Popular Southwest Credit Card Comes with 50,000-Point Bonus

As it has been doing with some regularity, Southwest has upped the sign-up bonus for its

Rapid Rewards Premier credit card

to 50,000 points.

The 50,000-point bonus kicks in after a new cardholder charges $2,000 within three months.

There's no published end date to this 50,000-point sign-up bonus, so it could be ratcheted back at any time.



Related: Travelers More Satisfied with Airlines



Other card details:

• Annual fee: $99.
• Annual percentage rate (APR) is variable, currently between 16.24% to 23.24%, based on the Prime Rate and creditworthiness.
• The card awards two points per $1 on purchases of Southwest tickets and Rapid Rewards hotel and rental car partners; one point per $1 for other charges.
• Premier cardholders receive 6,000 bonus points on their anniversary, enough for $100 toward a Wanna Get Away award ticket.
• No foreign transaction fees.
  
  Deal or No Deal
  
  
  
  In Southwest's program, 50,000 Rapid Rewards points translate into more than $700 toward Wanna Get Away award tickets—probably two free round-trip flights.
  
  As credit card sign-up bonuses go, this is a solid one. And as Southwest offers go, it's as good as it's ever been, and probably as good as it'll ever get.
  
  Unless you're a serial card acquirer—a flipper, who signs up solely for the bonus, and then moves on—the question posed by credit-card bonuses has less to do with the card itself than it does with the program it's linked to. So in this case, the question is: Is Southwest's Rapid Rewards a program that meets your needs?
  
  If it is, this would be a good time to pull the trigger on the program-affiliated card.
  
  
  
  Reader Reality Check
  
  
  
  What would you do with 50,000 Rapid Rewards points?