KEY LINK: Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card – Earn up to 120,000 points. Earn 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening and an additional 40,000 points when you spend $15,000 in 9 months. $199 annual fee
9/10 – I have been told that the current offer above for this card is ending on 9/17 at 8am EST, so if you’ve been thinking about picking up this card, now is the time to do it!
We have written about the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card before, talking about how it can be a part of a plan to earn the Southwest Companion Pass. In addition to the welcome offer, you also have access to a variety of other amenities. While most of the early buzz was about how the welcome offer can knock out the vast majority of the 135,000 Rapid Rewards points that you need in a calendar year to earn the Companion Pass, there were 2 benefits included in the card that made me give a second look.
Unlimited free Southwest wifi
When the Southwest Performance Business card came out, the benefits just said it came with “Inflight wi-fi credits”. I reached out to my contact at Chase to ask about this, and she responded that it was:
“365 credits per year. Each credit is worth $8”
But…. Southwest wifi only COSTS $8 for a whole day of wifi! So to me this seems like unlimited free Southwest wifi. Well, unless you’re traveling on February 29th… She did clarify that you could use multiple credits in a given day (for multiple devices), so it’s not technically free wifi for every day of the year, but that to me seems even better since there are fairly few people that are on a Southwest plane literally EVERY day of the year!
Note that the Southwest Performance Business card DOES come with an annual fee of $199, not waived the first year. So “free Southwest wifi” is perhaps not ENTIRELY correct – maybe a better way to put it would be “unlimited Southwest wifi with your $199 annual fee”. But free Southwest wifi just has a WAY better ring to it 🙂
And of course all Southwest flights already come with free inflight entertainment
Other benefits of the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card
In my mind, the big benefit of the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card is the welcome offer where you can earn up to 120,000 points.
- Earn 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
- Earn an additional 40,000 points when you spend $15,000 in 9 months.
That’s worth easily $1,000 in travel on Southwest and if that puts you over the edge for the Southwest Companion Pass, then it becomes $2,000 in travel. You also get 9,000 points on your anniversary, a reduction of 10,000 points needed for the Companion Pass and a Global Entry or TSA Pre credit (worth nominally $95 if you don’t have enough of those already).
I also asked about the “4 upgraded bookings per year on Southwest” benefit and was told that you could purchase upgraded boardings at the gate or ticket counter on the day of travel, up to 4 times per year, and they would be reimbursed as a statement credit.
Which Southwest Card Is Best?
There are a few other Southwest credit cards that offer the ability to earn Rapid Rewards points:
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card – Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months. $69 annual fee
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card – Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months. $99 annual fee
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card – Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months. $149 annual fee
(SEE ALSO: Which Southwest Credit Card Is Best?)
The Bottom Line
KEY LINK: Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card – Earn up to 120,000 points. Earn 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening and an additional 40,000 points when you spend $15,000 in 9 months. $199 annual fee
If you’re a frequent Southwest Airlines traveler, then having this card to get free Southwest wifi seems like a big no brainer. If you’re flying a lot on Southwest, being able to be connected while in the air seems like a big benefit – I know of no other airline that offers something like this.
Keep in mind that the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card is, of course, a business card, so you will need to have an eligible business in order to apply for it. Sole proprietorships and other small businesses DO count for this, and you may have a business even if you don’t think that you do. It’s also subject to Chase 5/24, so if you’re over 5/24, you will likely not be approved.
What do you think of free Southwest wifi as a credit card benefit? Are you planning on getting the Southwest Performance Business card? Leave a note in the comments.