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)
Nov 5, 2018, 8:10 am
#1306
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 5
Bought electronic SW GC on 11/1 for $200 and my credit was posted this morning on 11/5 
Nov 5, 2018, 8:11 am
#1307
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 5
Did you buy a electronic GC? It should have posted by now, but yeah the chat will most likely say to wait 4 weeks.
Nov 8, 2018, 7:39 am
#1308
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,269
In one transaction (one GC)? Edit: Disregard. I see above multiple reports of a single $250 GC purchase working. For some reason I thought the limit was lower than that.
Last edited by LWT3; Nov 8, 2018 at 7:55 am
Nov 8, 2018, 10:53 am
#1309
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 244
11/5 selected Southwest as airline (morning)
11/5 purchased one single $250 WN gift card (night)
11/7 $250 posted
11/7 $250 credit posted
11/5 purchased one single $250 WN gift card (night)
11/7 $250 posted
11/7 $250 credit posted
Last edited by benjinito; Nov 8, 2018 at 10:59 am
Nov 8, 2018, 8:46 pm
#1310
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 197
11/3 Received and activated new Hilton Honors Aspire card
11/4 Set Southwest as airline of choice (instantly received email confirming)
11/5 Purchased a $200 southwest egift card, immediately followed by a $50 gift card.
11/7 Both the $200 and a $50 airline fee reimbursement posted
11/4 Set Southwest as airline of choice (instantly received email confirming)
11/5 Purchased a $200 southwest egift card, immediately followed by a $50 gift card.
11/7 Both the $200 and a $50 airline fee reimbursement posted
Nov 11, 2018, 5:43 am
#1311
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Omaha Nebraska
Programs: United, delta, AA, Alaskan, Frontier, Hilton Gold, Hyatt, Chase Sapphire
Posts: 318
Recently did the same thing. Thanks for the help.
Nov 11, 2018, 2:41 pm
#1312
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: CONUS
Programs: HHonors, United, Delta
Posts: 828
Nov 1 - Upgraded to Aspire from Ascend.
Nov 6 - Signed up for SW on my Aspire.
Nov 8 - Bought an online SW gift card for $250.
Nov 11 - ...still haven't seen any credit on my Amex account.
The little meter-thingy on Amex website under "benefits" still shows "$250 Airline Fee Credit Available Throughout Dec 2018."
Will update with final results!
Nov 12: UPDATE - CREDIT POSTED. WHEW.
Nov 6 - Signed up for SW on my Aspire.
Nov 8 - Bought an online SW gift card for $250.
Nov 11 - ...still haven't seen any credit on my Amex account.
The little meter-thingy on Amex website under "benefits" still shows "$250 Airline Fee Credit Available Throughout Dec 2018."
Will update with final results!
Nov 12: UPDATE - CREDIT POSTED. WHEW.
Last edited by Friendly Traveling Deathmerchant; Nov 12, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Nov 11, 2018, 4:26 pm
#1313
Join Date: Jul 2015
Programs: HH Diamond, HGVC, WN RR, National Exec, Avis Preferred
Posts: 1,057
Nov 1 - Upgraded to Aspire from Ascend.
Nov 6 - Signed up for SW on my Aspire.
Nov 8 - Bought an online SW gift card for $250.
Nov 11 - ...still haven't seen any credit on my Amex account.
The little meter-thingy on Amex website under "benefits" still shows "$250 Airline Fee Credit Available Throughout Dec 2018."
Will update with final results!
Nov 6 - Signed up for SW on my Aspire.
Nov 8 - Bought an online SW gift card for $250.
Nov 11 - ...still haven't seen any credit on my Amex account.
The little meter-thingy on Amex website under "benefits" still shows "$250 Airline Fee Credit Available Throughout Dec 2018."
Will update with final results!
11/5 or 6/18 Selected WN as Airline Credit Choice
11/6/18 Purchased $50 WN Gift Card
11/8/18 Purchased 2x$100 WN Gift Cards
11/9/18 $50 Credit Posted
Don't forget tomorrow is a bank holiday. Not sure if that affects processing. There has also been some planned financial industry disaster recovery activities this weekend to boot.
Last edited by birdiedouble; Nov 11, 2018 at 5:58 pm
Nov 13, 2018, 7:31 am
#1314
Join Date: Jul 2015
Programs: HH Diamond, HGVC, WN RR, National Exec, Avis Preferred
Posts: 1,057
Update:
11/5/18 Upgraded from Ascend to Aspire
11/5 or 6/18 Selected WN as Airline Credit Choice
11/6/18 Purchased $50 WN Gift Card
11/8/18 Purchased 2x$100 WN Gift Cards
11/9/18 $50 Credit Posted
11/13/18 2 X $100 Credit Posted
Yesterday was a bank holiday and there was some preplanned disaster recovery exercises in the financial services industry this past weekend, so that may have slightly delayed the credit?? Reminder set in calendar to order a new batch on 1/1/19. Great benefit for us WN fliers.
11/5/18 Upgraded from Ascend to Aspire
11/5 or 6/18 Selected WN as Airline Credit Choice
11/6/18 Purchased $50 WN Gift Card
11/8/18 Purchased 2x$100 WN Gift Cards
11/9/18 $50 Credit Posted
11/13/18 2 X $100 Credit Posted
Yesterday was a bank holiday and there was some preplanned disaster recovery exercises in the financial services industry this past weekend, so that may have slightly delayed the credit?? Reminder set in calendar to order a new batch on 1/1/19. Great benefit for us WN fliers.
Nov 13, 2018, 8:24 pm
#1315
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 81
Amex Biz Plat
11/9 - purchased $200 e-gift card
11/13 - received $200 credit
11/9 - purchased $200 e-gift card
11/13 - received $200 credit
Nov 19, 2018, 1:48 pm
#1316
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 49
Amex PRG:
11/16 - bought $100 e-gc
11/19 - received $100 credit
Amex Hilton Aspire
11/16 - bought $250 e-gc
11/19 - received $250 credit
11/16 - bought $100 e-gc
11/19 - received $100 credit
Amex Hilton Aspire
11/16 - bought $250 e-gc
11/19 - received $250 credit
Nov 19, 2018, 2:53 pm
#1317
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 2
Amex Hilton Aspire
11/16 - bought $100 & $150 e-gc
11/19 - received $100 & $150 credit
11/16 - bought $100 & $150 e-gc
11/19 - received $100 & $150 credit
Nov 19, 2018, 6:56 pm
#1318
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 4
Did you get the card by email or physical card. I see the physical card charge is $2.95. Does an incidental charge ending in .95 cents exist. Would amex look at it?
Nov 21, 2018, 4:12 pm
#1320
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 2
Purchased $200 SW e-GC on 11/12 using Hilton Aspire, received $200 credit on 11/14