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)
Jun 17, 2019, 10:40 pm
#1831
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 171
$100 GC using Aspire on 6/15. Ticker is showing $150 left, no credit yet.
Jun 18, 2019, 3:06 pm
#1833
Join Date: Jun 2019
Posts: 1
Purchased 6/10 GC worth $150. No Credit as of today. The transaction shows Ticket Number with nothing else.
Jun 19, 2019, 9:09 am
#1834
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 48
I'm hoping this is just some kind of bulk processing hangup. It seems like most of the ones that aren't posting are Platinum Business cards?
Jun 19, 2019, 9:25 am
#1835
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 354
It's actually from the screenshot from post #1824 above. That purchase was June 3rd for $125, and the credit posted June 6th. The purchase for $125 that is NOT credited is from June 9th.
Jun 19, 2019, 10:02 am
#1836
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 349
I'm hoping this is just some kind of bulk processing hangup. It seems like most of the ones that aren't posting are Platinum Business cards?
Right now if I had to guess, it seems that transactions OVER $100 are not crediting but transactions up to and including $100 seem fine. That's just my guess though.
Jun 20, 2019, 7:49 am
#1837
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 349
OK so I am now at 11 days post-purchase of my $125 GC that has not credited (nor moved the meter). I have nothing indicating that this will ever credit for me, I guess this is part of the game we play. I think that at this point we may be in a scenario where:
- This is just a temporary glitch
- Only $100 or less counts; OR
- The whole thing is dead for GCs
Jun 20, 2019, 8:00 am
#1838
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 354
OK so I am now at 11 days post-purchase of my $125 GC that has not credited (nor moved the meter). I have nothing indicating that this will ever credit for me, I guess this is part of the game we play. I think that at this point we may be in a scenario where:
- This is just a temporary glitch
- Only $100 or less counts; OR
- The whole thing is dead for GCs
Jun 20, 2019, 10:48 am
#1839
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 3
I think we are out of luck. If the transaction is without the document type: SPD/AIR FREIGHT, we are not going to get the credit.
Jun 20, 2019, 12:05 pm
#1840
Join Date: Jun 2019
Posts: 22
6/17: Purchased $50 SWA egc to test out my new Platinum
6/20: Posted as SPD/AIR FREIGHT
No movement in benefits bar or credit yet.
I have an Amex gold and got the $100 like three months ago no problem. I can't remember how long it took the credit to post. Any thoughts on how long?
If this route stops working I don't know what I do. Split my time between two UA and WN hubs.
6/20: Posted as SPD/AIR FREIGHT
No movement in benefits bar or credit yet.
I have an Amex gold and got the $100 like three months ago no problem. I can't remember how long it took the credit to post. Any thoughts on how long?
If this route stops working I don't know what I do. Split my time between two UA and WN hubs.
Jun 20, 2019, 5:58 pm
#1841
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 825
6/17: Purchased $50 SWA egc to test out my new Platinum
6/20: Posted as SPD/AIR FREIGHT
No movement in benefits bar or credit yet.
I have an Amex gold and got the $100 like three months ago no problem. I can't remember how long it took the credit to post. Any thoughts on how long?
If this route stops working I don't know what I do. Split my time between two UA and WN hubs.
6/20: Posted as SPD/AIR FREIGHT
No movement in benefits bar or credit yet.
I have an Amex gold and got the $100 like three months ago no problem. I can't remember how long it took the credit to post. Any thoughts on how long?
If this route stops working I don't know what I do. Split my time between two UA and WN hubs.
Jun 20, 2019, 9:31 pm
#1843
Join Date: Jun 2019
Posts: 22
Wish I would have seen this thread earlier. Today I set Southwest as my airline and bought a $100 GC about 30 minutes later on my new AMEX Platinum. Fingers crossed that it works, not sure how likely that is based on the comments here, but I will keep y'all updated.
Glad I didn't do $200 at once.
Has anyone had luck reaching out to AMEX and asking for the credit? I feel like to do this, you would have to buy in smaller increments. $100 or $50 probably will not look like a checked baggage fee to AMEX. How much does Southwest charge and how can you make your GC purchase look like a checked baggage fee just to be safe? You would need to add tax as well right?
Glad I didn't do $200 at once.
Has anyone had luck reaching out to AMEX and asking for the credit? I feel like to do this, you would have to buy in smaller increments. $100 or $50 probably will not look like a checked baggage fee to AMEX. How much does Southwest charge and how can you make your GC purchase look like a checked baggage fee just to be safe? You would need to add tax as well right?
Last edited by dezcutit; Jun 20, 2019 at 9:37 pm
Jun 21, 2019, 6:05 am
#1844
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: TX, USA
Programs: Bonvoy Plat, Hilton Diamond, IHG SA
Posts: 140
Wish I would have seen this thread earlier. Today I set Southwest as my airline and bought a $100 GC about 30 minutes later on my new AMEX Platinum. Fingers crossed that it works, not sure how likely that is based on the comments here, but I will keep y'all updated.
Glad I didn't do $200 at once.
Has anyone had luck reaching out to AMEX and asking for the credit? I feel like to do this, you would have to buy in smaller increments. $100 or $50 probably will not look like a checked baggage fee to AMEX. How much does Southwest charge and how can you make your GC purchase look like a checked baggage fee just to be safe? You would need to add tax as well right?
Glad I didn't do $200 at once.
Has anyone had luck reaching out to AMEX and asking for the credit? I feel like to do this, you would have to buy in smaller increments. $100 or $50 probably will not look like a checked baggage fee to AMEX. How much does Southwest charge and how can you make your GC purchase look like a checked baggage fee just to be safe? You would need to add tax as well right?
Jun 21, 2019, 8:42 am
#1845
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: EWR
Posts: 81
Has anyone had luck reaching out to AMEX and asking for the credit? I feel like to do this, you would have to buy in smaller increments. $100 or $50 probably will not look like a checked baggage fee to AMEX. How much does Southwest charge and how can you make your GC purchase look like a checked baggage fee just to be safe? You would need to add tax as well right?
Southwest offers 2 free bags, so pretty much the only other things that would work according to the rules would be drinks, wi-fi, Early Bird check in. All of which cost between $10-$25 dollars. There may be some I'm missing