Also commonly a target for fraud.

"Purchases made with a Gift Certificate do not count toward Premier® qualifying dollars for Premier status qualification."

But it doesn't say if the one who purchases the gift certificate receives PQM.

I would imagine no.

Only the traveler receives PQM.

This.

Wait...is that actually true...anyone with experience either way?

I thought using a gift certificate was essentially just using an alternate form of payment, similar to a TVC voucher, which does accrue PQD.

Interestingly enough, Marriott used to also say on their gift cards that paying with it didn't allow you to earn Marriott Rewards points on that amount of the transaction. But in my experience, I always got points based on the full cost of the stay, even when I used gift cards to cover most of the stay total.

Not all gift cards have "huge breakage". It's highly dependent on the brand. My guess is maybe they need to switch gift card processors and couldn't get the new one on board fast enough to convert the program. If it were a legal issue, that could be resolved without shutting down the program.

By the way, Delta also has a great gift card program. Newer than the others but still out there.

The gift certificate redemption process is very clunky at best.

I spent approximately 25 minutes on the phone with United trying to redeem my gift certificate for a trip next week. The certificate number was not honored on United's website.

It has been three days since I made my reservation and my reservation has still not been ticketed. I was told that reservations involving gift certificates often are not ticketed until 24 hours before departure. Is this true? Any other experiences like this? Thanks

Hmmm. Not sure is I should be glad that I haven't used my Amex airline credit yet.

Wouldn't it be great to be able to apply multiple gift certificates to a single reservation (like every other merchant/retailer does)? But likely this will break the other way and it will end up being reinvented to be worse for the customer.

I have had the same experience. Phone calls (typically multiple) get it resolved.

United should look at Alaska Airlines as a model, IMO. With Alaska, e-giftcertificates can be put in an online wallet and used when needed. Works perfectly. United already has a wallet function on their website with the Gift Registry program. Seems that they could port that over.

I remember the first (and last) time I asked for a UA gift certificate for a Xmas gift from my parents...back in the 90s. My dad asked me how you even purchased one and I looked into it and told him he had to call reservations to order it. It came in the mail and it was a manually issued hand written red carbon paper ticket with multiple layers. To use it you had to of course take it in to an airport, ticket office, or use ticket by mail. It was absolutely hideous to look at...quite embarrassing.

Redeeming it was also a hassle because agents weren't generally familiar with it..and didn't even know UA issued gift certificates. I decided that would be the last time I asked for one of those!

Finally..~20 years later they're getting their act together. It's about time.

Any buzz on what's happening with gift cards?

Same issue with my UA gift certificate...

I called UA, they checked my gift cert number and said it is valid for the amount I thought... but the agent I spoke with offered no solution as to redeeming online. I was actually calling for a different reason, so I didn't push the issue.

Anyone have any more information on this issue?

I have the same trouble
 

will contact csr for a solution.

Did you find a solution? Have the same issue.

I redeemed some MCR points back in Dec 2014 for a UA $25 gift certificate and tried to use it yesterday. Wouldn't work online saying invalid code.

I called UA and they couldn't get it to work. It would have to be manually processed by ticketing and then it should be good to go. I did comment to the UA rep this is the first time I'm using a gift cert, but what a pain. We will see how long it takes to process.

But for a $19 one-way fare SAN to ORD, it was worth the hassle!