Chase Southwest 50,000 Bonus Points Cards Are Back

Note: The links below are official Southwest offers available to everyone, and do not provide affiliate or referral bonuses to me or anyone else.

It seems like the Chase Southwest Visa Signature Card returns with a 50,000 bonus points offer every couple months. Well, it's here again, and it looks to be identical to the previous incarnations. There are four versions of the card, with only slight differences between them.

The good thing is all four will earn 50,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points after spending $2,000 within the first 3 months of opening your account. All four also earn 2 points per dollar spent on Southwest and AirTran purchase made directly with the airline, 2 points per dollar spent on Rapid Rewards Hotel and Car Rental Partners, and 1 point per dollar spent everywhere else. Here are the other features of each card:

• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Card - $99 annual fee, not waived for the first year. Earn 6,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points on your cardmember anniversary. No foreign transaction fees.
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Business Card - $99 annual fee, not waived for the first year. Earn 6,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points on your cardmember anniversary. No foreign transaction fees.
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus Card - $69 annual fee, not waived for the first year. Earn 3,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points on your cardmember anniversary.
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus Business Card - $69 annual fee, not waived for the first year. Earn 3,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points on your cardmember anniversary.

While the offer states "earn two free flights", the 50,000 points can be redeemed any which way you like. Exactly how much is 50,000 points worth? Well, on March 31, Southwest supposedly devalued their points from a fixed value of about 1.7 cents/point to 1.4 cents/point when redeeming for Wanna Get Away fares, which would mean that 50,000 points is worth a total of $700. Not bad!

Strange thing is, I just did a few reward searches and found several examples where Wanna Get Away fares were still redeemable for around 1.7 cents/point. Does this mean the devaluation hasn't officially kicked in yet? Or is Southwest implementing a variable value system for points redemptions? I'm not sure at this point, but I'd imagine whether this was intentional or not, it will probably be fixed very soon. Essentially, the 50,000 points is still worth up to $880 right now.

Southwest Companion Pass

Of course, one of the most popular benefits of earning Rapid Rewards points is the Companion Pass. Rules state that if you earn 110,000 Rapid Rewards points within one year, you will receive the Companion Pass for the current year as well as the entire following year. This pass gives you a free companion ticket anytime you make a revenue or reward booking. All you have to do is pay for the taxes and fees.

As of now, points earned from credit card bonuses and purchases still count. So if you apply for just two of the above cards and complete the minimum spend requirement, you will already have 104,000 Rapid Rewards points earned for the year! The additional 6,000 points can be earned through more purchases or by transferring points into your account via partners such as Marriott, Hyatt, and Avis. However, points transfers from Chase Ultimate Rewards do not count.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that it is possible to have two cards concurrently. Any more than that, however, and you may run into rejections. No official word yet on when this offer will expire, but I wouldn't be surprised if it returned within a few months regardless.