Southwest Rapid Benefits Top Priority Charge Card Evaluation 2023 

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If you can use the Southwest Rapid Benefits ® Top priority Charge card’s lots of advantages and advantages, it’s well worth the yearly charge.

Otherwise, take a look at other Southwest cards like the Southwest Rapid Benefits ® Plus Charge Card and Southwest Rapid Benefits ® Premier Charge Card, which have lower yearly costs however the very same outstanding welcome perk deal.

Chase Southwest Top Priority Charge Card Evaluation: Is the Chase Southwest Top Priority the very best Charge Card for You?

When it pertains to customer-friendly advantages and policies, Southwest is amongst the most generous United States airline companies. The provider enables 2 complimentary examined bags, and does not charge a cost to alter or cancel your flight. If you fly Southwest even periodically, the Southwest Rapid Benefits ® Top priority Charge card can enhance your travel experience, with advantages like a yearly $75 travel credit and updated boarding up to 4 times annually.

When you have the Buddy Pass, a pal or member of the family can fly with you free of charge (just pay taxes and costs) on both paid and award flights.

Southwest points do not end, so even if you’re not flying right away, there’s no pressure to redeem your points, and the card’s anniversary points and take a trip credit can make the $149 yearly charge rewarding. However prior to you pick this card, make certain to have a look at the remainder of the Southwest charge card— the other 2 individual cards included a similar bonus offer however lower yearly costs (and less advantages).

We’re focused here on the benefits and advantages that feature each card. These cards will not deserve it if you’re paying interest or late costs. When utilizing a charge card, it is essential to pay your balance completely monthly, pay on time, and just invest what you can pay for to pay.

Southwest Top Priority Charge Card Benefits

Welcome bonus offer

The Southwest Fast Benefits ® Top Priority Charge card is providing a welcome bonus offer of 50,000 points after you invest $1,000 on purchases in the very first 3 months from account opening.

The points deserve around $700 in flights, based upon Expert’s points and miles appraisals

How to make points

Southwest Rapid Benefits ® Top priority Charge card cardholders make:

• 3x points on Southwest purchases (consisting of flights, inflight purchases, Southwest present cards, and Southwest Vacations bundles)
• 2x points on Fast Benefits hotel and cars and truck rental partner purchases (see the complete list here)
• 2x points on regional transit and travelling, consisting of rideshare (and likewise guest trains, buses, taxis, limos, rideshare, ferryboats, toll bridges and highways, and parking area and garages)
• 2x points on web, cable television, phone services, and choose streaming (Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, Netflix, Sling, Vudu, Fubo Television, Apple Music, SiriusXM, Pandora, Spotify, and YouTube Television)
• 1 point per dollar on whatever else

How to utilize points

Southwest has a huge domestic path network (consisting of Hawaii), and the airline company likewise flies to a variety of global locations in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America.

Southwest does not have an award chart– rather, the variety of points needed for an award flight is connected to the rate of a paid ticket. You can anticipate to get an average worth of 1.4 cents per Southwest point, based upon Expert’s points and miles appraisals, when you redeem them for award travel. With Fast Benefits, there are no blackout dates and no seat limitations; as long as there’s a seat readily available for purchase, you can reserve that seat with your points.

Utilizing your Southwest points to book award flights online is simple– as soon as you log into your Fast Benefits account, simply look for flights as if you were trying to find a paid ticket. You can toggle in between the money rate and the points expense, so you can quickly compare the 2.

If you’re not flying Southwest today, there’s no damage in hanging on to your points up until you’re prepared, since they’ll never ever end. Nevertheless, Southwest charge card holders do have other alternatives for redeeming points through the More Benefits program, consisting of product, present cards, cars and truck leasings, hotels, cruises, and experiences. The worth you’ll get per point differs, however it’s generally a bad worth compared to redeeming for Southwest flights.

You can even usage Southwest points through Chase Pay Yourself Back at a rate of as much as 1 cent per point. Presently, you can redeem them towards either the yearly charge or any dining purchases made in the last 90 days (as much as $200 in overall compensations, ends March 31, 2023).

Southwest Rapid Benefits Top Priority Card Advantages and Characteristics

Earn Southwest Buddy Pass points

The Buddy Pass is among the very best handle the travel world– specifically if you fly around the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America. It enables you to bring a buddy on any paid or award flights for simply the expense of taxes and costs (normally $5.60 for domestic flights).

You can utilize the Buddy Pass for a limitless variety of flights while it stands. Even if you take 100 flights a year, your buddy can join you. It’s efficiently a limitless buy-one-get-one certificate throughout of the pass.

The points from the welcome bonus offer and costs on this card count towards the 135,000 Buddy Pass certifying points you’ll require to build up in a fiscal year to make the Southwest Buddy Pass Plus, Southwest charge card holders get a 10,000-point “increase” towards this requirement, efficiently decreasing it to 125,000 points in a fiscal year.

$ 75 yearly Southwest Airlines take a trip credit

The Southwest Fast Benefits ® Top Priority Charge Card has a $75 yearly travel credit, which stands for any Southwest purchase other than updated boarding and in-flight purchases. Simply purchase a Southwest ticket, pay with the Top priority card, and get a $75 credit back on your charge card declaration instantly without any hoops to leap through.

If you’ll invest a minimum of $75 on Southwest flights anyhow, this credit is a simple method to balance out the $149 yearly charge, efficiently bringing it down to $74.

Anniversary points bonus offer

Each year when you restore your Southwest Fast Benefits ® Top Priority Charge Card, you’ll get 7,500 points, which deserve around $105 in Southwest air travel. That suffices to balance out much of the $149 yearly charge.

Updated boardings

This card will compensate you for the purchase of 4 updated boardings with Southwest every year. This is various from Southwest Early riser Check-In, which you acquire at reservation or include later; updated boarding is cost eviction when there is additional area readily available in the A1-A15 boarding group.

Because Southwest seating is notoriously first-come-first-served, updated boarding can be a fantastic method to prevent a middle seat. This usually costs $30 to $50 per flight, however with the Southwest Rapid Benefits ® Top Priority Charge Card you will not pay anything for the very first 4 Upgraded Boardings each year.

Inflight purchase discount rate

The Southwest Fast Benefits ® Top priority Charge card likewise uses a 25% refund on inflight purchases— consisting of premium beverages, Wi-Fi, films, and messaging– when you pay with your card.

You do not get a complimentary examined bag with this card, however you do not require one, since Southwest is the uncommon airline company that uses 2 examined bags free of charge.

Fast-track to Southwest A-List elite status

If you’re going for Southwest’s A-List or A-List Preferred elite status, this card can likewise assist you go up to the next level. For each $10,000 in qualified net purchases on the card, you’ll make 1,500 Tier Qualifying Points (TQPs), without any optimum variety of TQPs you can utilize. This is the only method to make TQPs besides flying on a paid Southwest ticket.

Cars and truck leasing insurance coverage

When you utilize your Southwest Fast Benefits ® Top Priority Charge card to pay the complete expense of your cars and truck leasing and decrease the rental business’s accident damage waiver, you’ll get protection for damage due to accident or theft on many rental cars and trucks in the United States and abroad. This protection is secondary to your own individual policy in the United States, however main cars and truck leasing insurance coverage abroad (or if you do not have your own insurance coverage).

Purchase security and extended service warranty

Almost anything you acquire will be covered versus damage or theft for 120 days with the card’s purchase security, as much as $500 per claim and as much as $50,000 per account. And if it has a qualified producer’s service warranty of 3 years or less, paying with this card will approve you an extra year of service warranty protection.

Lost baggage compensation and luggage hold-up insurance coverage

When taking a trip, your baggage is likewise covered: If you utilize the Southwest Rapid Benefits ® Top Priority Charge card to spend for your flights and your bags are postponed over 6 hours, you’ll be repaid for requirements (as much as $100 a day for 3 days).

And if your bags are lost or harmed, you’re covered for as much as $3,000 per guest.

Other travel securities

If you’re authorized for the Visa Signature variation of the Southwest Rapid Benefits ® Top Priority Charge Card, you’ll get access to take a trip and emergency situation help services, which can assist set up things like medical and legal recommendations when you’re far from house. Simply understand you are accountable for the expense of any services set up.

All cardholders are qualified for travel mishap insurance coverage, which covers unintentional death or dismemberment when you utilize your card to spend for your air, bus, train, or cruise transport. Visa Signature cardholders get up to $500,000 in protection, and Visa Platinum members get up to $250,000.

You’ll likewise get access to a roadside dispatch hotline, which can set up services like towing and jumpstarts when you’re on the roadway. Once again, you’ll be accountable for the real expense of the service, which gets billed to your card.

Free DoorDash DashPass membership

Through December 31, 2024, you can trigger a complimentary DoorDash DashPass membership for 12 months which gets you no shipment costs and minimized service charge when you order from DoorDash and Caviar shipment services.

GoPuff credits

Through December 31, 2023, cardholders are qualified for $10 each month in Gopuff credits when they include the Southwest Rapid Benefits ® Top Priority Charge Card as their default payment technique in the Gopuff app. Gopuff is a service that uses quick shipment of requirements like groceries, treats, beverages, individual materials, and more.

The credit instantly posts to your declaration after you make a certifying Gopuff purchase. Know there is minimum order quantity of $10 with a $3.95 shipment charge per order.

Chase Southwest Top Priority Charge Card Yearly Cost and Other Expenses

The Southwest Fast Benefits ® Top Priority Charge Card has a $149 yearly charge, and no foreign deal costs, so you do not need to stress over additional charges when you take a trip worldwide. If you bring a balance, remember the card charges a 20.49% – 27.49% Variable APR.

There are likewise costs for:

• Cash loan: Either $10 or 5% of the quantity of each deal, whichever is higher
• Balance transfers: Either $5 or 5% of the quantity of each transfer, whichever is higher
• Late payments: As much as $40
• Returned payments: As much as $40

How the Chase Southwest Top Priority Charge Card Compares

Chase Southwest Top Priority Charge Card vs other Southwest individual cards

Southwest Fast Benefits Top priority vs other airline company charge card

Southwest Rapid Benefits Top Priority Charge Card Regularly Asked Concerns

Approach: How we evaluated the Chase Southwest Top Priority Charge Card

The Southwest Fast Benefits ® Top Priority Charge Card has a greater yearly charge than any other Southwest individual charge card– and most of other airline company charge card, too. Due to the fact that of this, it was analyzed more seriously than comparable cards. Nevertheless, since of the card’s important and reasonably user friendly continuous advantages, it ranked a strong 3.75 stars out of 5 stars. That’s greater than any other Southwest individual charge card.

Find Out More about how we rate charge card at Expert.

Caroline Lupini

Freelance press reporter

Jasmin Baron, CEPF

Editor