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The Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card is Chase's highest-earning Southwest co-brand card. This card gives Rapid Rewards members a second business card option alongside the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card. But, are the perks worth the $199 annual fee? Let's take a look.
- Earn 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
- 9,000 bonus points after your Cardmember anniversary.
- Earn 4X points on Southwest® purchases.
- Earn 3X points on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car 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.
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® Fee Credit.
- 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
The Southwest Performance Business Card is currently offering a bonus of 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. If you can earn this significant bounty of points, you'll be well on your way to earning the coveted Southwest Companion Pass!
Beyond the sign-up bonus, we think this card is a long-term keeper for many business owners thanks to some great ongoing benefits. Card highlights include:
- 9,000 anniversary points each year (worth around $123)
- 4X points on Southwest Airlines® purchases (improved from 3x October 2021)
- 3X points on Southwest and Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partner purchases (new October 2021)
- 2X points on social media and search engine advertising; internet, cable, and phone services
- 2X points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare (improved from 1x October 2021)
- Four upgraded boardings per year
- Global Entry / TSA PreCheck application fee credit
- Virtually unlimited complimentary inflight Wi-Fi credits
- No foreign transaction fees
- No extra fees for employee cards
Here’s the link to apply for the Southwest Performance Business Card, or read on for our full review.
This card is the first Southwest co-brand product to feature such a rewarding earning structure. Plus, cardholders can now earn uncapped tier-qualifying points towards A-list status. The card sports an annual fee of $199.
Southwest Performance Business Card Application Restrictions
Unlike the Southwest Priority Card, Chase doesn't have any complex application restrictions to the Southwest Performance Business Card.
While Chase’s 5/24 policy applies, the only other restriction is that you can’t already be a cardholder of ‘this' Southwest business credit card (nor can you have received a welcome bonus on ‘this' card in the past 24 months). There is nothing to say you can't apply for this card if you hold other business or personal Southwest cards, including the Southwest Premier Business Card.
Southwest Performance Business Card Welcome Bonus
Earn 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. As a revenue-based rewards program, the value of Rapid Rewards points is tied directly to the price of airfare, which typically works out to between 1.3 and 1.5¢ per point. That gives the signup bonus a value of up to $1,200 towards flights.
Points Earning Potential & Bonus Categories
The Southwest Performance Business Card was the first Southwest card to earn more than 2X points on Southwest purchases. Chase improved earning rates across the board on Southwest personal and business cards in October 2021, and the Southwest Performance Business Card now earns:
- 4X points on Southwest Airlines® purchases (improved from 3x October 2021)
- 3X points on Southwest and Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partner purchases (new October 2021)
- 2X points on social media and search engine advertising, internet, cable, and phone services
- 2X points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare (improved from 1x October 2021)
- 1X point per $1 spent on all other purchases
Outside of earning 4X on Southwest purchases, this improved 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 cards (with one important exception noted below). Since Southwest is a 1:1 Ultimate Rewards transfer partner, you can earn the equivalent of:
- 3x Rapid Rewards points on all travel and airfare purchases with the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (on up to $150K per year in combined purchases with other categories)
- 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 using the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
- 1.5X on non-bonus expenses using the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card.
But here is the big exception: If you transfer Ultimate Rewards to Southwest, they won’t count towards the Companion Pass. Points earned with spending on the Southwest Performance Business Card will count towards the Companion Pass requirement of 125,000 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.
If you already have the Companion Pass (or don’t often fly with a companion) you’re better off with the Ink Preferred or Ink Unlimited. If you need Southwest points, Rapid Rewards is an instant transfer partner. And you still have the flexibility to move your points to 10 other airline programs.
Southwest Performance Business Card Feature Benefits
Alongside the higher rewards earning structure, the Southwest Performance Business Card is packed with perks that should make it worth holding onto for the long term if you or your employees regularly fly Southwest.
The annual fee on the business card is comparatively higher than that of the Southwest Premier Business Card. So, it’s essential to run the numbers before you put in an application to ensure you get the card that provides the most value.
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. For comparison, you get 7,500 with the Southwest Priority Card ($149 annual fee) and 6,000 with the Southwest Premier Business Card ($99 annual fee).
Rapid Rewards points are generally worth between 1.3 and 1.5 cents each for Southwest flights. That means the annual points dividend will get you between $117 and $135 worth of flights, leaving roughly $80 in annual fees that need to be recovered using the other card benefits.
Four Complimentary Upgraded Boardings Per Year
A benefit first offered on the Southwest Priority Card and now carried over to the Southwest Performance Business Card, cardholders will be reimbursed for up to four Upgraded Boardings each year.
Upgraded Boardings guarantee you a boarding position between A1 through A15. Upgraded Boardings must be purchased at the ticket counter or departure gate on the day of departure and are subject to availability. Each Upgraded Boarding costs between $30 and $50, depending on your itinerary.
Upgraded Boardings differ 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.
- Unlike EarlyBird Check-In, you don’t need to remember to take action more than 24 hours before your flight.
Complimentary Wi-Fi On Every Southwest Flight
Southwest charges $8 per device for Wi-Fi access. With the Southwest Performance Business Card, you get an $8 credit 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.
Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Fee Credit
Almost a standard perk on premium airline cards now, cardholders can get a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit up to the value of $100 ($85 for TSA PreCheck) every four years. The value of this perk is often dictated by whether you have other cards that offer the same benefit. Something to keep in mind is that even if you already have Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, you can use your credit to gift it to a friend or family member.
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.
Cardholders also receive 1,500 tier qualifying points (TQP) for every $10,000 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 Rapid Rewards. TQPs are calculated annually rather than by account year. So, 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.
Points Count Towards the Southwest Companion Pass
It’s worth reiterating that both the welcome bonus and points earned from everyday spending count towards the Southwest Companion Pass. The current offer of 80,000 bonus points puts one of the most coveted benefits in domestic travel within reach for business owners that can charge lots of expenses to a rewards card.
If earning a Companion Pass through the end of 2023 with the Southwest Performance Business Card isn't achievable, check out the lineup of Southwest consumer cards. All three come with welcome offers that can give you an additional chunk of Rapid Rewards points that count towards this awesome perk. The gem of the group is the Southwest Priority Card, which should easily pay for itself if you fly a few times a year with Southwest.
You can learn more by checking out our guide to earning the Companion Pass.
- New Offer: Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
- 7,500 anniversary points each year.
- Earn 3X points on Southwest® purchases.
- Earn 2X points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare.
- Earn 2X points on internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming.
- $75 Southwest® travel credit each year.
- 4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available.
- No foreign transaction fees.
- 3X points per $1 spent on all Southwest® purchases
- 2X points per $1 spent on all Rapid Rewards® Hotel and Car Rental Partner purchases
- 2X points per $1 spent on local transit and commuting, including rideshare
- 2X points per $1 spent on internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming services
- 1X point per $1 spent on all other purchases
Final Thoughts
Southwest and Chase offer a wide range of cards as part of the co-brand card partnership for the Rapid Rewards program. These cards offer plenty of ways to earn points without flying bum-in-seat miles. The perks offered on this card are an evolution of benefits offered on the Southwest Priority Card, 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.
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.