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)
Sep 24, 2015, 6:18 pm
#481
Join Date: May 2015
Location: LAX, BUR
Programs: AS,AA,JB, HH Gold, Starriott Titanium Elite, Hyatt Explorist, Global Entry
Posts: 1,929
Sep 25, 2015, 1:50 pm
#483
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 119
I was able to get them to issue a $100 credit to me for a gift card purchased on 8/26.
They claim that the charge was from AIR DALLAS (clearly shows up as Southwest Airlines on my statement) which is not a direct charge from a partner airline.
They claim that the charge was from AIR DALLAS (clearly shows up as Southwest Airlines on my statement) which is not a direct charge from a partner airline.
Sep 29, 2015, 7:39 am
#486
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 110
Wow! Chatting took me about a minute and the only question the rep asked was when the charge was posted. He said it will take 5 business days to credit. Very easy!
Sep 29, 2015, 8:27 am
#487
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 63
I wonder if due to the influx of people they just changed the credit to manual to counteract people taking advantage of the loop holes. It won't stop everyone, but it may scare off the timid.
Sep 29, 2015, 1:26 pm
#488
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
Programs: Milege+, SkyMiles, AAdvantage, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,685
This is exactly what I have been suspecting all along. My reimbursements were all made before the sudden issues arose, so I can not test out the theory until January. However, I believe they simply stopped automatic reimbursement to allow for manual review of each charge, so they can try to weed out the gift cards from the reimbursable incidental charges the T&C permit.
Sep 29, 2015, 1:45 pm
#489
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 63
Yeah but they don't even question the charges when I asked for them to manually be posted. He saw it was past 4 weeks and processed the manual credit, stating their system was having glitches.
I personally think it's a tactic to scare the new sign ups.
I personally think it's a tactic to scare the new sign ups.
Sep 29, 2015, 4:45 pm
#490
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 250
Same experience with me. I did online chat about the missing airline credit and csr just asked me the date I made the purchase. She then told me credit will be issued within 48 hours, which it did. This was Saturday last week.
Sep 30, 2015, 5:17 am
#491
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: CLE
Posts: 40
I also used chat to request reimbursement for "fees" in the amount of $50 and $100 incurred in late August. The rep didn't ask what the fees were for, and I got my reimbursement.
Oct 1, 2015, 1:58 am
#492
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: California, SMF
Programs: UA, AA, AS, DL, BA, HA, WN, SPG-PL, Hyatt-Dia, HH-Dia, Marr-Pl, US Mint/VR(retired)
Posts: 945
Southwest charges $75 for an oversized baggage item and $95 for a pet. From now on, I'm going to make my Southwest gift card purchases for $75 or $95.
Oct 1, 2015, 7:50 am
#493
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Louisiana, MSY
Programs: Hyatt Plat, SPG Gold, Hilton Diamond, IHG Spire Elite
Posts: 139
Btw, I got my fee manually reimbursed as well. 2 $100 GC charged on 8/23. Contacted after 4 weeks.
Oct 1, 2015, 6:39 pm
#494
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: LAX
Posts: 556
new to this game. I want to register in SW first.
Should I purchase 2 100 GC separately? like 1- 100 GC today then another 100 GC two days later. if I purchase 2 100 GCs in one transaction, it will show 200 statement, right?
please advice. THank you!
Should I purchase 2 100 GC separately? like 1- 100 GC today then another 100 GC two days later. if I purchase 2 100 GCs in one transaction, it will show 200 statement, right?
please advice. THank you!
Oct 1, 2015, 7:59 pm
#495
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 84
Just got a $100 GC on my wife's PRG from August 30th reimbursed via live chat. Didn't get asked what it was, the rep just said since it had been 4 weeks he would reimburse it manually.
I just made a couple $11.20 charges and a $1.20 charge (all award ticket fees, had some leftover gift cards to spend on the last one) on my PRG so we'll see if those get reimbursed automatically or not.
I just made a couple $11.20 charges and a $1.20 charge (all award ticket fees, had some leftover gift cards to spend on the last one) on my PRG so we'll see if those get reimbursed automatically or not.