that could be of use to some people.
I can’t imagine it will stay permanent, otherwise I think your strategy is perfect. But hey, who knows. But I’m sure it will drop to at least 60K, probably 50K.
I would imagine that there is an end date for the 80k and it may drop to 50k or 60k for the regular bonus.
So I got the sw priority card individual a business card in January. Does that preclude me from adding this card and getting 85k more points to used my companion pass on?
Which card did you get? The SW Priority is a consumer (personal card). That shouldn’t impact your ability to get the Performance biz card.
I like the Global entry / TSA credit. I took the time to get Global Entry certified.
SWA should serve more places across the Americas soon.
Global Entry fee recovery is a real plus.
Wow….80,000 is appealing for sure. Might be time to make a run at the companion pass again. Besides the pass, I find SW points very easy to redeem for good value for shorter flights.