The ultimate guide to Southwest credit card eligibility

Ethan's been a frequent flier for as long as he can remember, from studying abroad in Paris to moving to Shanghai after graduating college, where he served as TPG's eyes and ears for all things travel in the Asia-Pacific region. If you asked him where he wants to travel next he'd quote Anthony Bourdain and tell you "anytime I'm eating spicy noodles in a bowl, I'm happy."

Olivia Mittak is a credit cards writer at TPG. She specializes in maximizing earn for points and miles, finding the best sign-up bonuses and choosing the right credit cards for your wallet.

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Right now, the three personal credit cards from Southwest Airlines all have a welcome bonus that TPG values at $650.

The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card and Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card currently offer 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 within the first three months of account opening.

There are a few specific rules to watch out for when eyeing a Southwest credit card, depending on whether you want a personal card or a business card. Here's what you need to know.

The information for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Which Southwest credit cards am I eligible for?

If you're looking at Southwest credit cards, you have five options: three personal and two business ones.

These are the personal cards:

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card

And here are the two business credit cards:

• Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card
• Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card

Currently, the Southwest Performance Business card offers 80,000 points after spending $5,000 in the first three months and an additional 40,000 points after spending $15,000 in the first nine months of account opening, while the Southwest Premier Business card offers 60,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first three months and an additional 60,000 points after spending $15,000 in the first nine months of account opening. According to TPG's June 2024 valuations, these sign-up bonuses are worth up to $1,560.

Chase and Southwest have made this process relatively simple by treating all personal cards equally and setting two simple rules for the business cards.

If you want to apply for a personal card

You are eligible to do so as long as you abide by the following criteria:

• The Chase 5/24 rule: You'll almost certainly be rejected for a Southwest credit card if you've opened five or more credit cards (from any issuer) within the past 24 months — excluding most business cards.
• Card "family" restrictions: If you've already got a Southwest personal card, you can't open another until you've canceled or product-changed your current card.
• Sign-up bonus rules: You can't open the card if you've earned a sign-up bonus from a Southwest personal card within the past 24 months.

The important note here is that having a Southwest business credit card doesn't affect your eligibility for personal cards in any way.

If you want to apply for a business card

You are eligible to do so as long as you are under 5/24 and meet the following rules:

• You cannot currently have that particular credit card.
• You cannot have received a bonus on that particular credit card in the past 24 months.

Applying for personal Southwest credit cards has no impact on your eligibility for business cards, except for the fact that it takes up one of your 5/24 slots. More importantly, having either Southwest business credit card doesn't affect your eligibility for the other Southwest business card.

What is the best plan to apply for Southwest credit cards?

Assuming you have a 5/24 slot or two to spare, the best plan for most people would be to apply for both Southwest business credit cards. Doing so wouldn't increase your 5/24 count and would keep you eligible to apply for a personal Southwest card in the future.

So you could apply for the Performance Business first, then the Premier Business and, finally, one of the three personal cards. Due to Chase's application restrictions on personal Southwest cards, it's a good idea to wait for the highest sign-up bonus available before applying.

Bottom line

Planning your credit card applications and paying attention to card and issuer-specific rules is always important. While Chase's "family restriction" on the personal Southwest cards throws a wrench into many people's Companion Pass plans, the same restriction doesn't apply to the two business cards.

To learn more, check out our full reviews of the — in order of lowest to highest annual fee — Southwest Plus, Premier and Priority, and Premier Business and Performance Business cards.

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.