The 80,000 mile bonus on this card is ending tomorrow, 10/16/19. Since this is a fairly new card and this is the highest sign up bonus ever for the SWA business card family, I don’t expect this one to return.
The best business card, the Southwest Performance Business Card, comes with a different range of benefits, including potential WiFi credits and Global Entry fee rebates. But its temporary 80,000 point bonus is worth about $1,200 in travel. That’s the real play here.
To read more about this offer, see LVA Travel.
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Be sure to also check out the LVA-Travel Article on the Southwest Credit Cards:
THE SUPERIORITY OF THE SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CREDIT CARDS
https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/travel/southwest-airlines-credit-cards/
How does booking flights with the 80,000 point bonus work? The card will have a cardholder, if that were me for instance, could I book travel with the points for other family members or only for myself?
You should be able to use your Rapid Reward Points to book for friends and family. Just because the points are from your Rapid Rewards account that is not an issue. It’s quite common to use your points from many programs to book flights for friends and family. The main caveat is when you *earn* points you can only earn them to your personal account. (Whether by flying, credit card spend etc.)
You can use points to book flights for others. When you book, you have the option to use dollars or points. The only hitch is that if one of those you book decides to cancel, you must be the one to do the cancellation (or change of flight). That person cannot cancel (or change flight) for themselves, you have to do it, but usually not a big thing. The points used for the cancelled flight will come back to your account. Don’t buy Early Bird if you think the other person might cancel. You get the points back but not the Early Bird fee, unless you change rather than cancel. If you change the flight the Early Bird fee is preserved for the new flight.
I should have added that these apply whether using dollars or points.
This particular card is a business card. I am starting a small business so I decided to apply as a sole propietership. Unfortunately, Chase still uses the 5/24 rule for business cards, so I was denied.
Once denied, I also tried at a local branch and then also called the reconsideration line. Both said no. So, even though most business cards don’t count towards the 5/24 rule, applying for a business card is subject to the 5/24 rule.
It will be interesting to see what the new offer will be after the 80,000 point offer expires at midnight, 10/12/19.
Well, the rules for companion fare are changing. It will take 125,000 miles to get companion fare starting in 2020. It will still be possible with a Chase SWA business and personal card but you might have to add some additional spend. We will see how the sign up offers look in 2020.
Southwest RR miles no longer expire, so that is a plus.
The sign up bonus on this card only dropped from 80,000 to 70,000 so it is still a great card. Now is a very good time to get a chase card to try and get companion fare for 2020 and 2021.