Compare the Features and Benefits of Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card and
Capital One Venture X Business

The Southwest Plus Card charges the lowest annual fee of any Southwest credit card, making it a tempting option for travelers that enjoy flying Southwest.

In exchange for the modest $69 annual fee, cardholders will be reimbursed for up to two EarlyBird Check-In purchases each year, get 25% back on inflight purchases on Southwest Airlines, plus get 3,000 bonus points each card anniversary.

Cardholders earn 2 Southwest points per dollar spent in a range of spending categories, including Southwest purchases (including inflight purchases), Southwest Rapid Rewards hotel and car partners, local transit, commuting, rideshare, internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming services.

Points earned count toward earning the Southwest Companion Pass. However, Southwest Plus Credit cardholders won’t get Tier Qualifying Points toward earning A-List Status. If you want to earn Tier Qualifying Points, you’ll need to get the Southwest Priority or Premier Credit Card instead.

In addition, the Southwest Plus credit card charges foreign transaction fees on overseas purchases. While that might not be a problem for some travelers, international flyers may want to get the Priority or Premier Card instead.

Frequent Southwest flyers should consider the Southwest Priority Credit Card instead. Although it charges the highest annual fee of any Southwest credit card, the card offers a $75 Southwest annual travel credit, four Upgraded Boardings every cardmember anniversary, and a 7,500-point anniversary bonus. Plus, the card doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee. Those perks more than offset the additional annual fee.

Lastly, this card is great for getting a large piece of the to a Southwest Companion Pass with the bonus offer, since the points earned from the signup bonus count. Read our guide on earning a Southwest Companion Pass for up to two years via new account bonuses.

The Capital One Venture X Business card is a very well rounded travel credit card that is easy to recommend to almost anyone, especially with No Preset Spending Limit – meaning that heavy business spenders will have an easier time.

The first objection is always the annual fee, but once you see that the $300 annual travel credit and 10,000 miles anniversary bonus (worth $100 or more) nets out the annual fee, it’s much easier to go and focus on the benefits.

If you consider the annual fee to effectively be -$5 as I do based on the above though process, then you are looking a a TON of benefits for a card where you aren’t out a ton on the annual fee with nothing in return.

You’re getting No Preset Spending Limit, Plaza Premium and Priority Pass lounge access, Capital One Lounges, Global Entry (or PreCheck) fee reimbursement, the ability to earn up to 10X miles on travel booked via Capital One, and cell phone protection.

See, that’s a mouthful! You would expect to be paying a massive annual fee for all of that (without credits that net it out) and in this case, you’re just not. Of course, you’ll still have to pay the $395 fee upfront, but you’ll also be able to get that early spend bonus. That offsets it nicely!

In our opinion, this card is simply one of the best travel business cards around in terms of both benefits and value for money.

And as icing on the cake, aside from the initial hard pull on your personal credit to qualify you for approval, it won’t report to your personal credit file as long as your account remains in good standing.

This card is also featured in Which Capital One Business Cards Report to Personal Credit (Count Towards 5/24)? and in the article Business Credit Cards That Don’t Report to Personal Credit Bureaus.