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

Although the Southwest Priority Card charges the highest annual fee of any of the personal Southwest credit cards, we argue that it should be the go-to card for frequent Southwest flyers. That’s because the perks of this Southwest credit card easily justify the $149 annual fee.

Cardholders get four Upgraded Boardings each year, a $75 Southwest annual travel credit, 7,500 bonus points every cardmember anniversary (worth $105), and 25% back on inflight purchases. If you fly Southwest just a couple of times per year, these perks should easily save more than the $149 annual fee.

In addition to the sign-up bonus, cardholders earn 3x points on Southwest purchases and 2x points on Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases, local transit, commuting, and rideshare. In addition to those travel purchases, cardholders also earn 2x points on internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming services. All other purchases earn 1x points.

All points earned count toward earning the Southwest Companion Pass. Plus, cardholders will earn 1,500 Tier Qualifying Points toward A-List and A-List Preferred Status for every $5,000 spent per year and there is no limit on the amount of TQPs you can earn. And you don’t need to worry about foreign transaction fees with the Southwest Priority Card.

The only downside to Southwest Airlines credit cards is that Rapid Rewards points are only valuable for flying Southwest. If you want to earn flexible points, consider a credit card that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer to the Southwest Rapid Rewards program, so you’ll still be able to top off your Rapid Rewards account when you need points for your next redemption, but you can also transfer them to any of Chase’s other airline or hotel transfer partners.

Lastly, this card is great for getting a good chunk of the way 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.

💳 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® is a luxury travel card legend – there’s no doubt about that.

The 2025 refresh, however, with the increase in fee to $795, makes this a must have for some, but not all, travelers. It remains one of the strongest travel credit cards on the market, competing with the Capital One Venture X and The Platinum Card® from American Express.

Whereas the older version of the card was more about simplicity, the new version packs in $2,700 in annual total value for the $795 annual fee. But that doesn’t mean you’ll use all of that value.

My baseline assumption is that everyone that is interested in this card will use the $300 travel credit, the same as always – applied towards absolutely any travel including parking.

Then there is the $300 annual dining credit. While that is $150 bi-annually, it seems ridiculously easy to dine twice a year at restaurants that are part of Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables. You don’t even have to book via the program. The card will know the restaurant participates and give you the credit. I feel like this applies to a majority of the target market for this card which I believe skews towards those in or near urban/suburban locations.

So in two lines, we see $600 in statement credits out of a $795 annual fee.

But of course there’s much more to the card than those two credits!

If you use even one $250 credit for the Edit, you are ahead.

If you use the Chase Sapphire lounges or Priority pass a few times a year with the most generous guest access policy around at 2 guests, you are ahead.

If you have a Travel Planner plan even one trip a year, you are ahead.

If you like live events and use the two StubHub credits ($150 bi-annually), you are ahead.

And finally, let’s revisit the bonus categories for spend.

• 8X points on all Chase Travel purchases, replacing 5x points on flights and 10x points on hotels and car rentals booked through Chase Travel
• 4X points on flights and hotels booked direct, replacing 3x points on all travel
• 3X points on dining

Keep in mind that only hotels booked through The Edit℠ will confer full hotel loyalty program benefits – status honored, benefits honored, elite night credits earned, and loyalty points earned. Other hotel bookings will not.

With that said, if you book a lot of travel and are willing to book via Chase Travel, then 8X on all travel is pretty amazing! And even if you don’t, 4X on hotels booked direct are at the top of the market and 4X on airfare is second only to the Platinum Card® from American Express.

I think that for some, those bonus multipliers will result in mountains of earned points – but, certainly, for others the spend level might not be enough to make that up.

And so I’m back where I started. Assuming you will use the $300 travel credit and the $300 “Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables” dining credit, all you have to do is look up at the benefits and statement credits and find more than $195 in additional value for the card to pay for itself.

If it doesn’t? Then it may not be the right card for you. We have plenty of other great transferable points based rewards travel cards in our Card Explorer!

Either way, hopefully you have all the information you need to make an informed decision.

Eligibility

You can now hold both the Chase Sapphire Preferred® and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® card. Finally!

However, the bonus will be subject to eligibility rules which will determine if you are eligible or not. You will be notified during the application process if you are not eligible for a bonus offer and given the choice to continue the application or cancel the application with no impact to your credit score.

You must also be under 5/24.