u/Yinzguys_

I currently have the Southwest Plus Visa and am considering switching to the Priority card mainly for the preferred seating-at-booking benefits.

I have about 350k Rapid Rewards points. My wife also has a Southwest Plus Visa under the account, but I’m the primary cardholder. She only has about 16k RR points in her account.

Question:
If I book flights for my wife and two adult sons using my Rapid Rewards points, and use the Priority card to pay the taxes/fees, do they receive the preferred seat selection and free checked bag benefits even if I am NOT traveling?

Chase told us they would NOT receive the checked bag OR preferred seat benefits unless I’m on the reservation, but the wording online seems unclear to me.

To add to the confusion, when I price flights on Southwest’s website, the booking screen itself shows things like:

• “CARDMEMBER BENEFIT First checked bag free”
• “CARDMEMBER BENEFIT Group 5 boarding”
• “CARDMEMBER BENEFIT Choose a Standard seat…”

…without specifically saying the primary cardholder has to actually be traveling.

They also told me there is no signup bonus if I simply upgrade my current Plus card to the Priority card, so I guess I would need to open a completely new card to get the bonus.

Does anyone here have any real-world experience with this situation?

Thanks for reading.

EDIT: Just to clarify, what I’m really trying to do here is recreate the Southwest experience I’ve had for the last 20+ years by upgrading to the Priority card. Maybe even improve it a little by getting preferred seating at booking and not having to buy EarlyBird or be sitting there exactly 24 hours before check-in.

What complicates this is that the benefits don’t really tie to the purchase/payment method. They tie to the primary Rapid Rewards account tied to the card, as you guys explained below.

The authorized user thing is a little rough IMO. My wife has a Southwest card with her actual name on it but for benefit purposes she’s basically a nobody unless I’m flying too.

So from what I can tell, to truly recreate the old uncomplicated “Southwest are my people” experience, we’d probably need two Priority cards and two $229 annual fees. That would mostly solve it unless one of my adult sons is traveling without me or my wife.

The downside to that setup is now you have two separate high-earning Rapid Rewards accounts and would need to book from separate point pools depending on who is traveling. Honestly, not being able to combine points easily might be the biggest con of all this, even more than the annual fees.

For 20 years I went to one website, booked flights, and that was basically the end of it. Southwest was simple. I guess all good things evolve eventually, but if I can buy some of that simplicity back for $458 a year, I’m honestly considering it.

Thank you to everyone who replied to my post and helped me understand how this all actually works.

https://preview.redd.it/9eykkq03b51h1.png?width=1228&format=png&auto=webp&s=37348f0c1e87c7a341dc38ada949d1ddb9c19898