Compare the Features and Benefits of Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card and
Chase Sapphire Reserve®

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.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card is the one that, in a sense, started it all. While rewards cards have been around for decades, The Chase Sapphire Reserve quickly became a must-have upon its launch in 2016. With a huge bonus offer, the Priority Pass airport lounge access, the easy to use $300 travel credits, and 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on all dining and travel made it an easy sell.

Today, it remains one of the strongest travel credit cards on the market, even if other cards like the newer Capital One Venture X and The Platinum Card® from American Express both get solid market share.

The beauty of the Chase Sapphire Reserve lies in its simplicity.

The $300 annual travel credit works itself off without you even noticing, since travel purchases are automatically applied. With the Venture X, for instance, you also get a $300 annual travel credit but can only use it in the Capital One portal.

Then the Chase Sapphire Reserve is just plain “easy” when it comes to earning, knowing that just about every possible travel or dining purchase (including eligible delivery services) will earn 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

And to that end, with a MilesTalk value of 1.75 cents per point when used via transfer partners like World of Hyatt or for First and Business Class airfare via its many airline partners, you know you’ll get value for those points you earn. In fact, your travel and dining purchases (earning 3X points) have a minimum return on spend value of 4.5% (if you redeem through Chase Travel at 1.5 cents each or an average redemption yield of around 5.25% (3X * 1.75) when you use the Ultimate Rewards airline and hotel partners.

The card is also full of the most important benefits, namely the Priority Pass select membership for airport lounge access for you and 2 guests, including Priority Pass experiences (but not airport restaurants) as well as primary collision/damage coverage on car rentals and trip delay coverage that kicks in after just a 6 hour delay as well as lost luggage insurance. And then there are the somewhat smaller but still valuable perks like your Global Entry fee reimbursement and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals purchased through Chase Travel(SM) and Chase dining purchases.

And of course, there’s that huge bonus when you spend $4,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening….

So yes, it does have a high annual fee, but after the $300 travel credit, it’s effectively just $250 which the card gives you back via it’s earn rate, redemption rate (1.5 cents per point at Chase Travel) and rich benefits.