Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Credit Card Review (2026): A $299 Card Aimed at Constant Southwest Flyers

Purchases made directly with Southwest earn 4 points per dollar, covering flights, inflight purchases, gift cards and Southwest Vacations or Getaways packages, with Charters and Cargo excluded. Gas stations, restaurants and hotel stays booked directly with the hotel earn 2 points per dollar with no cap, as does local transit and commuting including rideshare. Everything else earns 1 point per dollar.

Several categories that older write-ups still list are gone: 3x at Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partners, 2x on social media and search engine advertising, 2x on internet, cable and phone services, and 4x on Southwest Cruises all expired December 31, 2025. Rapid Rewards seats price off the fare rather than a chart.

As of August 10, 2026 the offer is 80,000 bonus points after $5,000 in purchases in the first three months, with one tier and up to eight weeks for points to post. The bonus is unavailable if you currently hold this business card, or if you received its new cardmember bonus in the past 24 months. The restriction is per card, so a personal Southwest card does not block it.

Qualification takes 135,000 Companion Pass qualifying points or 100 qualifying one-way flights in a calendar year, and the pass then runs through the end of the following year. Most bonus points are excluded: purchased points, transferred points, points converted from hotel and car programs, enrollment points, tier bonus points, flight bonus points and partner bonus points. Points earned on a Rapid Rewards credit card from Chase are the written exception and count in full. This card also deposits 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each calendar year, by January 31 or within 30 days of opening. Time it right and the welcome bonus plus that deposit put 90,000 of the 135,000 in the account in one calendar year, and points must post within that year to count.

Separately, the card earns 2,500 tier qualifying points per $5,000 in purchases, on cardmember, authorized user and employee spend, pushing you toward A-List and A-List Preferred. Those are a different currency: they do not count toward Companion Pass and cannot be redeemed for travel. On the plane, the card confers a fixed Group 5 boarding position within the Groups 1 through 8 structure Southwest adopted with assigned seating. The first checked bag is free for you and up to eight others on the reservation. Inflight drink purchases come back at 25% as a statement credit.

The $299 fee hits the first billing statement. The purchase APR is 19.24% to 27.74% variable, based on a 6.75% Prime Rate accurate as of December 16, 2025, capped at 29.99%. Cash advances run 28.49%, and a missed or returned payment can trigger a default APR of up to 29.99%. There is no intro APR.

Foreign transactions carry no surcharge. Balance transfers run $5 or 5% of the amount, whichever is greater, cash advances $15 or 5%, and both late and returned payments $40. On recurring value alone, the 9,000 anniversary points, the 10,000 Companion Pass points and the enrollment credit cover part of the fee, and the seat and bag benefits carry the rest.

Take this card if Southwest is effectively your corporate airline and you routinely book two or more people on one reservation. Choosing seats at booking rather than in the final 48 hours is the benefit that changes how a trip feels, and free bags for up to nine passengers can outrun the fee on a few team trips. If Companion Pass is next year's goal, the welcome bonus and the annual deposit do most of the work.

Skip it if you fly Southwest a few times a year, because $299 buys benefits that only pay per flight segment. Skip it if most travel runs on employee cards, since employees receive neither the checked bag, the seating benefits nor the boarding position. There is also a timing filter: applicants with five or more new card accounts across all issuers in the past 24 months are, by widely reported accounts, almost always turned down for Chase cards, though Chase has never published the rule.

**Do points from this card count toward the Companion Pass?**

Yes. Points earned on Rapid Rewards credit cards from Chase are specifically carved out of the exclusions, so everyday earnings and the welcome bonus both count toward 135,000 in the calendar year they post.

**What happened to EarlyBird Check-In and A-group boarding?**

Southwest moved from open to assigned seating on January 27, 2026, replacing A, B and C groups and numbered positions with Groups 1 through 8. EarlyBird Check-In and Upgraded Boarding are no longer card benefits, and cardmembers receive a fixed Group 5 position instead.

**Do employee cards cost anything?**

No. They carry no additional cost, and their spend earns points and counts toward the account's tier qualifying points. Employees travelling alone do not get the free checked bag, seat selection or boarding position.

This is the Southwest card for a business where flying Southwest is routine rather than occasional. The value now sits in seat selection at booking, unlimited Extra Legroom upgrades, free bags for a group of nine and a fast path to 135,000 Companion Pass qualifying points. By Chase's own accounting, one round trip for a party of four returns up to $360 in bag savings, more than the fee, so the real question is how often that trip happens.

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