Airline fee $250/$200/$100 reimbursement reports: WN (2011-2019)

Dec 11, 19, 10:56 am - Wikipost

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Last edit by: Tanic
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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.

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Feb 12, 19, 12:23 pm

#1606

DallaStarwooDelta

Join Date: Jul 2001

Location: Dallas, TX, USA

Posts: 917

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldenbear

So is this only a 1/31 problem, or a problem going forward with gift cards?

No posts regarding February anything here.

Well, I guess I'll test it out and buy a small denomination gift card and report back in a few days!

Agree no one should be calling AMEX to draw attention. I feel like it's already bad IT that they can't figure it out right now...

Might be a 1/31 problem since my Grubhub $10 charge on 1/31 has still not credited. The December credit posted the very next day.

Feb 12, 19, 8:01 pm

#1607

travelbugging

Join Date: Oct 2016

Posts: 118

$200 gift card purchased 2/8/19. $200 reimbursement posted today 2/11/19. This is on biz plat

Bluebirdie and GundamWing01 like this.

Feb 13, 19, 12:23 am

#1608

Red259

Join Date: Jun 2013

Location: NYC

Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver

Posts: 2,059

Are SW GCs still working with amex credit or have there been changes the way there were with AA?

Feb 13, 19, 1:05 am

#1609

travelbugging

Join Date: Oct 2016

Posts: 118

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red259

Are SW GCs still working with amex credit or have there been changes the way there were with AA?

As of 2/8 (with the exception of those purchased on 1/31) it is still working.

Feb 13, 19, 9:46 am

#1610

henryh4000

Join Date: Nov 2018

Posts: 11

reimbursed 1/31

I bought 100 southwest giftcard on 1/31. i just messaged amex over online chat and told them i had not been credited. agent fixed it immediately and showed up on my blue bar. was credited on statement 2 days later

Feb 13, 19, 10:42 am

#1611

akr1970akr

Join Date: Jul 2014

Location: Western US

Programs: Costco Executive Member, Amazon Optimus Prime

Posts: 1,214

Quote:

Originally Posted by henryh4000

You got lucky, or an agent which didn't care/know their own terms & conditions.

Feb 13, 19, 10:56 am

#1612

Tanic

Join Date: May 2002

Programs: WN F9 HA UA AA IHG HH MR

Posts: 2,464

Quote:

Originally Posted by henryh4000

I bought 100 southwest giftcard on 1/31. i just messaged amex over online chat and told them i had not been credited

This is how nice things go away for everyone.

Feb 13, 19, 11:00 am

#1613

Dustin Stout

Join Date: Feb 2019

Posts: 1

I also made purchases for SW GC's for my gold and plat on 1.31. Still have not received a credit.

Feb 13, 19, 11:27 am

#1614

henryh4000

Join Date: Nov 2018

Posts: 11

I simply posted to let ppl who didnt get their credit to ask amex customer service.

Feb 13, 19, 11:55 am

#1615

justinpsu

Join Date: Jul 2015

Posts: 9

Quote:

Originally Posted by henryh4000

I simply posted to let ppl who didnt get their credit to ask amex customer service.

You completely missed the point on what Tanic was trying to express. By reaching out to Amex customer service, you're letting them know how we take advantage of a loophole. What do you think will happen when they realize we skirt the airline credit with gift cards? They will take it away and everyone loses...

Tanic, thebat, krazykanuck and 3 others like this.

Feb 13, 19, 12:08 pm

#1616

mcarvell

Join Date: Jul 2018

Programs: Amex and Chase

Posts: 5

What are peoples general thoughts on using the whole $200 or should I try like a test $100 and then do another $100?

Last year I did (2) $50 and (1) $100. It worked but it just stinks when I try to apply it to a purchase. Only could use two of them and my card to cover the rest

Feb 13, 19, 12:09 pm

#1617

LWT3

Join Date: Jan 2014

Posts: 1,269

Quote:

Originally Posted by henryh4000

I simply posted to let ppl who didnt get their credit to ask amex customer service.

Right. And that's a bad idea since the T&Cs specifically say gift cards are not eligible for the credit.

Tanic likes this.

Feb 13, 19, 12:23 pm

#1618

Tanic

Join Date: May 2002

Programs: WN F9 HA UA AA IHG HH MR

Posts: 2,464

Quote:

Originally Posted by justinpsu

By reaching out to Amex customer service, you're letting them know how we take advantage of a loophole. What do you think will happen when they realize we skirt the airline credit with gift cards? They will take it away and everyone loses...

As AmEx just did this week by killing the AA gift card credit.

justinpsu and wolverinechris like this.

Feb 13, 19, 12:42 pm

#1619

dhuey

A FlyerTalk Posting Legend

Join Date: Feb 2001

Location: Berkeley, CA USA

Programs: Piggly Wiggly "Shop the Pig!" Preferred Shopper

Posts: 47,929

Quote:

Originally Posted by justinpsu

Do you really think Amex has been that clueless for several years now? They suddenly realize there is this loophole that has been posted about and blogged about for years?

Telling a CSR that it's a gift card is a bad idea since that works against the cardholder's effort to get the statement credit, but it's not going to blow the deal for the rest of us.

mia and Javier1704 like this.