Is it possible to use more than 3 gift cards in one booking?
Feb 4, 2019, 4:27 pm
#31
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 213
Just an update on this. I had 12 x $100 Delta GCs from Walmart. (used free Walmart GC from rebates to purchase - long story).
I didn't want to call it in, so I figured heck, I'll go to my local airport 5 mins away, which has a Delta ticket counter, to purchase 2 one way tixx for a guest and myself. I get there, tell him the flight I need, etc, and initially I thought the guys head was going to explode when I said I'll be paying with 12 gift cards, but he called the help desk, they seemed to handle it pretty good, but it did take about an hour in total. He first had to split the tickets up (he said something about my guest not being there and not having a Skymiles numbers to the help desk person - not sure why that would matter?), so they made two ticket records, one for me, one for my guest. Each ticket $591. He read her 6 gift card numbers (without the PIN). Then the ticket record # and she did something on her end to process it. Then he did the same for my guests ticket record. At the end he asked me for my email so she could email me back a $18 voucher which is what was left of the $1200. I didn't see that $18 voucher yet tho.
Once completed, he gave me the confirmation numbers and I was able to load them into my Delta app and assign 'preferred' seats (since I have the Amex Gold Delta card) for both myself and guest. Seems to be OK!
tldr; you can use multiple GCs with little hassle at an airport ticket counter!
I didn't want to call it in, so I figured heck, I'll go to my local airport 5 mins away, which has a Delta ticket counter, to purchase 2 one way tixx for a guest and myself. I get there, tell him the flight I need, etc, and initially I thought the guys head was going to explode when I said I'll be paying with 12 gift cards, but he called the help desk, they seemed to handle it pretty good, but it did take about an hour in total. He first had to split the tickets up (he said something about my guest not being there and not having a Skymiles numbers to the help desk person - not sure why that would matter?), so they made two ticket records, one for me, one for my guest. Each ticket $591. He read her 6 gift card numbers (without the PIN). Then the ticket record # and she did something on her end to process it. Then he did the same for my guests ticket record. At the end he asked me for my email so she could email me back a $18 voucher which is what was left of the $1200. I didn't see that $18 voucher yet tho.
Once completed, he gave me the confirmation numbers and I was able to load them into my Delta app and assign 'preferred' seats (since I have the Amex Gold Delta card) for both myself and guest. Seems to be OK!
tldr; you can use multiple GCs with little hassle at an airport ticket counter!
Feb 27, 2019, 6:10 pm
#35
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: AUS
Programs: BAEC Gold, AA PPro, Hyatt Globalist, Amex Plat
Posts: 7,041
Wow... this all seems like a silly, crazy amount of work for both customers and Delta themselves. Kinda ridiculous they can't just accept a higher number of gift cards online. Many consider AA to be an incredibly inept airline and they seem to be able to handle eight without any problem. It ain't rocket science, it's a code change... 
Regards
Regards
Mar 17, 2019, 6:12 pm
#37
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: LAX
Posts: 44
This is definitely a YMMV thing and you waste a lot of time finding out if it works or not. I just got off the phone with Delta, wanted to use 8x $50 cards. After half an hour of entering passenger info, gift card numbers, and being on hold, the agent had to call a ticket supervisor over who claimed the only way to do this was to break my reservation into 4 (4 people) and even split my credit card charge into 4 separate charges. How ridiculous! Get it together Delta...
Mar 17, 2019, 8:00 pm
#38
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Nashville -Past DL Plat, FO, WN-CP, various hotel programs
Programs: DL-MM, AA, SW w/companion,HiltonDiamond, Hyatt PLat, IHF Plat, Miles and Points Seeker
Posts: 11,072
seems that the software for some carriers only have a place to put the payment in a limited amount of spaces. Cash/credit/ecredit - all the same. There are only 3 slots to put the information into.
Southwest has a similar problem. Folks just book a ticket, then cancel and get one big refund/credit.
Southwest has a similar problem. Folks just book a ticket, then cancel and get one big refund/credit.
May 26, 2019, 1:01 pm
#40
formerly smoaky
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 301
Does Delta still do this? If you use 3 Delta gift cards then cancel in a 24 hour period does it return as a single credit or do the amounts go back to each e-gift certificate again? Booked a flight and had to pay the last 150 with cash but would prefer to use cards. If they return to the gift cards, is that automatic? Then I can call the reservation line and use five...
May 26, 2019, 7:14 pm
#41
Join Date: Dec 2009
Programs: SPG Plat
Posts: 459
You can do it all online if you use 3 per original transaction (say a $145 flight with 3 $50 gift cards), and another 3 for each change, you can make unlimited changes within 24 hrs of the original ticket booking online.
So esentially you start with a dummy booking and keep changing it to increasingly expensive flights until finally landing on the actual one you want..
So esentially you start with a dummy booking and keep changing it to increasingly expensive flights until finally landing on the actual one you want..
Last edited by silverforumsurf; May 26, 2019 at 9:56 pm
May 26, 2019, 9:40 pm
#42
formerly smoaky
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 301
I'll be my own data point here in several regards:
Originally booked a flight online, used 3 gift cards and paid the remainder. Had 2 gift cards left over out of a total of 5.
Cancelled within 24 hours. A few minutes later, during a phone call to the reservations line, I was able to use the 3 gift cards I'd earlier emptied, and 2 others. I got the same flight, same seat, no problem. So they not only are refunded back to the original gift cards, but they were usable immediately again. Sadly still can't use more than 3 online, as silverforumsurf mentioned. As in line with what that user suggested, I noticed I could once again use 3 more cards if I wanted to upgrade my economy ticket.
Originally booked a flight online, used 3 gift cards and paid the remainder. Had 2 gift cards left over out of a total of 5.
Cancelled within 24 hours. A few minutes later, during a phone call to the reservations line, I was able to use the 3 gift cards I'd earlier emptied, and 2 others. I got the same flight, same seat, no problem. So they not only are refunded back to the original gift cards, but they were usable immediately again. Sadly still can't use more than 3 online, as silverforumsurf mentioned. As in line with what that user suggested, I noticed I could once again use 3 more cards if I wanted to upgrade my economy ticket.
Jun 3, 2019, 7:27 pm
#43
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 30
I was just able to use 26 Delta gift cards in a single transaction (mostly $50). It did take close to 2 hours to process.
From what the agent said, anything over 3 gift cards requires a supervisor. The process involved me reading all 26 gift cards, which took maybe 20 minutes (including setting up the actual flights and her verifying the process with supervisors). Somewhere between 3 and 26 gift cards they started running into system issues (which explains the other hour and 40 minutes). Everyone on the Delta side was surprised it took as long as it did, but they had never done that many before either. They didn't tell me what they were doing to process, but I did get an email while I was waiting on hold, that I had a travel voucher that was worth my first 17 gift cards.
I have no status and did this by calling into the main reservation line, so this is available to anyone who's got some free time.
From what the agent said, anything over 3 gift cards requires a supervisor. The process involved me reading all 26 gift cards, which took maybe 20 minutes (including setting up the actual flights and her verifying the process with supervisors). Somewhere between 3 and 26 gift cards they started running into system issues (which explains the other hour and 40 minutes). Everyone on the Delta side was surprised it took as long as it did, but they had never done that many before either. They didn't tell me what they were doing to process, but I did get an email while I was waiting on hold, that I had a travel voucher that was worth my first 17 gift cards.
I have no status and did this by calling into the main reservation line, so this is available to anyone who's got some free time.
After reading this thread numerous times, I had the time today to do this. This was my first attempt at combining egift cards. Your mileage may vary. Lesson learned though, EARN and BURN!
Jul 7, 2019, 4:51 am
#44
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: San Francisco & London
Programs: UA1k, Oneworld Sapphire, Hyatt Globalist, IHG DiamondAmb, Hilton Diamond, Marriott LTP,
Posts: 1,785
Am I right in thinking that cancelled bookings within 24 hours no longer credit back into a single larger e-cert but go back to the original gift card ?
DP: Just tried and that is exactly what happens, returns back to original GC
DP: Just tried and that is exactly what happens, returns back to original GC
Last edited by navatwal; Jul 7, 2019 at 5:22 am
Dec 25, 2019, 9:01 am
#45
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 4
You have to call to combine and it takes some time
I tried booking a flight with egiftcards and then cancelling to combine them. Didn't work for me either. The balance just went back to the three $50 gift cards I started with. I had 8 total.
Yesterday, I was able to use my 8 $50 egiftcards to book a flight over the phone. The customer service rep had to get tech support to help do it, and it took 1 hr 30 min for the entire call. It was worth it for me, because I just put the phone on speaker and did other things while waiting for the later ones to process. Once we got up to 6, it started to take much longer.
At the end I thanked the customer service rep and made sure to give them a good rating.
Yesterday, I was able to use my 8 $50 egiftcards to book a flight over the phone. The customer service rep had to get tech support to help do it, and it took 1 hr 30 min for the entire call. It was worth it for me, because I just put the phone on speaker and did other things while waiting for the later ones to process. Once we got up to 6, it started to take much longer.
At the end I thanked the customer service rep and made sure to give them a good rating.