Southwest Airlines has three options for personal credit cards from Chase. While you can read about all of the cards here, the best option for Southwest frequent fliers is the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority card. Not only does this card offer unique benefits like upgraded boarding, but it also comes with an annual $75 travel credit. This post goes into detail on how the Southwest Priority annual travel credit works.
What is the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Card?
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Card from Chase is a good choice for people who fly on Southwest frequently. While the card has a $149 annual fee, it comes with four upgraded boardings per year, 20% back on inflight purchases, 7,500 anniversary points, and of course, the $75 annual travel credit.
How Does the Southwest Priority $75 Annual Travel Credit Work?
The $75 annual travel credit is received in the form of a statement credit when you use your card to pay for the following: airfare, taxes, pet carrier fees, and other day-of travel purchases. It may even work for gift card purchases though I haven’t tested it myself. The travel credit excludes upgraded boardings and inflight purchases.
For the purposes of the travel credit, annual means the year beginning with your account enrollment date through the first statement date after your account enrollment date anniversary, and the 12 monthly billing cycles after that each year.
If you want to see how much is left on your $75 annual travel credit and don’t feel like calculating it yourself, you can send a secure message to Chase to check.
A Hack For Using the Southwest Travel Credit
I’m not recommending this per se, but I found this out by accident so figured I’d share. As stated above, if you pay for the taxes with the Southwest Priority card, you’ll get a statement credit in a few days. If you cancel the flight for whatever reason, Southwest will refund the taxes, but the statement credit will not be rescinded. So basically you can book a flight with points and use the Southwest Priority card to pay for the taxes to trigger the statement credit and later cancel the flight. You’ll get a refund on the taxes and you’ll be $5.60 closer to using up the $75 travel credit.
Final Thoughts
The $75 annual travel credit on the Southwest Priority card makes it a no-brainer for Southwest travelers. Not only can the card help you earn the Companion Pass, but the $75 annual travel credit helps offset the $149 annual fee. If you’re debating between Southwest personal credit cards, the annual travel credit might be the deciding factor.
