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)
Jul 3, 2019, 2:48 pm
#1936
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Pittsburgh
Programs: Whoever Has the Best Bonus
Posts: 5,183
Unfortunately in my case I put the $40 on another Amex that I was hitting MSR on since I expected the $200 to come from the BizPlat. Sometimes play stupid games, get stupid prizes.
Jul 3, 2019, 3:12 pm
#1937
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Dallas, TX
Programs: WN A-list Preferred and CP, AA EXP, Hilton Diamond, RIP Kimpton
Posts: 853
They don't treat Southwest wifi as an airline incidental charge? I picked up the Hilton Aspire a month ago and hadn't gotten around to buying the GC's. Given that I'm A list with WN, I'm not sure how I can burn through $250 credit if I can't charge wifi to it? I guess I'll save my drink tickets until I've burned up the credit and start buying up to A1-15 at the gate just to use up the credit.
Jul 3, 2019, 4:52 pm
#1938
formerly atomicfront
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 171
They don't treat Southwest wifi as an airline incidental charge? I picked up the Hilton Aspire a month ago and hadn't gotten around to buying the GC's. Given that I'm A list with WN, I'm not sure how I can burn through $250 credit if I can't charge wifi to it? I guess I'll save my drink tickets until I've burned up the credit and start buying up to A1-15 at the gate just to use up the credit.
Jul 3, 2019, 4:54 pm
#1939
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 354
i think wifi isn't provided over the ocean
Jul 3, 2019, 5:05 pm
#1940
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,508
Jul 3, 2019, 7:55 pm
#1942
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 349
They don't treat Southwest wifi as an airline incidental charge? I picked up the Hilton Aspire a month ago and hadn't gotten around to buying the GC's. Given that I'm A list with WN, I'm not sure how I can burn through $250 credit if I can't charge wifi to it? I guess I'll save my drink tickets until I've burned up the credit and start buying up to A1-15 at the gate just to use up the credit.
Jul 4, 2019, 6:32 am
#1943
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 1
JUNE 17 - Upgraded two biz charges to Biz Plat and set airline to WN
JUNE 24 - Purchased $40 in early bird and $160 GC on one, $200 GC on the other
JUNE 27 - Early bird fees credited
No credit for GCs yet and benefit meter is the same. SPD/Freight or not I’m pretty sure this is a lost cause.
JUNE 24 - Purchased $40 in early bird and $160 GC on one, $200 GC on the other
JUNE 27 - Early bird fees credited
No credit for GCs yet and benefit meter is the same. SPD/Freight or not I’m pretty sure this is a lost cause.
Jul 4, 2019, 10:12 am
#1944
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Boston
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 272
Yeah. It’s dead, Jim.
Jul 4, 2019, 11:38 am
#1945
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Boston
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 272
Can anyone educate me how the split airfare charge reimbursement works? Thank you.
Jul 4, 2019, 2:07 pm
#1946
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Programs: American Express Platinum, Chase Sapphire Reserve
Posts: 619
Split reimbursement
I assume from what people are posting that it refers to paying for part of your fare with a gift card and the rest with your AmEx Platinum (with the added caveat that the excess should probably be less than $100), and the excess is reimbursed as an incidental charge.
Jul 4, 2019, 10:25 pm
#1947
Join Date: Sep 2017
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum, AS MVP Gold, National EE, Hertz PC
Posts: 269
Both me and gf just upgraded to Aspire.. looks like only keeping for one year. At least got the 150k upgrade offer.
Jul 5, 2019, 10:41 am
#1948
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: HHonors Diamond, SPG, IHG, AA, SWA
Posts: 84
Uh oh.......
Delta, Southwest Gift Cards May No Longer Trigger Amex Airline Fee Credit by The Points Guy
I think this is really dead. AMEX better make a change here or they're going to lose a lot of customers.
Delta, Southwest Gift Cards May No Longer Trigger Amex Airline Fee Credit by The Points Guy
I think this is really dead. AMEX better make a change here or they're going to lose a lot of customers.
Jul 5, 2019, 10:42 am
#1949
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: HHonors Diamond, SPG, IHG, AA, SWA
Posts: 84
If you use the free night certificate for a proper redemption value, you can still recoup the AF. Plus, there is the resort credit and you can still reap rewards from the airline credit in other ways besides GCs.
Jul 5, 2019, 12:37 pm
#1950
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: AA Plat, AS Gold 75k, Marriott Titanium, IHG Gold
Posts: 17
can you message me the link? Reddit is hard as heck to search.
looks that way. This route has been around since before, but it was usually easier/more flexible to buy GCs. Anyways, looks like partial airfare reimbursement will become my go-to method for using this benefit now.
also, somebody on TPG commented that 1 out of 3 DL GCs they bought on 6/25 was reimbursed on 6/29. The other 2, nothing. Here's the link: https://disqus.com/by/disqus_Uif6ldHWa8/?
makes me wonder if they used a DL platinum card and got a $50 Delta purchase credit, but mixed it up as the amex airline fee reimbursement that we're discussing here.
I will note that the user said they used an "amex platinum".
looks that way. This route has been around since before, but it was usually easier/more flexible to buy GCs. Anyways, looks like partial airfare reimbursement will become my go-to method for using this benefit now.
also, somebody on TPG commented that 1 out of 3 DL GCs they bought on 6/25 was reimbursed on 6/29. The other 2, nothing. Here's the link: https://disqus.com/by/disqus_Uif6ldHWa8/?
makes me wonder if they used a DL platinum card and got a $50 Delta purchase credit, but mixed it up as the amex airline fee reimbursement that we're discussing here.
I will note that the user said they used an "amex platinum".
On a side note I made a couple of southwest flight purchases yesterday. I used partial payments with GC and my Platinum and Gold cards. Will report back if anything good.