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Gift Cards Trigger $75 Annual Travel Credit for Chase Southwest Airlines Priority Credit Card

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Good afternoon everyone, greetings from Macedonia!  I’ve been traveling around Eastern Europe this week, but I noticed that the Chase Southwest Airlines credit cards have changed their sign up bonuses and some cards are now offering the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass.   Even though the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass is awesome, I want to talk about the Chase Southwest Airlines Priority Credit Card.  My girlfriend recently converted her Chase Southwest Airlines Plus Credit Card to the Chase Southwest Airlines Priority Credit Card, and part of the card benefits is a $75 annual travel credit.  Much like the airline reimbursements on the American Express Hilton Aspire Credit Card and the American Express Platinum Charge Cards, I assumed airline gift cards would trigger the $75 statement credit, but I had to find out for myself.

a screenshot of a credit card

Here are the terms & conditions regarding the $75 annual travel credit:

$75 Southwest Annual Travel Credit: A statement credit will automatically be applied to your account when your Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Priority Card is used for purchases (excluding Upgraded Boardings and inflight purchases), up to an anniversary year maximum accumulation of $75. Anniversary year means the year beginning with your account open date through the first statement date after your account open date anniversary, and the 12 monthly billing cycles after that each year. Eligibility for a $75 Southwest Annual Travel Credit for accounts that switch to this product: Account open date is the date the switch is official in the Chase system. Statement credit(s) will post to your account the same day your Southwest Airlines purchase posts to your account and will appear on your monthly credit card billing statement within 1-2 billing cycles. The $75 Southwest Annual Travel Credit will be issued for the year in which the transaction posts to your account. For example, if you buy a Southwest Airlines ticket, but the airline does not post the transaction until after your current anniversary period ends, the cost of the ticket will be allocated towards the following year’s Southwest Annual Travel Credit maximum of $75.

My girlfriend then went to the Southwest Airlines website and purchased a $75 egift card.

a screenshot of a website

A few days later, she logged into her Chase online account and saw that the $75 egift card purchase posted along with a $75 statement credit with the title “TRAVEL CREDIT $75/YEAR.”  Both transactions posted on the same day.

a screenshot of a computer

She dug a little deeper and this is how each transaction coded.  To her surprise, the $75 egift card looks like it earned 150 Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Points (worth ~$2.25).  This is a cardmember year benefit, so she can buy a $75 egift card every cardmember year.

If you have any questions about the Chase Southwest Airlines Priority Credit Card, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!


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31 thoughts on “Gift Cards Trigger $75 Annual Travel Credit for Chase Southwest Airlines Priority Credit Card

  1. Mike

    It also works on refundable fares that are canceled. I canceled some flights I booked with points, got the $5.60 credit back and they didn’t claw back the $75 credit. Simpler than dealing with a gift card.

    Reply
  2. Kevin

    Hey! My name is Kevin. I just triggered part of the 75$ credit hy purchasing a gift card from the southwest desktop site, and not being logged into my Rapids rewards account! I did 10$.

    Now I’ll try the rest of it and do 65$ and see if that works. I’ll update my progress!

    Reply
  3. Kevin

    Thanks Grant. I only included the information because it seemed to matter when it came to the AMEX Platinum card (which I believe doesn’t work anymore).

    But I do have an update with the 65$. That one also posted and I did receive the rest of the credit.

    Honestly not sure if it’s intended to work or not but just thought I would throw that out there!

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      Thanks for sharing both data points, Kevin. I think the credit is supposed to work on any SWA charge, whether that is ticket prices, fees/taxes, gift cards, etc.

      Reply
        1. Grant Post author

          I would say yes to early bird check in but you also get 4 free upgraded boardings per year, so I would get those instead. I think buying miles is processed by Points.com, so that wouldn’t work.

          Reply
  4. Davis P.

    How do I know how much credit is left for the year out of $75?
    And also, How can I find my year end anniversary date?

    Please suggest.

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      You can call Chase and ask them directly. If you don’t want to call Chase, look at your CC statements from the last 12 months until you find the date your annual fee posted. That should be right around your anniversary days.

      Reply
      1. Davis P.

        Thanks. I called Chase and they were able to provide all the details. Will be getting the e-gift card next month as the anniversary year hits end of January.

        Reply
  5. Aaron Brady

    Hi Grant, Have you tried this for 2020 yet? Just want to make sure that it worked for not just 2019.
    Thanks!

    Reply
  6. rajuncajuns

    Hi Grant, Are you aware of any extensions for this travel credit because of the current situation. I spoke to customer service and they said it can be used next year. So I specifically asked them if I will have $150 travel credit for next year and they said Yes. I was not satisfied by their answer, so sent a secure message so that I’ll have proof but the secure message reply was use it or loose it.

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      I had not heard of getting extension on any of the SWA CC perks. I played it safe and bought a $75 SWA eGC that was reimbursed automatically after a few days.

      Reply
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  9. Garrett Broadbent

    Do you have to purchase a $75 gift card to get the $75 credit? What if I purchase a $10 gift card, will I still get the $75 statement credit?

    Reply
    1. Grant Post author

      Hi Garrett, good question. The way I read the terms is that you get up to a $75 travel credit, so if you only bought a $10 SWA GC, you would only get $10 travel credit. You would then have $65 travel credit remaining.

      Reply
        1. Grant Post author

          Hi Jul, according to the terms of the $75 Annual Travel Credit: “$75 Southwest Annual Travel Credit: A statement credit will automatically be applied to your account when your Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Priority Card is used for purchases (excluding Upgraded Boardings and inflight purchases), up to an anniversary year maximum accumulation of $75. Anniversary year means the year beginning with your account open date through the first statement date after your account open date anniversary, and the 12 monthly billing cycles after that each year.” Therefore, it works your first year and is available the first day you get your Chase Southwest Airlines Priority Credit Card.

          Reply
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  11. Kelley Flesher

    Very helpful! Forgot to use my SWA annual travel credit and my anniversary is coming up. Can you confirm that purchasing a gift card still triggers the credit? Many thanks!

    Reply

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