Can You Have 2 Southwest Credit Cards?

If you fly on Southwest Airlines more than occasionally, you may be interested in signing up for one of the several credit cards available from the airline. You may even already have one. But if you’re looking to maximize miles and score additional credit card sign-up bonuses, you may be wondering, can you have two Southwest credit cards?

We’ll explore getting approved for all the Southwest personal cards (and business cards) in this article, plus the pros and cons that may come with pursuing this strategy.

Southwest credit cards currently available

Southwest offers several choices when it comes to airline credit cards that earn Rapid Rewards points with every purchase. There are five Southwest credit cards to be precise: three personal cards and two business cards.

The cards are issued by Chase bank. Here's an overview of what you can expect with each card:

1. Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card: Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening. You’ll also get 7,500 additional points on your cardmember anniversary, earn tier qualifying points toward A-List status and receive a $75 annual Southwest travel credit, all for a $149 annual fee.

2. Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card: Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening. You’ll also get 6,000 additional points on your cardmember anniversary and earn tier qualifying points toward A-List status, all for a $99 annual fee.

3. Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card: Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening. You’ll also get 3,000 bonus points on your cardmember anniversary. The annual fee is $69.

4. Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card: Earn 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Score 9,000 points every year on your cardmember anniversary, a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fee credit of up to $120 every four years, up to four upgraded boardings per year and the ability to earn tier qualifying points toward A-List status. You can also get additional employee cards, which are included in the $199 annual fee.

5. Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card: Earn 60,000 points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Get 6,000 points every year on your cardmember anniversary and enjoy the ability to earn tier qualifying points toward A-List status.

» Learn more: Which Southwest Airlines credit card should I get?

Understanding Chase bank’s credit card rules

Of course, just because there are five cards available doesn’t mean you can — or should — sign up for all of them.

For starters, there’s Chase’s 5/24 rule to contend with. This policy limits the number of Chase cards that you can be approved for within a 24-month period. After you’ve applied for more than five cards during that span, you will be no longer eligible for additional Chase cards.

The rule applies to approved cards, including ones you were approved for but may have already canceled. Any cards where you're an authorized user may also count, though this isn’t documented anywhere on Chase’s site, either. However, business cards not connected to your personal account don’t count toward your five, so you could potentially have multiple Southwest credit cards if some are business and some personal.

You can also get approved for all of Southwest's personal cards, but you may be sacrificing sign-up bonus eligibility (more on this in the next section).

» Learn more: The beginner's guide to travel credit cards

The impact on welcome bonuses

Once you’ve figured out if you're eligible to sign up for one or more Southwest cards, you probably want to know how many welcome bonuses you can receive, too.

Southwest credit card bonus rules state that if you’re a current or previous cardmember of any Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card and you received the sign-up bonus within the last 24 months, you won’t get it again.

If you’ve earned a bonus in the last 24 months for a personal Southwest card, don’t expect another bonus in that time frame on a different Southwest personal card.

That said, there are some ways around this. Other members of your household, say your spouse, could sign up for their own card and score their own welcome bonus. And if you’re a small-business owner, you might be eligible to apply for a business Southwest card and still earn the second sign-up bonus in the 24-month window.

» Learn more: Tips for couples to maximize travel rewards

How many Southwest cards can I have?

Technically, you can have all of Southwest’s credit cards, personal and business, if you want, but it doesn't always make sense to sign up for them all at once. Between Chase’s 5/24 rule and strict bonus eligibility, you can reasonably apply for one personal card and maybe one business card during a 24-month period.