Compare the Features and Benefits of Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card and
Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card

Small business owners that occasionally fly Southwest should consider getting the Southwest Premier Business Credit Card. You’ll get a solid earning rate on Southwest Airlines purchases and select travel purchases, a statement credit for two EarlyBird Check-Ins each card membership year, plus 25% back on inflight purchases.

In addition to the bonus points earned after account opening, cardholders earn points at a rate of 3x Rapid Rewards points on Southwest purchases, 2x points on Southwest Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases, local transit, commuting, and ride-hailing services, and 1x Rapid Rewards points on all other purchases.

When you earn points through the Southwest Premier Business Credit Card, they count toward earning the Southwest Companion Pass. Plus you’ll earn 1,500 Tier-Qualifying Points toward A-List status for every $10,000 spent on the card in a calendar year.

You can boost your point earnings by adding employee cards at no additional cost. If you want a unique way to reward your employees, the Southwest Premier Business Card reimburses up to $500 in fees for points transfers.

When you go to redeem points, Southwest offers a simple rewards structure. You’ll pay between 81 and 83 Rapid Rewards points per dollar of base fare on Southwest flights, valuing the points around 1.4 cents each. While there are no blackout dates, that also means there’s no way of getting more value from your Rapid Rewards points.

Although the Southwest Premier Business Card is a solid card, Southwest frequent travelers should strongly consider getting the Southwest Performance Business Credit Card instead. For a $199 annual fee, you’ll earn higher rewards in several rewards categories: 4x bonus points on Southwest purchases, 3x points on Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases, 2x points on social media and search engine advertising, internet, cable, and phone services, and 1x on other purchases. Plus, you’ll get four Upgraded Boardings each year and a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee statement credit.

Lastly, this card is great for getting halfway to a Southwest Companion Pass with the bonus offer. Read our guide on earning a Southwest Companion Pass for up to two years via new account bonuses.

If you are a small business owner, I strongly recommend that you carry all three Chase Ink credit cards: the Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (this card!), the Chase Ink Business Preferred®, and the Chase Ink Business Cash®.

They all work together as what we refer to as a Chase business credit card “Trifecta.” The Chase Ink Preferred® allows you to transfer points to Chase’s Ultimate Rewards airline and hotel partners like United, Hyatt, and British Airways.

But then it makes sense to also get the Ink Business Cash credit card and Chase Ink Business Unlimited credit card to maximize your total earnings on bonus categories – since all points can be combined to your Ink Preferred.

Here, with the Chase Ink Business Unlimited credit card, it is your “default” card for your business spend. What I mean by that is that if the purchase you are making isn’t in a bonus category on your other cards, you would put the charge on the Ink Unlimited for 1.5X Ultimate Rewards points. This way you are never, ever getting less than 1.5% back on your business purchases.

There is no limit to how many Ultimate Rewards points you can earn on the Chase Ink Business Unlimited credit card, all at the 1.5X multiplier.

However, it is very important to know is that although this card states that you are earning cash back, that is only if you don’t also have a Chase Ink Preferred®, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, or Sapphire Reserve® Card.

Yes, you are earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points with the Chase Ink Business Unlimited credit card.

But without one of the above credit cards, your only redemption option is to cash out your points for 1 cent per point, meaning that, on its own, it’s a cash back card and the points have an actual cash value of 1 cent each.

Assuming you do have an Ink Preferred®, Sapphire Preferred® Card, or Sapphire Reserve® Card in your wallet, however, you’ll be able to move your points from your Ink Business Unlimited card to any of those other 3 cards, where you will be able to transfer to airline and hotel partner programs like United and Hyatt – or redeem for travel via the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal where your points are worth either 1.25 or 1.5 cents each, depending on which card you have.

The Ink Preferred and Sapphire Preferred offer 1.25 cents a point while the Sapphire Reserve (with its $550 annual fee) gives you 1.5 cents per point when booking travel in the Ultimate Rewards portal.

The bottom line is that the Chase Ink Unlimited is simply a staple in the Chase Ink family of business credit cards. It backs up the Preferred and Cash with that 1.5% “floor” on rewards – and all with no annual fee.

When using our bonus spend calculator on this card, you’ll notice we ask you if you also have a Chase Ink Preferred®, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, or Sapphire Reserve® Card. That’s because, if you do, we’ll increase the value of rewards on this card from 1 cent to 1.75 cents accordingly accounting for the ability to utilize Chase’s point transfer partners.

Please note: you must be under 5/24 (more on the Chase 5/24 rule) to apply for this card and you cannot apply for more than one Chase Business card in any 30 day period. You can apply for a maximum of two Chase cards within 30 days, with only, at most, 1 of them being a Chase Ink business card (or any Chase business card).

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