Your Southwest Credit Card Qualification Guide

Southwest Airlines offers five credit cards you can apply for: three personal and two commercial.

and Southwest RapidRewards® Plus Credit Card (See rates and fees), Southwest RapidRewards® Premier Credit Card and Southwest RapidRewards® Priority Credit Card (See Interest Rates and Fees) New cardholders can earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first five months of opening an account.

Information on the Southwest Quick Reward Prime Minister has been collected separately by Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

When focusing on Southwest Credit Cards, there are some specific rules depending on whether you are a personal card or a business card. This is what you need to know.

Which Southwest Credit Card am I eligible for?

If you are looking at a Southwest Credit Card, you can choose from five options. The airline offers three personal cards and two business cards.

These are personal cards:

Here are two business cards:

Currently, personal cards have limited time welcome offers. New cardholders can earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first three months of opening.

According to TPG’s August 2025 valuation, the bonus is worth $1,350.

These two business cards have different welcome offers.

New Southwest Performance Merchant Cardholders can earn 80,000 points after spending $5,000 in the first three months of opening.

Meanwhile, New Southwest Prime Minister Merchant Cardholders can earn 60,000 points after spending $3,000 in purchases within the first three months of opening an account.

According to our valuation, these welcome bonuses are worth $1,080 and $810, respectively.

Chase and Southwest keep the application process relatively simple by processing all personal cards evenly and setting two simple rules for business cards.

Related: How to track your progress to your credit card welcome bonus

If you want to apply for a personal card

You are eligible to do so as long as you comply with the following criteria:

• Chase 5/24 Rules: If you have opened five or more credit cards (from any issuer) in the last 24 months, you will almost certainly be rejected by Southwest credit cards, excluding most business cards.
• Card “home” restrictions: If you already have a Southwest Personal Card, you will not be able to open another card until you cancel or change the current card.
• Welcome bonus rules: If you have received a welcome bonus from your Southwest Personal Card in the past 24 months, you cannot open the card.

An important note here is that having a Southwest Business Credit Card or Employee Card will not affect your eligibility for a personal card.

If you want to apply for a business card

As long as you are less than 5/24, you can do this and comply with the following rules:

• You are currently unable to own that specific credit card.
• You have not been able to earn bonuses on that particular credit card for the past 24 months.

Applying for a personal Southwest credit card does not affect your eligibility for a business card, except for the fact that it occupies one of your 5/24 slots. More importantly, having a Southwest Business Credit Card does not affect your qualification for a Southwest Business Card.

Related: Southwest Performance and Prime Minister: Which fast reward business credit card is right for you?

What is the best plan to apply for a Southwest Credit Card?

Assuming you have a 5/24 slot, the best plan for most people is to apply for two Southwest commercial credit cards. Doing so will not increase your 5/24 count and will qualify you for a personal Southwest card in the future.

Due to Chase’s application restrictions on individual Southwest Cards, it’s best to wait for the highest welcome bonus available, or when providing a partner pass before applying.

Related: How to earn Southwest Companion Pass quickly

Bottom line

It is always important to plan your credit card application and be aware of card and issuer-specific rules.

Chase’s “family restriction” on personal Southwest cards brings wrench into many companions through the program, but the same restrictions don’t apply to two-digit business cards.

To learn more, check out our full review of the Southwest Plus, Premier, Priority, Premier Business and Performance Business Cards.

Apply here: Southwest credit card
Apply here: Southwest Priority Credit Card
Apply here: Southwest Prime Minister’s Commercial Credit Card
Apply here: Southwest Performance Business Credit Card
Learn more: Southwest Prime Minister’s Credit Card