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Airline fee $250/$200/$100 reimbursement reports: WN (2011-2019)

Old Sep 17, 2014, 10:45 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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.





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Airline fee $250/$200/$100 reimbursement reports: WN (2011-2019)

Old Feb 13, 2019, 3:06 pm
  #1621  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Berkeley, CA USA
Programs: Piggly Wiggly "Shop the Pig!" Preferred Shopper
Posts: 56,895
Originally Posted by mstrbldr
Purchased a $200 gc for SW using AMX business plat on 2/9. Reimbursed 2/13.
Thanks for the data point. Looks like we're good here at Southwest. It's a bit ominous over at AA.
dhuey is online now  
Old Feb 13, 2019, 5:48 pm
  #1622  
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: SFO/LAX/SAN/LAS/DFW/JFK/LGA/EWR/MIA
Posts: 1,073
Originally Posted by dhuey
Thanks for the data point. Looks like we're good here at Southwest. It's a bit ominous over at AA.
dont hold ur breath. everyone needs to get everything in ASAP just in case.
GundamWing01 is offline  
Old Feb 13, 2019, 9:26 pm
  #1623  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: UA MileagePlus (Premier Gold); Hilton HHonors (Gold); Chase Ultimate Rewards; Amex Plat
Posts: 6,604
Originally Posted by justinpsu
You completely missed the point on what Tanic was trying to express. By reaching out to Amex customer service, you're letting them know how we take advantage of a loophole. What do you think will happen when they realize we skirt the airline credit with gift cards? They will take it away and everyone loses...
I don't think think there's anything to worry about. Take a look at the retention offers thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30750330-post1748.html Over there, I scolded canesfan for making empty threats, but what's clear from canesfan's post is that Amex does not know how to collect and analyze data. canesfan apparently threatened to cancel the card the previous year, and got no retention offer, and then proceeded to keep the card anyway. Then, canesfan called again and threatened to cancel, and was offered 20K MR for $3K spend. Now if Amex knew how to gather, analyze, and use data, they would have flagged his account with a notation that he threatened to cancel, was offered nothing, and stuck around. And the note would additionally say to offer him absolutely nothing again. Why should they?

Now, Amex isn't completely clueless about the loopholes either. This site is public, as are the blogs that talk about how to use the airline credits. At least a few people who are in charge of policy have to be reading this stuff. But, they tolerate it similar to how China tolerates VPN use. They know that if they cracked down on it too hard, there would be drastic consequences for their country as companies and people started to leave. Similarly, if Amex cracks down on the airline credit to the point where I can't use it, guess what I'm doing? I'm calling to cancel, and I'm citing the loss of the "airline credit loophole" as the reason. 4 Plat cards, 1 primary and 3 AUs, will go bye-bye if Amex tries to do this.
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STS-134 is offline  
Old Feb 14, 2019, 10:41 am
  #1624  
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 22
Should we wait or do it ASAP.
pingpan is offline  
Old Feb 14, 2019, 12:29 pm
  #1625  
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Join Date: Feb 2001
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Posts: 56,895
Originally Posted by pingpan
Should we wait or do it ASAP.
I can't see any reason to wait. We don't know what if anything is changing, but it's plausible that AA is acting on a demand from Amex to all partner airlines.
pingpan likes this.
dhuey is online now  
Old Feb 14, 2019, 3:10 pm
  #1626  
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 22
My only concern is that it won't be reimbursed now if I do it, given there are no much DPs on this.
If I wait, I can at least use it for the seat upgrades, etc.
pingpan is offline  
Old Feb 14, 2019, 8:02 pm
  #1627  
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 178
Hilton Aspire
1/29 - Purchased $250 GC
As of today, no reimbursement
fstop75 is offline  
Old Feb 14, 2019, 8:42 pm
  #1628  
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: SFO
Programs: Grounded
Posts: 669
Purchased a $200 e-gift card on 2/5, reimbursed on 2/7.
MrPink is offline  
Old Feb 15, 2019, 1:19 am
  #1629  
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: SFO/LAX/SAN/LAS/DFW/JFK/LGA/EWR/MIA
Posts: 1,073
Originally Posted by fstop75
Hilton Aspire
1/29 - Purchased $250 GC
As of today, no reimbursement
probably something to do with 1/31 issues.
GundamWing01 is offline  
Old Feb 15, 2019, 9:59 am
  #1630  
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 107
American Express Gold (Personal)
02/11 - Purchased $100 GC
02/13 - Reimbursement Posted (Didn't show up on my activity until 02/15 but with 02/13 post date).
Drew523 is offline  
Old Feb 16, 2019, 6:20 am
  #1631  
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 33
Amex Plat
02/13 - $200 GC Purchased and posted
02/16 - no credit and nothing on tracker....
BRAMP123 is offline  
Old Feb 16, 2019, 10:21 am
  #1632  
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 22
250 purchased on 13, posted on 16
bbs_ghost is offline  
Old Feb 16, 2019, 11:46 am
  #1633  
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 244
Looks like all is well is with WN, purchased $250 on 2/13 (Hilton Aspire), reimbursed on 2/15 (actually showed up on account on 2/16)
benjinito is offline  
Old Feb 16, 2019, 12:54 pm
  #1634  
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 29
AMEX Personal Platinum
02/13 - $200 GC Purchased
02/15 - GC posted
02/16 - Credit posted (with 2/15 as date of credit)
saro is offline  
Old Feb 16, 2019, 2:04 pm
  #1635  
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 9
AMEX EXPRESS GOLD (Personal)
02/12 - $100 GC Purchased
02/14 - $100 Credit Posted
justinpsu is offline  

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