Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority

If you fly Southwest a few times a year, the Priority's annual perks are the reason to carry it: a $75 Southwest travel credit, 7,500 anniversary points, a free first checked bag for you and up to eight additional passengers on the same reservation, and 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points every year. Earning is narrower than that suggests, at 4x on Southwest purchases only, 2x on gas and dining, and 1x on everything else, so this is a card to hold for the benefits rather than to run your daily spending through. The $229 annual fee is real money, and the travel credit plus the anniversary points need to land for you every year before it breaks even. The signup bonus currently sits at 60,000 points after $2,000 in three months, back down from the 90,000 that ran briefly between late May and early July, so waiting for another bump is a reasonable play if you are not in a hurry. It ranks #5 on our Best Airline Credit Cards list, and there is no foreign transaction fee.