Full Review

The Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card is like jet fuel for your travel budget, thanks largely to its big initial bonus, which is only available for a limited time. But that still doesn’t necessarily mean it will be the most rewarding option. Credit card rewards are historically valuable these days, and many cards are capable of taking your earnings to great heights.

Here's what you need to know:

Strong initial bonus. Spending at least $1,000 within 3 months of opening the Premier Southwest Card will score you 40,000 points. That’s a pretty nice haul, good for at least a free flight or two. The downside is that you have to book directly through Southwest and perhaps pass up all of the other lucrative credit card deals that are currently available.

Not the only Southwest credit card in town. There are three Southwest Airlines credit cards: the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card and the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card. This review will focus on the former, but you can see how these Southwest cards compare to one another here.

Modest ongoing rewards. In addition to its sizable initial bonus, this Southwest rewards card gives you 6,000 points each account anniversary. This supplements the 2 points per $1 spent that you will earn on Southwest purchases along with hotel and car rental from partners and the 1 point per $1 spent that you'll get on everything else. Those purchase-based earning rates equate to 1.37% to 2.74% cash back, as Southwest Rapid Rewards points are worth an average of about $0.0137 apiece. Considering the average credit card offers roughly 1.07% cash back, this Southwest Airlines card is really only worthwhile for Southwest purchases.

Fairly high annual fee. At $99, the Premier Southwest Credit Card’s annual fee is about five times higher than the market average of $19.49. And it's even above what some of the rewards market's heaviest hitters charge.

Unimpressive interest rates. This Southwest Rapid Rewards card does not offer 0% introductory interest rates. Considering you need good or excellent credit for approval, and the average credit cards for people with good and excellent credit charge 19.28% and 13.03%, respectively, it's clear you'll be overpaying if you carry a balance from month to month with your Southwest card. So don't.

No penalty for foreign use. If you plan on visiting any of Southwest’s international destinations (or making purchases through internationally based merchants), you'll be glad to know that this Southwest credit card does not charge a foreign-transaction fee. Most credit cards have such a charge, after all, with the average being 1.46% of each purchase.

Good credit required. All three Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards require good or excellent credit for approval. So make sure to check your credit score, and thus gauge your odds of acceptance, before applying.