New 100k Southwest Card Offer Analysis: Which One is Best for Your Situation?

Following on the heels of the announcement this week that assigned seating will go on sale for flights booked next Tuesday for travel starting January 27th, 2026, huge new 100k point offers are now live for all 3 Chase Southwest personal cards (Plus, Premier, Priority), along with new features and higher annual fees across the board.

While the math was always pretty clear cut that the Priority card was the best option previously, now the situation will depend much more on your specific needs. For this analysis I looked at 12 different scenarios: 4 levels of travel for 1, 2, and 4 people traveling together.

Before diving into each scenario, I want to note that these offers are compelling if only for the 100k bonus, worth at least $1250 of flights plus free checked bags and some level of seating benefits. For ongoing spend these refreshed cards are definitely NOT compelling, just to be clear.

Analysis methodology

To help figure out which card is best for different scenarios, I made some assumptions and assigned value to the different perks. These will vary for each person; notably for those who always check a bag vs never check a bag, and for those who care more about seating assignments. I did not include the value of the 100k sign up bonus (~ $1250) as it was consistent across cards, but I did include the value of the anniversary bonus points for keeping the card in year 2.

For the seating benefits, I looked at what I would personally be willing to pay for things like assigned or extra leg room seats. A-List or A-List Preferred tier benefits also have a major impact on the results! As a reminder, all credit card holders and A-List members get 1 free checked bag (2 for A-List Preferred) and each card has different seating benefits which you can read about here. I also assumed buying Basic (lowest) fares in each case, since assigned seats would always be an upsell if not available through credit card or elite status benefits. Interestingly, having one of the credit cards or elite status makes the Basic fares more appealing, aside from the 6-month expiration of flight credits if you need to cancel your booking.

Four Cases:

1. No elite status, 2 round trips per year with checked bags
2. No status, 6 round trips per year, 2 with checked bags
3. No status, 8 round trips per year, 4 with checked bags
4. A-List status, 4 round trips per year with checked bags

Costs/Valuation

• $35 checked bag fee per person, each way
• Standard seat assignment: $10 round trip per person
• Preferred seat assignment: $20 round trip per person
• Extra leg room seat assignment: $50 round trip per person
• Anniversary bonus points valued at 1.25 cents per point

Results

If you are primarily interested in the 100k sign up bonus and don’t fly that often, the Premier card actually comes out as the best value option for a solo traveler. As the number of people and round trips increase, the Priority card quickly becomes the clear winner due to the seating benefit value. This assumes that extra leg room seats will consistently be available at 48 hours before departure, so time will tell.

However, if you have A-List status already and again are primarily interested in the 100k points, the Plus card is the winner regardless of the number of trips or people because you already would get the same checked bag benefit as all the cards and the same seating benefit as the Priority card.

A-List Implications

One perk of the Priority and Premier cards is the ability to earn tier qualifying points towards A-List qualification with 2500 tier points (Priority card) or 1500 tier points (Premier card) per $5000 spend. That means with $70k of spend on the Priority you could earn A-List without ever flying. However, this makes no sense for 3 reasons:

1. If you don’t often fly Southwest, why chase elite status?
2. The opportunity cost of the spend is huge. With limited bonus categories you would be better off spending with other cards; even a 2% cash back card would yield $1400 on the same spend
3. In the new world order of Southwest, there is almost no difference between having A-List status and simply holding the Priority card.

That last part is really important. I know multiple people who have the lower-level cards currently and actually spend their way to A-List. Going forward this will make even less sense than it does today! The only real difference between A-List and simply having the Priority card will be the dedicated phone line, which to be fair does come in handy sometimes, and 25% earning bonus on paid flights. However, the earning on Basic fares is only 2 points per dollar so even at, say $2500 worth of flights booked annually that difference is 1,250 points worth a whopping ~ $16! It gets better if you buy the higher fare classes but is still certainly not a reason to chase status if you don’t have a need to for that many paid flights anyway. For both the checked bag benefit, the ability to choose an extra legroom seat at 48 hours before departure, or likely in boarding position, there is no difference between having A-List vs having the Priority card.

What about Companion Pass

So what about Companion Pass? There have been rumors swirling based on some surveys and given the aggressive changes happening at the airline that Companion Pass may be the next things to be changed or eliminated. Keeping it would mean hanging on to the one remaining benefit that differentiates Southwest from its peers.

With that in mind, these 100k offers give a window of flexibility to those seeking Companion Pass. It is particularly interesting to me that despite only having a $4000 spent requirement for each of the personal cards, they are giving you 5 months to complete the spend. Since the offers are available until 9/17, you could apply sometime between mid-August and mid-September but then wait to complete the $4000 spend until after your December statement closes (or early January to be extra safe).

Considering the 10k head start that cardmembers get towards Companion Pass each year, having the sign-up bonus post in January would put you somewhere between 110k and 115k points towards the required 135k to earn Companion Pass for all of that year (2026) AND the following year (2027). That would put you in striking distance to earn an almost two-year Companion Pass early next year. Even if later in 2026 they announce changes for Companion Pass qualification, you will already be set for 2027 too.

But, what if Southwest announced changes later this year for 2026 qualification, which is a real risk? That’s the beauty of this offer! If, say, in October we learn that it will be much harder to earn in 2026 through some requirements of segments or spend in addition to the points, or worse, it goes away all together, you could just hit your min spend before your November statement closes so the points post before the end of the year. That plus some existing earning from flying, more spend, and if needed, a referral bonus, would get you the Companion Pass for a few weeks this year and all of 2026. While much worse than nearly 2 full years, it is better than nothing and gives you a chance to better leverage your 100k sign up bonus.

Have questions? Leave a comment below. If you are interested in this offer and would like to support the site, here is my referral link which has the same offer and allows you to select and of the personal or business cards:

https://www.referyourchasecard.com/226j/KAAS19TSX5

TL;DR: The new Southwest 100k offers are compelling in terms of value and helping to get Companion Pass. Which card best depends on your situation. The most expensive Priority card becomes more attractive if you travel frequently and with more people and gets you very similar benefits of having A-List status, but if you already have A-List status the lowest cost Plus card is the best value, especially if you plan on keeping it past the first year.