The highly regarded Southwest Airlines credit card is probably one of the more popular cards out on the market these days. Part of this has to do with how truly popular Southwest Airlines is as a travel entity, and some of it has to do with the market penetration that the airline has gained over the last decade. It's partnered up with a number of businesses and merchants to offer a card that is extremely versatile and effective.

The card itself is billed as the Rapid Rewards Visa, and this Southwest Airlines credit card certainly tries hard to deliver fairly rapid rewards. One card is what the airline calls a “signature” card and another card is”signature business” credit card. At its heart, the credit card is a travel rewards card, and it is certainly well known for its ability to get free flights to a user in a fairly quick manner.

The criteria for earning a free flight is that a user of the card gain 16 Rapid Rewards credits, eight credits of which will be earned after the first use of the card. Whenever a balance is transferred up to eight more credits can be earned. How this works is that one credit for each $1200 a balance transferred will be given. After 16 credits are earned, they can be redeemed for a round-trip flight anywhere in the continental United States that Southwest flies.

The Southwest Airlines credit card also features a number of ongoing benefits that attract a good many people these days who are interested in gaining travel rewards, including at participating partner hotels, car rental agencies and the like. Any purchases made with the card while in flight, using the card to purchase a Southwest Airlines flight and any Vacations flight packages through Southwest Airlines.

For those hotel and car rental partners, the Southwest Airlines credit card will also extend double reward dollars – as it does for purchase of Vacations packages, Southwest Airlines flights and any in-flight purchases – to those users of veiling themselves of goods and services from those car rental and hotel partners. There is a low annual fee for the card, which helps to make it even more attractive to many people interested in travel rewards programs.

Keep in mind that any credits earned through Rapid Rewards will be valid for up to 24 months. It can also be a somewhat easier card to get as persons applying for it only need to have “good” credit rather than the excellent credit that many other rewards-type cards demand of applicants these days. The annual fee, which is running about $59 per year, can be charged to the card, in effect making it a fairly pain-free card to get.

In all, there is a good deal to like about the Southwest Airlines credit card and almost nothing to dislike about this very versatile and well-known Visa card. It certainly offers innovative ways to get free airline travel somewhat faster than almost any other airline travel rewards credit card out there these days, for one. It also comes with a low annual fee and a very large partner network, making it a desirable card to have for the most part.