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 8, 2019, 1:32 pm
#1966
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: STL
Programs: Hyatt Platinum, Hilton Gold
Posts: 521
So let me get this straight....
You can book a "Wanna Get Away" airfare that is less than $100 (for example, STL to Des Moines, IA = $97). Then, cancel your flight and those funds will be credited to your "travel funds" where you can then apply that to a later flight with an expiration date of 1yr of date of refund. AMEX will credit your charge ($97 in my example).
Is my understanding correct?
If so, do you have to choose your same destination you used in the original airfare in order to use the travel funds?
You can book a "Wanna Get Away" airfare that is less than $100 (for example, STL to Des Moines, IA = $97). Then, cancel your flight and those funds will be credited to your "travel funds" where you can then apply that to a later flight with an expiration date of 1yr of date of refund. AMEX will credit your charge ($97 in my example).
Is my understanding correct?
If so, do you have to choose your same destination you used in the original airfare in order to use the travel funds?
Jul 8, 2019, 2:26 pm
#1968
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 3
So not sure if the issue was I used unused funds and not a gift card or if the credit card portion has to be under $100.
Jul 8, 2019, 11:09 pm
#1969
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,061
same DP like some others' earlier today... noted a credit posted on my aspire acct with a split pay <$100
will test 1 split pay with travel funds (instead of gc) later this mo and see if will be reimbursed
will test 1 split pay with travel funds (instead of gc) later this mo and see if will be reimbursed
Last edited by danhouston; Jul 8, 2019 at 11:30 pm
Jul 8, 2019, 11:59 pm
#1970
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,061
Q for any WN's experts on here: if a booking is made now but shortly cancelled on a split pay with CC & travel fund (to be expired in Dec this yr), does the entire or total travel fund issued from the cxl have to be used by Dec this yr, correct?
Last edited by danhouston; Jul 9, 2019 at 12:05 am
Jul 9, 2019, 6:34 am
#1971
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 825
If you use future use funds as a full or partial payment the full reservations funds will have to be used by the earliest expiration which would be dec in your case
Jul 9, 2019, 6:39 am
#1972
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: HOU/IAH
Programs: WN CP; Hilton Diamond; IHG Plat
Posts: 189
Just attempted a WN purchase using partial GC, travel funds, and Hilton Aspire Amex as follows. Will report back in a couple of days.
Fare for One Way ticket: 160.98
Southwest LUV Voucher: -100.00
Residual GC Amount (originally purchased by HA Amex and not reimbursed) : -13.02
Amount charged to HA Amex: -47.96
If things go as planned I should expect a reimbursement of $47.96, correct?
Fare for One Way ticket: 160.98
Southwest LUV Voucher: -100.00
Residual GC Amount (originally purchased by HA Amex and not reimbursed) : -13.02
Amount charged to HA Amex: -47.96
If things go as planned I should expect a reimbursement of $47.96, correct?
Jul 9, 2019, 8:49 am
#1973
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: AA Plat, AS Gold 75k, Marriott Titanium, IHG Gold
Posts: 17
Just attempted a WN purchase using partial GC, travel funds, and Hilton Aspire Amex as follows. Will report back in a couple of days.
Fare for One Way ticket: 160.98
Southwest LUV Voucher: -100.00
Residual GC Amount (originally purchased by HA Amex and not reimbursed) : -13.02
Amount charged to HA Amex: -47.96
If things go as planned I should expect a reimbursement of $47.96, correct?
Fare for One Way ticket: 160.98
Southwest LUV Voucher: -100.00
Residual GC Amount (originally purchased by HA Amex and not reimbursed) : -13.02
Amount charged to HA Amex: -47.96
If things go as planned I should expect a reimbursement of $47.96, correct?
Jul 9, 2019, 8:53 am
#1974
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: EWR/PHL/BWI
Posts: 4,412
Just a warning of going through Southwest "travel fund". Southwest has hidden traps of rules on "travel funds". You may not get the entire one year time on the travel funds. Read its rules.
Also, on quite some routes, Southwest is not even cheap. You do not want to be stuck with so much funds tied to a single airline.
Also, on quite some routes, Southwest is not even cheap. You do not want to be stuck with so much funds tied to a single airline.
Jul 9, 2019, 8:53 am
#1975
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: AA Plat, AS Gold 75k, Marriott Titanium, IHG Gold
Posts: 17
Not sure if this has been answered already, but does anyone know if SW splits out the tickets when purchasing for two people on the same reservation? For example, if two of us are traveling and fare is $54 each, will I get charged my CC as $54x2 or do I get charged $108 one time? The only reason I ask, is because from my own data points it's apparent I need to say below $100 for reimbursement. Wanted to know how this would play out. I just bought 2 tickets at $54 each and saw the (pending) charge on my CC for $108, I immediately cancelled (within 24 hour rule) and then purchased a $10 GC and repurchased the same tickets using the $10 GC and $98 AMEX Plat.
I've had various other airlines that always charge me the same amount twice when I buy two tickets on the same reservation. This is the only time I've seen it as one charge, however it was only a pending charge so I wasn't sure if it would split into two later, but I didn't want to risk it. Thanks for the answers.
I've had various other airlines that always charge me the same amount twice when I buy two tickets on the same reservation. This is the only time I've seen it as one charge, however it was only a pending charge so I wasn't sure if it would split into two later, but I didn't want to risk it. Thanks for the answers.
Jul 9, 2019, 11:17 am
#1976
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 17
Reimbursement for Business Select?
If after paying for the base ticket, would buying the Business Select seating be reimbursed from Amex as incidental expense?
Jul 9, 2019, 2:45 pm
#1977
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Western US
Programs: Costco Executive Member, Amazon Optimus Prime
Posts: 1,251
Not sure if this has been answered already, but does anyone know if SW splits out the tickets when purchasing for two people on the same reservation? For example, if two of us are traveling and fare is $54 each, will I get charged my CC as $54x2 or do I get charged $108 one time? The only reason I ask, is because from my own data points it's apparent I need to say below $100 for reimbursement. Wanted to know how this would play out. I just bought 2 tickets at $54 each and saw the (pending) charge on my CC for $108, I immediately cancelled (within 24 hour rule) and then purchased a $10 GC and repurchased the same tickets using the $10 GC and $98 AMEX Plat.
I've had various other airlines that always charge me the same amount twice when I buy two tickets on the same reservation. This is the only time I've seen it as one charge, however it was only a pending charge so I wasn't sure if it would split into two later, but I didn't want to risk it. Thanks for the answers.
I've had various other airlines that always charge me the same amount twice when I buy two tickets on the same reservation. This is the only time I've seen it as one charge, however it was only a pending charge so I wasn't sure if it would split into two later, but I didn't want to risk it. Thanks for the answers.
Jul 9, 2019, 2:56 pm
#1978
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 3
What if you use split for a $10 Gift card and $88 on the amex and cancel for a refund back to the amex right away would that work for the credit? So would get the refund and the amex credit trigged on the split payment purchase under $100?
Jul 9, 2019, 5:45 pm
#1979
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,061
what's the rush for cxl the booking quickly? the charge (if qualify) won't likely get reimbursed