Mtek

I received an email today from southwest, through my registered RR account

"For a limited time only, you can earn 500 bonus points on every southwestgiftcard® purchase of $200 or more through December 9, 2013. The more purchases you make, the more bonus points you'll earn!

southwestgiftcards are easy to redeem online, by phone, or at the airport. And with no expiration date, your gift can be used toward any of our 85+ destinations at any time."

T&C: Member must purchase a southwestgiftcard valued at $200 or greater between December 2, 2013 and December 9, 2013. After purchase, Member must submit their southwestgiftcard purchase confirmation number, purchase date, purchase amount, name, and Rapid Rewards account number to www.southwest.com/giftcardpromo between December 2, 2013 and December 9, 2013.

There is a link which you can purchase the gift cards through Southwest but I'm thinking of buying at Staples with my Ink thereby earning the 5X points

Wondering if anyone else is getting this offer and buying cards outside the Southwest site then registering them?

DebitNM

I got the offer. Not buying as we have 125,000 + points and more earned monthly and have CP; so we haven't bought a ticket in over a year.

expert7700

thanks for posting. You definitely need to purchase the gift cards online from Southwest since it verifies your order number.

although the bonus points do not count towards CP or A+ status, they are still useful to us: they will keep my son's points which are nearly 2 years old from expiring. He never got the dish network promo points.

DebitNM

I got the 500 dish points [obtained while watching free TV inflight]; hubby did not.

mango41

I got the same promotion and read the fine print. There doesn't appear to be a limit on the number of cards you can purchase. Am I missing something? or is this basically a way to get free points?

-MK

hawkmcd

Has anyone actually done this for a card purchased at a store or at amazon.com and received the 500 points? Or, since those take a while to post, do you get an error message when attempting to register the card?

Mtek

I'm probably going to pull the trigger on this over the weekend, buying through staples and then registering the card.
The submit form on the link asks " confirmation number" "purchase date" and "amount"
Im assuming any card purchased and registered would qualify
We''ll see

hawkmcd

They've been wrong before, but I spoke to a Southwest customer service agent who told me this had to be purchased directly through southwest.

ursine1

FYI: Saw this posted on Facebook today.

Peoriaman1

It sure sounds like it.

I just bought one and "gifted" it to myself. So essentially I've paid $200 towards my next flight, plus earned 500 points from this promotion and earned an additional 400 points because I bought it using my SW Chase Visa. Sounds good to me.

I should still earn 6x (or 10x or 12x) when I buy my plane tickets, correct?

toomanybooks

When you complete the travel, not when you buy.

expert7700

500 bonus points per $200 purchase works out to 4.16% off (based on the current valuation of points), or 3.5% off (based on the 2014 redemption value of points).

This is in addition to any credit card earnings/rebate (however those get earned regardless of if you buy the giftcard or just buy travel)

Buying gift cards from a retailer is usually a better bet. I believe WN discounts the wholesale cost of gift cards sold at retailers by 10-20%. Retailers often pass on part of their savings via free gas or grocery discounts. Sam's club had $150 of Southwest gift cards for $138.88 last I saw.

Peoriaman1

Hmmmm, yeah good point. Thanks for the reminder!

Peoriaman1

Here its now Jan. 1 and I am surprised they have not credited my account with the 500 points yet. I wonder how long before they appear?

I did get 400 points (2x200) because I used the Chase Southwest Visa, but I am expecting a total of 900 not 400.

Peoriaman1

Yay the 500 points showed up today! Feb. 11.