Southwest Premier vs. Capital One Venture: Venture is Victorious

For devoted fans of Southwest Airlines, here's a hard truth: Even one of the airline's most popular co-branded credit cards, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, might not be the best card for you.

In fact, frequent Southwest flyers may be able to earn more rewards with the no-nonsense Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card than with Southwest's own card. The Venture card outpaces the Southwest co-branded card with its high ongoing rewards on every purchase and its flexible redemption options.

True, if you have your heart set on Southwest's coveted Companion Pass, the Venture card can't help you. Only co-branded Southwest cards like the Premier card earn rewards that will count toward that status. But for most everyday spending scenarios, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card comes out on top.

Here's why.

» MORE: Best Southwest Airlines credit cards

At a glance

Both cards feature useful reward categories and rich welcome bonuses — although the bonus for the Premier tends to fluctuate more often compared to the Venture.

Why the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card comes out ahead

Two things give the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card a competitive advantage for most travelers.

It offers at least 2X back all purchases, not just in select categories

The Venture card earns 2 miles per $1 spent on most purchases, and 5 miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. You won't have to juggle multiple cards to max out your earnings in certain spending categories since you'll earn at least 2 miles per $1 no matter what you’re buying. Miles are worth 1 cent each when redeemed for travel in either of the following ways:

• Use your miles to book travel through Capital One.

• Redeem miles for a statement credit against travel purchases.

You can also transfer miles to multiple travel programs, though the per-mile value will vary depending on the partner. (Redemption for cash back is possible, but miles are worth only half-a-cent each that way.)

The Premier card, on the other hand, only earns 2X points on some everyday expenses, giving the Venture a big earnings advantage.

The Southwest card does offer 6,000 bonus points every card anniversary, which is worth about $84 a year based on NerdWallet’s valuation of Southwest Rapid Rewards points at 1.3 cents. But over the long term, that's not enough to make up for its lower ongoing value on everyday purchases.

You can redeem miles for almost any type of travel

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card has a broad definition of what qualifies for travel redemption: flights, sure, but also hotels, cruises, a cross-country train ride or a weekend at a beachfront timeshare.

And if you do redeem for airfare, there are no seat restrictions and no worries about award availability on certain dates. You can book whatever you want, in the way you want.

Your options are much more limited with the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card. While the airline's flight routes do cover much of the U.S. and there are options in the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America, you're out of luck if you want to fly to, say, Europe. And if you're not in the market for flights, hotel stays or car rentals, you're mostly left with Southwest's selection of overpriced gift cards.

When the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card could be a better choice

If you're determined to get a Southwest Companion Pass, definitely consider the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card. This pass allows someone to fly with you for free (minus taxes and fees) for the rest of the year in which you earn the pass, plus the next calendar year. You need 135,000 points or 100 qualifying one-way flights in a calendar year to get the pass. The Premier card’s welcome offer, plus its ongoing benefit of 10,000 Companion Pass points per year, can certainly help you reach that threshold.

This card also grants you 1,500 tier-qualifying points for every $5,000 spent on the card each calendar year, up to 15,000 annually. Tier-qualifying points help you reach A-List or A-List Preferred status faster, which means things like priority check-in, points bonuses and more.

You can’t get these airline-specific perks with the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.

» MORE: Southwest Rapid Rewards Program: The complete guide

If you want free checked bags

Any one of the Southwest credit cards gives their cardholders and up to eight passengers on the same reservation a free checked bag. Southwest charges $35 for the first bag, so this perk could be worth up to $315 per flight. The Venture card, like most general travel cards, doesn’t offer free checked bags for any airline.

» SEE: Southwest ditches free bags, adds basic fares

What about the other Southwest cards?

In addition to the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, Southwest offers two other personal cards: the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card and the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card. (There are business card offerings as well.)

For a higher annual fee of $229, the Priority card comes with a few extra perks that might be valuable to Southwest loyalists:

• Anniversary bonus of 7,500 points.

• When available, unlimited upgrades to Extra Legroom seats within 48 hours prior to departure for the cardholder and up to eight additional passengers on the same reservation.

• 2,500 tier qualifying points towards A-List status for every $5,000 spent annually. 

» MORE: Which Southwest Airlines credit card should you choose?

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is more practical and flexible

Matching up a co-branded airline credit card with general travel cards often feels a little like comparing apples and Apple Jacks. Often, there's not a real winner in a faceoff like this — the cards just appeal to different people. If you like the airline, you’d go with the airline card. Otherwise, you’d choose a general travel card.