This winter, the Southwest Companion Pass was the main thing on our minds when deciding what credit cards to open. I had already opened the Southwest Performance Business card at the beginning of December, so I just needed the other business card to earn the Companion Pass. Here are our credit card applications and results for Winter 2019.
My Applications
Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Card
I opened this card in order to earn enough points for the Companion Pass. I already had 70,000 points from opening the Performance business card a month prior.
Annual fee: $99
Result: Pending, approved the next morning
Bonus: 60,000 Southwest points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months
Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Card
I already earned the Companion Pass with the two business cards, but some extra Southwest points never hurt anyone! Also, this is a really good sign-up bonus for Southwest so I had to jump on it.
Annual fee: $149
Result: Pending, approved same day
Bonus: 40,000 Southwest points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months and an additional 35,000 points after spending $5,000 in the first 6 months
Chase IHG Premier Credit Card
This is one of the best sign-up offers yet on the Chase IHG Premier. I often struggle to use IHG points, but I have a few redemptions in mind for our trip to California in July…fingers crossed it still happens.
Annual fee: $89
Result: Pending. I received a fraud notice on my account so I had to call to verify my identity. I was approved while on this call.
Bonus: 140,000 IHG points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months
My Husband’s Applications
We didn’t end up signing up for any credit cards in my husband’s name this winter since we had a decent amount of spending to do on the Southwest cards. We’re actually still working on the spend for the IHG and Southwest Priority cards so we may not have too many sign-ups this spring.
Final Thoughts
This was an exciting winter for us. I earned the Southwest Companion Pass by opening two business cards. I decided to also open a Southwest personal card since we fly Southwest frequently to visit family. From the three cards I opened this winter, we’ll earn 275,000 points from Southwest and IHG. We did spend $337 on annual fees, but the value from the points is totally worth it.
