Originally Posted by
wnysupport
With WN is it possible to just buy a $200 and be done with it.
Since you can only do 4 total payments for a purchase, I'd like to maximize my GC values (since I'll have 2 $300 from CSR credits)
I have done so and been reimbursed but those $200 transactions were several months ago. However, I have no reason to believe that ability has changed. When the calendar rolls to 2017 I fully intend to purchase $200 gift cards again to use this benefit on the several AMEX Platinum cards that I manage.
Also, in regards to the limit on the number of gift cards that can be applied to a purchase at once, there's a straightforward workaround once you know for whom you're going to make purchase. Suppose you have a bunch of $100 gift cards and want to make a $600 purchase for one person. Start by finding a just under $400 ticket, for example $390. It can be on some completely unrelated route than the one you actually want to purchase a ticket for. Use Gift Cards #1, #2, #3, and #4. Then cancel that ticket. You now have ticketless travel fund for a named person in the amount of $390. Now purchase the ticket you actually want. You can apply the canceled ticket's value, plus four additional gift card payments. This maneuver is possible and generates useful result because Southwest has no change fees. Be aware that the name of the passenger matters -- ticketless travel funds from a ticket for John Smith can only be used to purchase a new ticket for John Smith. Also, while in my experience the ticketless travel fund of a canceled ticket is often re-usable within a matter of seconds, sometimes it might take a few hours or overnight. Don't panic too quickly if an attempt to re-use fails. Only bother with calling customer support if the re-use still fails the next day.
I do not have any experience of trying to do something like the above if you for some reason want to put multiple people onto the same ticket purchase (same record locator). I'm not sure if the Web site can keep track of your purchasing travel for John Smith and Jane Doe and apply ticketless travel funds from a former John Smith ticket AND apply ticketless travel funds from a former Jane Doe ticket.
To avoid taking this thread too far off topic, please consult the Southwest specific forum for threads related to this maneuver.