Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card
60,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards® Points after you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months
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Why Travel Freely Likes It
If you're looking to earn the Southwest Companion Pass, this is a great card to get as the points earned from the signup bonus count as qualifying points towards earning the pass. You'll also receive 6,000 bonus points each year after your cardmember anniversary, plus first checked bag free for the cardmember plus 8 additional passengers on the same reservation.
While it may make more sense to use a Chase Ink card for overall business spending (and utilize Southwest as an Ultimate Rewards transfer partner), Southwest is one of the best airlines for free travel. Southwest offers free cancellation for reward flights, which makes it incredibly easy to book and change as needed. Also, remember, the points earned from the welcome offer plus everyday spend count towards the Southwest Companion Pass.
Update 9/26: We’re hearing Chase may be getting stricter about approving business cards. If you apply for Ink cards and Chase’s co-branded business cards (United, Southwest, Hyatt, and IHG) as a sole proprietor, you may need to have opened 2 or fewer new personal credit cards in the past 24 months to be approved, instead of the usual limit of fewer than 5. Chase hasn’t made this official, but reps have been citing the stricter limit since mid-September 2026. If you apply under an LLC, the normal rule still seems to apply.
10/15/26 Update: Southwest is changing their program in 2027, specifically how welcome offers are counted towards the Southwest Companion Pass. Starting in 2027, bonus points earned as part of the welcome offer will no longer qualify.
The good news: the traditional method laid out below still works for now. If you apply and are approved by December 2, 2026, Southwest will count the qualifying points from your welcome offer toward your 2026 qualification even if those points don’t post until early 2027, earning you the pass for the rest of 2026 and all of 2027. The catch is that this is the last window for it: after 2026, applying for one or two cards now and earning the pass this way is no longer an option.
We will continue to gather information on this new development and update our content further to reflect the changes in the near future.
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