Originally Posted by
brosnan6
I did the gift card "trick" last year and it worked fine, but was talking to a friend about it and he said the way he does it doesn't involve a GC purchase as he simply books an international award ticket with heavy taxes and fees (UK tickets, for example) and then cancels the award ticket and retains the taxes and fees as a credit rather than CC refund. Why does everybody not do it this way instead of having to "invest" in the $50 GC first? Is there something I'm missing here?
Originally Posted by
Zorak
No idea. I am speculating but I think a lot of people learn about one method and are forever fixated on that method going forward, and don't seem to read other posts in the thread or wiki that describe newer/different/potentially better workarounds. IMO the simplest technique, if you have a flight you intend to take, is to book a cheaper flight first, and then change it to the one you actually want, as described in the post above yours.
My earlier post, #104, similar to what
brosnan6 asked, I generated an award flight via YYZ thru ATL, taxes and fees weren't in the LHR stratosphere, but were enough to gobble up the 2022 credit, so as
Zorak contemplates, perhaps it's a comfort zone issue (done it once before and it worked, don't break the mold). I've done the regular GC purchase from many moons ago, as well as the GC applied to bring a price down to $200-250, and now straight SkyMiles award payment, with the taxes/fees getting credited back. It's all about what an individual is comfortable doing to activate credits on DL.