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)
Oct 27, 2015, 12:07 pm
#526
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 36
Amex Business Plat, 1x $200 gift card purchased 10/19, reimbursed $200 on 10/26.
Oct 29, 2015, 4:02 am
#527
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 101
I apologize if I missed this somewhere -- is there a waiting period necessary between setting your airline and making a purchase? I just set my airline and would make my purchase now -- do I need to wait a day or two after setting it?
Oct 29, 2015, 9:12 am
#528
Join Date: May 2013
Location: San Diego
Programs: AS, BA, HA, UA
Posts: 23
Oct 30, 2015, 5:12 am
#530
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: SW Prem&Plus, AMEX PLAT, CHASE Sap, Citi Prem
Posts: 5
Sorry for the ultimate newb question, but what is WN/FL? I set southwest as my airline on my rewards link, and went to the southwest gift card page. Still can't find out anything that says WN/FL.. I've even searched, probably not hard enough.. LOL thanks for the help in advance!
Oct 30, 2015, 5:57 am
#531
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
Oct 30, 2015, 6:22 am
#532
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: SW Prem&Plus, AMEX PLAT, CHASE Sap, Citi Prem
Posts: 5
Oct 30, 2015, 7:15 am
#533
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: SW Prem&Plus, AMEX PLAT, CHASE Sap, Citi Prem
Posts: 5
Just purchased an $80 and $120 gift card (8/30) to pay for fees on an upcoming trip. Will let you guys know if I get reimbursed. Just opened my AMEX plat a week and a half ago, and got the annual fee waived for being military. Hope this works, thanks for all the awesome info you guys provide!
Oct 30, 2015, 1:40 pm
#534
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 2
Purchased $95 SW GC on 10/20 via SW.com and posted on 10/29 backdated to 10/27.
Nov 2, 2015, 3:51 pm
#535
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: SHD
Posts: 208
Gold AMEX - 4 x Early Bird fees totaling $50 purchased on 10/26, auto credited on 11/1.
Nov 5, 2015, 6:04 am
#536
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: SW Prem&Plus, AMEX PLAT, CHASE Sap, Citi Prem
Posts: 5
$119 and $80 GC posted 10/30, reimbursed on 11/4!
Nov 5, 2015, 6:19 pm
#537
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 26
PRG - bought a $100 GC on 10/30 and was credited back on 11/4
Nov 6, 2015, 3:33 pm
#538
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 3
Purchased $100 + 2.95 shipping 11/06 on PRG will report back. Thanks to this thread, I actually pulled the trigger. I thought it already got nerfed.
Nov 9, 2015, 11:02 pm
#539
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Berkeley, CA USA
Programs: Piggly Wiggly "Shop the Pig!" Preferred Shopper
Posts: 57,074
Maybe this forum should limit the reimbursement reports to ones that fail.
Regardless, another $100 x 2 x 2 gift cards for my Plat and my wife's Plat cards on WN, and credits in the same amounts.
Regardless, another $100 x 2 x 2 gift cards for my Plat and my wife's Plat cards on WN, and credits in the same amounts.
Nov 10, 2015, 6:42 am
#540
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: BOS
Programs: MR, UR, AA, AS, HH Gold, SPG Gold, HGP, RR
Posts: 708
I like the fact that I can look at this thread and confirm that it's still working before I purchase gc's. With your suggested change, if there are no recent reports of failures and no one is reporting successes then you are forced to assume that all is well, I would rather know that it was still working as of X date.