In the wake of all of the changes Southwest rolled out earlier this year, I knew I was going to cancel my Chase Southwest Performance Business credit card. Going forward, having A-List status (which I do), the personal Priority card (which I also have), or this Performance Business card have essentially the same benefits. That, combined with increasing annual fees ($199 to $299), make this a very easy decision. However, I still wanted to maximize its perks before cancelling this month.
New Performance Business card perks are useless to me
- Preferred seat at time of booking – already included with A-List and Priority card
- Upgrade to extra legroom seats 48 hours before departure – ditto
- Free checked bag – ditto, and not stackable with the other card or status
- 10k point boost towards Companion Pass – covered by Priority card and also not stackable
- 4X points on Soutwest spend – also covered by Priority card and regardless, I would rather earn 4X Chase points using the Sapphire Reserve card anyway
- Credit for PreCheck or Global Entry – already used so not available for 3 more years
- 9000 anniversary points – useful, but not nearly enough to cover the annual fee
Perks ending in 2025 that I could maximize
This card did have some interesting perks which are unfortunately ending at the end of this year. Knowing back in May that I was going to cancel this card when my annual fee came due in October, I was able to plan effectively and really maximize these perks. If you still have this card, there is a bit of time left to take advantage of them too.
$500 to cover point transfers
Normally, the price to transfer points doesn’t justify doing it as it erodes a high percentage of the value. A unique feature of this card was the ability to cover the cost of point transfers between members up to $500 per year. Since my wife and daughter had a few points in their accounts and we try to book award travel out of my account, this was a great opportunity to consolidate at no out of pocket cost.
Upgraded A1-15 boardings
Having 4 of these to use per year, we definitely wanted to use them. They came in handy both with my already-decent boarding positions due to A-List status (so I could check out the new 737-MAX8 seats) and for cases where I was not traveling with the family such as my daughter’s flight diversion ordeal this summer.
Free WiFi credits
This is one I did value, but as of late October, WiFi is free for all Rapid Rewards members.
TSA PreCheck or Global Entry reimbursement
I did use this $120 credit to re-up my Global Entry earlier this year.
How did I do maximizing the credits?
In total, I was able to get back $779 in credits which, even before the anniversary points, massively outweighed the previous annual fee. I wouldn’t have paid $779 for those benefits, but even discounting by half would still significantly outperform the old annual fee. I’ve been happy to have carried this card for the past year; there is just no remaining unique value to justify it going forward when I already have the Priority personal card and A-List status.
If you are interested to see how the new personal cards compare, check out this analysis I did previously.
If you are interested in any of the Personal cards with the current 85k point signup bonus, you can learn more and apply here.
TL;DR: The Chase Southwest Business Performance card has several interesting perks that are going away at the end of the year. By planning ahead, I was able to maximize the value of the card this year. Going forward, having both a personal and business Southwest card makes little sense, especially if you have A-List status with overlapping benefits.
