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 13, 19, 4:06 pm

#1621

dhuey

A FlyerTalk Posting Legend

Join Date: Feb 2001

Location: Berkeley, CA USA

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

Posts: 47,858

Quote:

Originally Posted by mstrbldr

Purchased a $200 gc for SW using AMX business plat on 2/9. Reimbursed 2/13.

Thanks for the data point. Looks like we're good here at Southwest. It's a bit ominous over at AA.

Feb 13, 19, 6:48 pm

#1622

GundamWing01

Join Date: Sep 2017

Location: SFO/LAX/SAN/LAS/JFK/LGA/EWR

Posts: 586

Quote:

Originally Posted by dhuey

Thanks for the data point. Looks like we're good here at Southwest. It's a bit ominous over at AA.

dont hold ur breath. everyone needs to get everything in ASAP just in case.

Feb 13, 19, 10:26 pm

#1623

STS-134

Join Date: Jul 2011

Location: SF Bay Area

Programs: UA MileagePlus (Premier Gold); Hilton HHonors (Gold); Chase Ultimate Rewards; Amex Plat

Posts: 3,573

Quote:

Originally Posted by justinpsu

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...

I don't think think there's anything to worry about. Take a look at the retention offers thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30750330-post1748.html Over there, I scolded canesfan for making empty threats, but what's clear from canesfan's post is that Amex does not know how to collect and analyze data. canesfan apparently threatened to cancel the card the previous year, and got no retention offer, and then proceeded to keep the card anyway. Then, canesfan called again and threatened to cancel, and was offered 20K MR for $3K spend. Now if Amex knew how to gather, analyze, and use data, they would have flagged his account with a notation that he threatened to cancel, was offered nothing, and stuck around. And the note would additionally say to offer him absolutely nothing again. Why should they?

Now, Amex isn't completely clueless about the loopholes either. This site is public, as are the blogs that talk about how to use the airline credits. At least a few people who are in charge of policy have to be reading this stuff. But, they tolerate it similar to how China tolerates VPN use. They know that if they cracked down on it too hard, there would be drastic consequences for their country as companies and people started to leave. Similarly, if Amex cracks down on the airline credit to the point where I can't use it, guess what I'm doing? I'm calling to cancel, and I'm citing the loss of the "airline credit loophole" as the reason. 4 Plat cards, 1 primary and 3 AUs, will go bye-bye if Amex tries to do this.

justinpsu likes this.

Feb 14, 19, 11:41 am

#1624

pingpan

Join Date: Aug 2017

Posts: 20

Should we wait or do it ASAP.

Feb 14, 19, 1:29 pm

#1625

dhuey

A FlyerTalk Posting Legend

Join Date: Feb 2001

Location: Berkeley, CA USA

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

Posts: 47,858

Quote:

Originally Posted by pingpan

Should we wait or do it ASAP.

I can't see any reason to wait. We don't know what if anything is changing, but it's plausible that AA is acting on a demand from Amex to all partner airlines.

pingpan likes this.

Feb 14, 19, 4:10 pm

#1626

pingpan

Join Date: Aug 2017

Posts: 20

My only concern is that it won't be reimbursed now if I do it, given there are no much DPs on this.
If I wait, I can at least use it for the seat upgrades, etc.

Feb 14, 19, 9:02 pm

#1627

fstop75

Join Date: Sep 2002

Posts: 178

Hilton Aspire
1/29 - Purchased $250 GC
As of today, no reimbursement

Feb 14, 19, 9:42 pm

#1628

MrPink

Join Date: Feb 2009

Location: SFO

Programs: Grounded

Posts: 661

Purchased a $200 e-gift card on 2/5, reimbursed on 2/7.

Feb 15, 19, 2:19 am

#1629

GundamWing01

Join Date: Sep 2017

Location: SFO/LAX/SAN/LAS/JFK/LGA/EWR

Posts: 586

Quote:

Originally Posted by fstop75

Hilton Aspire
1/29 - Purchased $250 GC
As of today, no reimbursement

probably something to do with 1/31 issues.

Feb 15, 19, 10:59 am

#1630

Drew523

Join Date: Aug 2018

Location: Los Angeles

Posts: 38

American Express Gold (Personal)
02/11 - Purchased $100 GC
02/13 - Reimbursement Posted (Didn't show up on my activity until 02/15 but with 02/13 post date).