Compare the Features and Benefits of Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card and
Chase Sapphire Reserve for 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 $99 annual fee, cardholders will get 25% back on inflight purchases on Southwest Airlines, plus get 3,000 bonus points each card anniversary as well as free checked bags for the cardholder and up to 8 additional passengers in the same reservation who can check their first bag at no additional cost.

For a family of 4 this would be a savings of up to $280 roundtrip ($35 per bag per trip).

Cardholders earn 2 Southwest points per dollar spent in spending categories including Southwest purchases (including inflight purchases) as well as 2 points for every $1 you spend at gas stations and grocery stores on the first $5,000 in combined purchases per anniversary year.

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.

There are no longer any foreign transaction fees on this card.

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 2,500 tier qualifying points (TQPs) toward A-List status for every $5,000 spent in purchases annually, 4 points for every $1 you spend on Southwest Airlines^®purchases, and a 7,500-point anniversary bonus. That card also gives you a complimentary Preferred seat at booking, when available, and unlimited upgrades to an Extra Legroom seat within 48 hours prior to departure, at no additional charge, when available.

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.

💳 This card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Chase often runs transfer bonuses where you can get even more points when you transfer to airline or hotel partners at designated times. Transfer bonuses are awesome. Get 20%, 30%, 40% or more bonus miles when you transfer points at the right times. But they are easy to miss!

You can see all past Transfer Bonuses from Chase Ultimate Rewards here.

Even better? Get notified when a new transfer bonus comes out and again before it ends (either or both, your choice). Sign up for free alerts right here. 🔔

The Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business is clearly marketed at very high spending businesses that value the benefits and statement credits on offer. That’s why it has a high spending pay-in-full limit that also has Flex for Business, a credit line which allows payments over time with interest.

If you need a less powerful but still amazing Chase Business credit card, you can still get the Chase Ink Business Preferred® card with just a $95 annual fee.

However, I want to highlight one underrated feature that sets this card apart for any business owner with a super high level of ad spend. I want to highlight that the card earns 3X points on social media and search engine advertising. Before you say “so does the Chase Ink Business Preferred® card!,” let me remind you that the Ink Preferred is capped at $150,000 a year on all 3X spend combined.

If you spend a million dollars a year (and I know many small growing businesses that spend in the millions on social media and search engine advertising), you are earning 3 million Chase Ultimate Rewards points which we value at 1.75 cents per point due to the power unlocked with their airline and hotel transfer partners. So using our valuation, $1MM in annual spend on this category is worth $52,500 a year in rewards value. Now to be clear that is an average value for your points, but this card has Points Boost where you can redeem at 2 cents a point for a variety of (always changing) luxury oriented air and hotel redemptions in the Chase Travel℠ portal. Used that way, $1MM in social media and search engine advertising is worth $60,000 in Points Boost travel.

That’s, well, insane…. and if you are a high spender in those categories, you’ll probably want this card now before I go further.

Let’s say that’s not your reason, though.

When you look at the features and benefits outlined above, it’s easy to see how this card provides great value for the right small business owner. The $300 annual travel credit is valid on any travel and is therefore extremely easily used. That brings it down to a level where you are looking at $95 more in value to break even or come out ahead – maybe way ahead. We firmly believe that high annual fees are simply an opportunity to see if you can get more value from the fees – with minimal effort – than you are paying. And the annual fee on a small business card should be a deductible expense for your business (not financial advice).

It’s hard to see not being able to get $100 from the bi-annual $50 credit for GiftCards.com, for example. Between that and the $300 travel credit, we are only looking to offset $395 more to make the annual fee worth it.

I’ll make it simple: look at the Unique Card Benefits section and Annual Statement credits sections above, add to that the lounge access for your and 2 guests, and see if you are ahead before breaking out a pen and paper. If so, this card is a match for you. If you really struggle to see what you’d use, then maybe not…

But don’t forget the bonus categories. In addition to the 3X on social media and search engine advertising purchases, you’re getting 4X on airfare and hotels booked directly. That’s the highest multiplier we know of for a business card when booking directly in these categories. And if you don’t mind booking via Chase Travel, then it’s even better with all travel earning 8X points.

Here’s a reminder on where you can transfer your Ultimate Rewards points besides redeeming via Chase Travel / Points Boost:

The bottom line is this card is packed with opportunities to absolute crush it in value whether through the bonus categories, card benefits, and statement credits. If this card is for you, you already know it.

Note that you cannot product change into this card from any other Chase card. You can only apply outright.

This card is also mentioned in the article Business Credit Cards That Don’t Report to Personal Credit Bureaus.