Sep 17, 2014, 10:45 am
Last edit by: Tanic
Reminder: you must enroll and select Southwest as your airline BEFORE making a reimbursable purchase.
Some have suggested the need to wait several hours or even a day before making the purchase, but there are also several DPs that worked without waiting that long.
(BTW, you will often hear people refer to Southwest as WN. WN is the IATA code for Southwest Airlines. SW is the IATA code for Air Namibia.)
Caution: As of late July 2019, reports are that direct gift card purchases are no longer being reimbursed.
To purchase click here: https://www.southwest.com/gift-card/create-card.html Caution: Do NOT login to your Southwest Rapid Rewards account when making the purchase.
What does appear to work is buying flight tickets less than $100, OR using gift cards to get the charged amount down to less than $100.
Always read the last few pages to get up-to-date DPs.
Some have suggested the need to wait several hours or even a day before making the purchase, but there are also several DPs that worked without waiting that long.
(BTW, you will often hear people refer to Southwest as WN. WN is the IATA code for Southwest Airlines. SW is the IATA code for Air Namibia.)
Caution: As of late July 2019, reports are that direct gift card purchases are no longer being reimbursed.
What does appear to work is buying flight tickets less than $100, OR using gift cards to get the charged amount down to less than $100.
Always read the last few pages to get up-to-date DPs.
Airline fee $250/$200/$100 reimbursement reports: WN (2011-2019)
May 20, 2016, 12:39 pm
#676
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: SFO
Posts: 266
After you enroll FL/WN on the MR website, how long do you have to wait to purchase these gift cards for this to work properly?
May 21, 2016, 8:53 pm
#677
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 1
Datapoint.
Registered southwest to my amex on May 16th:
Purchased two $100 gift certs on May 17th.
Credited $200 on May 19th.
Thanks all for the info in this forum.
Registered southwest to my amex on May 16th:
Purchased two $100 gift certs on May 17th.
Credited $200 on May 19th.
Thanks all for the info in this forum.
May 22, 2016, 12:11 pm
#678
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 27
Registered Southwest to my AMEX on May 19th ~7:00PM, purchased 2x$100 gift cards on SW in a single transaction immediately. Credited on my statement May 21st.
BTW what does WN and FL mean?
BTW what does WN and FL mean?
May 22, 2016, 3:12 pm
#679
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,952
WN is the IATA code used by Southwest Airlines
FL is the IATA code use by AirTran
IATA is the International Air Transport Association. Older airlines tend to have intuitive codes (AA = American Airlines, BA= British Airways, DL = Delta Airlines, UA = United Airlines.) Newer airlines had to pick from what was not already used. SW = Air Namibia.
FL is the IATA code use by AirTran
IATA is the International Air Transport Association. Older airlines tend to have intuitive codes (AA = American Airlines, BA= British Airways, DL = Delta Airlines, UA = United Airlines.) Newer airlines had to pick from what was not already used. SW = Air Namibia.
May 25, 2016, 11:29 am
#680
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: SFO
Posts: 266
Registered and purchased all on the same day within an hour of each action.
I got the credit 3 days later.
May 27, 2016, 4:26 pm
#681
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 3
Registered SW on my Amex May 19. Purchased $100 gift card on my PRG May 24, reimbursement came in May 27.
May 27, 2016, 7:13 pm
#682
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 27
Thanks for the info, much appreciated!
WN is the IATA code used by Southwest Airlines
FL is the IATA code use by AirTran
IATA is the International Air Transport Association. Older airlines tend to have intuitive codes (AA = American Airlines, BA= British Airways, DL = Delta Airlines, UA = United Airlines.) Newer airlines had to pick from what was not already used. SW = Air Namibia.
FL is the IATA code use by AirTran
IATA is the International Air Transport Association. Older airlines tend to have intuitive codes (AA = American Airlines, BA= British Airways, DL = Delta Airlines, UA = United Airlines.) Newer airlines had to pick from what was not already used. SW = Air Namibia.
Jun 1, 2016, 4:11 pm
#683
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 9
First time poster here is my data point 
Registered SWA on May 28th
Purchased 2 $100 gift cards in one transaction on May 29th
Reimbursed on June 1st.
Registered SWA on May 28th
Purchased 2 $100 gift cards in one transaction on May 29th
Reimbursed on June 1st.
Jun 1, 2016, 4:53 pm
#684
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 1
Just purchased 2 swa gift cards will update on status
Jun 2, 2016, 11:16 am
#685
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 148
Purchased one WN $200 GC a few weeks ago, got statement credit a few days after that for $200.
Jun 14, 2016, 9:12 pm
#686
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 14
Purchased 2x$100 Southwest GC in a single transaction Jun 10. Reimbursement posted Jun 13.
Jun 16, 2016, 12:00 pm
#687
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 19
Purchased $100 Southwest GC using AMEX Premier Rewards Gold on 6/13. Reimbursement posted 6/15.
Also, I originally selected AA as my airline in April. I called in and asked AMEX to change to Southwest, and they did with no hassle. I did explain that I originally thought I'd have luggage fees for planned intl AA flights, but luggage was free so I didn't need to use for AA.
Also, I originally selected AA as my airline in April. I called in and asked AMEX to change to Southwest, and they did with no hassle. I did explain that I originally thought I'd have luggage fees for planned intl AA flights, but luggage was free so I didn't need to use for AA.
Jun 21, 2016, 9:06 am
#688
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 78
planning on applying for the mercedes benz platinum. i tried to do a search for mercedes on this thread but couldn't find anything. anyone have experience getting credit for southwest gc purchases on their mb amex plantinum? thanks.
Jun 21, 2016, 9:15 am
#689
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,952