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)
Jan 19, 2019, 4:28 pm
#1561
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: SFO
Programs: SPG
Posts: 123
Amex Business Platinum card
1/10: bought 1 $200 GC
1/13: $200 statement credit posted
1/10: bought 1 $200 GC
1/13: $200 statement credit posted
Jan 20, 2019, 8:18 pm
#1562
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 88
Platinum Card datapoint:
1/15: bought 1 $200 GC
1/18: posted
1/20: reimbursed
1/15: bought 1 $200 GC
1/18: posted
1/20: reimbursed
Jan 21, 2019, 1:09 pm
#1563
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 258
Amex Platinum
1/15: Purchased $200 GC while logged into my account.
1/18: Posted
1/19: Meter changed to "You have used all of your $200 Airline Fee Credit for this year."
1/20: Reimbursed
1/18: Posted
1/19: Meter changed to "You have used all of your $200 Airline Fee Credit for this year."
1/20: Reimbursed
Jan 21, 2019, 5:21 pm
#1564
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,269
Hilton Aspire
1/15 -- Bought $250 GC in a single transaction
1/17 -- Charge posted
1/18 -- Meter showed credit used
1/20 -- Credit posted
1/17 -- Charge posted
1/18 -- Meter showed credit used
1/20 -- Credit posted
Jan 21, 2019, 5:32 pm
#1565
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Nor Cal
Programs: AA Alaska Hyatt
Posts: 4
Gift cards
I just bought a $100 gift card that was credited in about 3-4 days. I then bought another $100 and it was quickly credited as well.
Anyone used this on Southwest to buy gift certificates?
I fly a lot of Southwest but of course do not incur a lot of fees (either because there are no fees or because I have drink coupons). As such, I'd rather not spend the $200 on things I otherwise wouldn't spend money on if I can actually save money with it. Southwest gift certificates would be ideal, but of course with only one shot to select the airlines I wouldn't want to lock into Southwest only to find out the gift certificates aren't being reimbursed.
My other option is to either buy some AA or other gift certificates which are confirmed to work, but my future travel plans that won't be using Southwest are not set yet. Again, locking myself into AA or DL or what not would be suboptimal as then I might have to go with that airline even if flights are not the cheapest.
As a test, I did purchase a gift certificate from WN to see how it would be billed -- perhaps someone with more experience with the workings might be able to tell whether it would be reimbursed? This is from the "Pending Activity", not the final charge.
From what I can tell, an actual ticket purchase adds some info regarding the flight and says "DOCUMENT TYPE: PASSENGER TICKET".
I fly a lot of Southwest but of course do not incur a lot of fees (either because there are no fees or because I have drink coupons). As such, I'd rather not spend the $200 on things I otherwise wouldn't spend money on if I can actually save money with it. Southwest gift certificates would be ideal, but of course with only one shot to select the airlines I wouldn't want to lock into Southwest only to find out the gift certificates aren't being reimbursed.
My other option is to either buy some AA or other gift certificates which are confirmed to work, but my future travel plans that won't be using Southwest are not set yet. Again, locking myself into AA or DL or what not would be suboptimal as then I might have to go with that airline even if flights are not the cheapest.
As a test, I did purchase a gift certificate from WN to see how it would be billed -- perhaps someone with more experience with the workings might be able to tell whether it would be reimbursed? This is from the "Pending Activity", not the final charge.
Code:
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES 10.00 . Doing Business As: SOUTHWEST AIRLINES Merchant Address: ATTN SUPVR CR CD BILLINGS MAIL STA 6AR/PO BOX 36611 DALLAS TX 75235 UNITED STATES Category: Travel - Airline
Jan 22, 2019, 11:20 am
#1566
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: DEN
Programs: MR PP, UA Silver, SW A-List, HH Diamond
Posts: 345
Hmm, so this is the 2nd year of my knowing about the southwest trick for airline fees. Last year I selected southwest and made purchases and got credit as expected. This year, I didn't select WN since the amex page said it would revert to WN.
Made flight (not GC - this worked for ~$125 flights on 3 separate purchases in 2018, and as late as Dec) purchases on two amexs in early Jan, no credit a few weeks later. Did I hose myself by being lazy or do you all think amex will do some kind of sweep at the end of Jan?
To do a test, after two weeks of waiting for WN credit on the original purchases, I did manually go in and select WN for 2019, bought a GC and that did earn the WN credit shortly thereafter.
But it remains to be seen whether something change with actual flight purchases ii 2019, or if it was just due to me not selecting an airline.
Made flight (not GC - this worked for ~$125 flights on 3 separate purchases in 2018, and as late as Dec) purchases on two amexs in early Jan, no credit a few weeks later. Did I hose myself by being lazy or do you all think amex will do some kind of sweep at the end of Jan?
To do a test, after two weeks of waiting for WN credit on the original purchases, I did manually go in and select WN for 2019, bought a GC and that did earn the WN credit shortly thereafter.
But it remains to be seen whether something change with actual flight purchases ii 2019, or if it was just due to me not selecting an airline.
Last edited by goldenbear; Jan 23, 2019 at 10:08 am
Jan 22, 2019, 12:00 pm
#1567
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 28
Amex Biz Plat
1/17 $200 SW
1/21 Reimbursed
1/17 $200 SW
1/21 Reimbursed
Jan 22, 2019, 1:19 pm
#1568
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 2
Amex Gold
1/17 Purchased $100 SW eGC from southwest.com
1/22 $100 credit posted mid-day, dated 1/21
1/17 Purchased $100 SW eGC from southwest.com
1/22 $100 credit posted mid-day, dated 1/21
Jan 22, 2019, 3:34 pm
#1569
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 88
Hmm, so this is the 2nd year of my knowing about the southwest trick for airline fees. Last year I selected southwest and made purchases and got credit as expected. This year, I didn't select WN since the amex page said it would revert to WN.
Made flight (not GC - this worked for ~$125 flights on 3 separate purchases in 2018, and as late as Dec) purchases on two amexs in early Jan, no credit a few weeks later. Did I hose myself by being lazy or do you all think amex will do some kind of sweep at the end of Jan?
To do a test, after two weeks of waiting for the WN credit, on my first purchases, I did manually go in and select WN for 2019, bought a GC and that did earn the WN credit shortly thereafter.
But it remains to be seen whether something change with actual flight purchases ii 2019, or if it was just due to me not selecting an airline.
Made flight (not GC - this worked for ~$125 flights on 3 separate purchases in 2018, and as late as Dec) purchases on two amexs in early Jan, no credit a few weeks later. Did I hose myself by being lazy or do you all think amex will do some kind of sweep at the end of Jan?
To do a test, after two weeks of waiting for the WN credit, on my first purchases, I did manually go in and select WN for 2019, bought a GC and that did earn the WN credit shortly thereafter.
But it remains to be seen whether something change with actual flight purchases ii 2019, or if it was just due to me not selecting an airline.
Jan 22, 2019, 4:21 pm
#1570
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 1,411
Hmm, so this is the 2nd year of my knowing about the southwest trick for airline fees. Last year I selected southwest and made purchases and got credit as expected. This year, I didn't select WN since the amex page said it would revert to WN.
Made flight (not GC - this worked for ~$125 flights on 3 separate purchases in 2018, and as late as Dec) purchases on two amexs in early Jan, no credit a few weeks later. Did I hose myself by being lazy or do you all think amex will do some kind of sweep at the end of Jan?
To do a test, after two weeks of waiting for the WN credit, on my first purchases, I did manually go in and select WN for 2019, bought a GC and that did earn the WN credit shortly thereafter.
But it remains to be seen whether something change with actual flight purchases ii 2019, or if it was just due to me not selecting an airline.
Made flight (not GC - this worked for ~$125 flights on 3 separate purchases in 2018, and as late as Dec) purchases on two amexs in early Jan, no credit a few weeks later. Did I hose myself by being lazy or do you all think amex will do some kind of sweep at the end of Jan?
To do a test, after two weeks of waiting for the WN credit, on my first purchases, I did manually go in and select WN for 2019, bought a GC and that did earn the WN credit shortly thereafter.
But it remains to be seen whether something change with actual flight purchases ii 2019, or if it was just due to me not selecting an airline.
Jan 23, 2019, 8:29 pm
#1571
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 88
Yeah, last year there were a number of flight tickets that were reimbursed.
Jan 24, 2019, 4:57 pm
#1572
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 17
DP WN GC
01/18/2019 - Southwest Airlines - DALLAS, TX $250.00
01/21/2019 AMEX Airline Fee Reimbursement -$250.00
01/18/2019 - Southwest Airlines - DALLAS, TX $250.00
01/21/2019 AMEX Airline Fee Reimbursement -$250.00
Jan 25, 2019, 10:07 am
#1573
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: GAI
Programs: TK *G, all statuses that come with Ritz, Amex Plat, Citi Prestige cards
Posts: 364
Amex MB Plat:
$100 GC purchased on the 18th, reimbursed on the 22nd.
Reviewing my statement, it looks as though a small difference in fare I paid when rebooking a ticket ($27) was also reimbursed by the fee credit on 1/4.
$100 GC purchased on the 18th, reimbursed on the 22nd.
Reviewing my statement, it looks as though a small difference in fare I paid when rebooking a ticket ($27) was also reimbursed by the fee credit on 1/4.
Jan 26, 2019, 8:09 am
#1574
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: SEATAC
Programs: AS MVP Gold
Posts: 186
Aspire:
$250 GC 1/22
Posted 1/24
Reflected in meter 1/26, posted same day but dated 1/25
$250 GC 1/22
Posted 1/24
Reflected in meter 1/26, posted same day but dated 1/25