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)
Dec 20, 2019, 7:20 am
#2566
formerly atomicfront
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 171
Did you set your airline to Southwest for your gold card on amex site?
Dec 20, 2019, 7:23 am
#2567
formerly atomicfront
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 171
Well my $250 Aspire Credit was pretty easy to use. Bought a bunch of tickets on Southwest combining my stack of Southwest gift cards and my Aspire. Not really any more difficult to use than gift cards really. I guess this just stops the people who bought gift cards to resell them.
Dec 20, 2019, 8:11 am
#2568
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: BA
Posts: 954
To clarify how Southwest travel credits work, would it make sense to book sub-$100 flights as far out as possible and cancel them as far out as possible in order to maximize the time the funds are valid? Or does it not work like that?
Dec 20, 2019, 8:41 am
#2569
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH
Programs: DL DM, Hyatt Ist-iest, Stariott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 12,782
Doesn't work like that. They're valid 1 year from the date they're ticketed, aka purchased. When the original flight is doesn't matter.
Dec 20, 2019, 8:42 am
#2570
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: BA
Posts: 954
I guess if you have an untouched credit then you can try the Southwest trick and if it doesn't work, ask AMEX to switch your airline as a courtesy. Don't seem to be many other options though.
Dec 20, 2019, 11:31 am
#2572
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 26
Charges for 2 passengers
Does anyone know if you book for 2 passengers on the same reservation, is the charge on the credit card 2 separate charges or a single charge? I know I can just book the tickets separately, but for the ease of checking in (tickets will be for parents) I'd prefer 1 confirmation number vs 2.
Dec 20, 2019, 12:45 pm
#2573
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 981
Does anyone know if you book for 2 passengers on the same reservation, is the charge on the credit card 2 separate charges or a single charge? I know I can just book the tickets separately, but for the ease of checking in (tickets will be for parents) I'd prefer 1 confirmation number vs 2.
Dec 20, 2019, 10:33 pm
#2574
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 17,404
So if you have not designated an AMEX airline for 2019, it seems like you could designate WN, book a low priced ticket (is there a limit to this "trick"?), cancel the ticket and get WN credits to use toward a flight in the next year? Those credits would be "stuck" to the person who's name is on the reservation, right? Not transferable to anyone? Has anyone not gotten the reimbursement by doing this lately? I'm trying to determine the risk/reward of the strategy. I have a new 2019 credit and not much use for it for incidentals on another airline before it would expire. On the other nand, I'm not too keen to get stuck with paying for a WN credit.
Dec 20, 2019, 10:43 pm
#2575
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 5,851
So if you have not designated an AMEX airline for 2019, it seems like you could designate WN, book a low priced ticket (is there a limit to this "trick"?), cancel the ticket and get WN credits to use toward a flight in the next year? Those credits would be "stuck" to the person who's name is on the reservation, right? Not transferable to anyone? Has anyone not gotten the reimbursement by doing this lately? I'm trying to determine the risk/reward of the strategy. I have a new 2019 credit and not much use for it for incidentals on another airline before it would expire. On the other nand, I'm not too keen to get stuck with paying for a WN credit.
Dec 21, 2019, 11:08 am
#2576
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 40
Approved for Schwab Amex yesterday, waiting for card. How do I designate my Airline without receiving card yet? i want to use the Airline credit ASAP.
Dec 21, 2019, 12:50 pm
#2577
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 94
My gf bought a ticket for $97.00 on SW on Gold card on 12/13 and has not been reimbursed.
Dec 21, 2019, 11:28 pm
#2579
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 34
Datapoint 12/17/19
12/17
98.98 on AU card 1
98.98 on AU card 2
12:21
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98.98 on AU card 1
98.98 on AU card 2
12:21
meter shows .04 left