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Gift Card Loaded onto Southwest Unrecoverable. Please Help.

reneewood
Explorer C

On Dec. 24, I purchased a $500 Southwest Airlines gift card.  I made airline reservations and loaded the card onto my account under Travel Funds / Gift Cards. 

 

On January 6, 2021 I made a reservation (37IPCH) and used $36.98 towards a Southwest Ticket.

 

I just tried to book tickets and the gift card balance of $463.02 is gone.  GONE.  I don't have the physical card any longer since I loaded it onto my account.  I DO have the gift card number.  I have my receipt from purchasing the gift card.  However, I no longer have the pin. 

 

I need help retrieving the pin or resetting it or canceling the card and having the balance reissued on another card or RESTORED to my Southwest Airlines account!  

 

Please, whoever is in charge...it's been a long, difficult year.  This cannot be something that's not figureoutable.  I didn't lose the card and it wasn't stolen.  It's no longer loaded on my account.  

 

Will some kind soul please look into this?  I just want to get to my parents.  

 

 

 

3 REPLIES 3

Re: Gift Card Loaded onto Southwest Unrecoverable. Please Help.

chgoflyer
Aviator A

@reneewood wrote:

On Dec. 24, I purchased a $500 Southwest Airlines gift card.  I made airline reservations and loaded the card onto my account under Travel Funds / Gift Cards. 

 

On January 6, 2021 I made a reservation (37IPCH) and used $36.98 towards a Southwest Ticket.

 

I just tried to book tickets and the gift card balance of $463.02 is gone.  GONE.  I don't have the physical card any longer since I loaded it onto my account.  I DO have the gift card number.  I have my receipt from purchasing the gift card.  However, I no longer have the pin. 

 

I need help retrieving the pin or resetting it or canceling the card and having the balance reissued on another card or RESTORED to my Southwest Airlines account!  

 

Please, whoever is in charge...it's been a long, difficult year.  This cannot be something that's not figureoutable.  I didn't lose the card and it wasn't stolen.  It's no longer loaded on my account.  

 

Will some kind soul please look into this?  I just want to get to my parents.  

 

 

 


 

First: You'll want to edit your post and delete that confirmation number. This is a public forum, and is primarily customer-to-customer. While we can give you advice, you're not actually talking to Southwest employees here. You'll need to reach out to them directly. I recommend contacting Customer Relations (not the "regular" phone line),  via direct message through Facebook or Twitter. (see below)

 

That said, I think you're unfortunately confused about how gift cards work at Southwest. Unlike some other places (Amazon, for example) at Southwest you can't "load a card onto your account." When you apply a gift card towards a purchase, the amount of that purchase (only) is deducted from the gift card balance. The remaining balance stays on the gift card for future use. There's no where on the Southwest website for you to load and/or store a gift card balance -- that's not how it works.

 

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Here are the Southwest gift card terms and conditions.

 

The good news is that this means the balance of your gift card funds is still available, on the gift card. The bad news is that you'll need the gift card number and associated PIN in order to access it.

 

Gift cards are non-refundable, and should always be treated like cash. If you purchased the card directly from Southwest, they may be able to help you. (I'm not sure about this, but it's worth a try.) If from a retail outlet, I'm not so sure.

 

Good luck!

 

Contact Customer Relations 

Re: Gift Card Loaded onto Southwest Unrecoverable. Please Help.

dfwskier
Aviator A

@reneewood wrote:

On Dec. 24, I purchased a $500 Southwest Airlines gift card.  I made airline reservations and loaded the card onto my account under Travel Funds / Gift Cards. 

 

 Where did you buy your card? When I buy at a retail store, I always get a separate gift card receipt with the regular receipt. If you have one, that might help.

 

FWIW, you can't load the entire balance of your gift card into your SW account. You can only use that portion of the git card needed to buy your ticket. The balance remains on the card.

 

Hopefully you still have the e-mail you  got from Southwest when you bought the other ticket. If you do, that e-mail will give you the gift card number that was used. You'd still need the PIN to use the card number in the future.

 

in the e-mail , look at payment and you'll see something like this (from a reservation I made two days ago):

 

 

Payment information

Total cost

Air - xxxxxx

Base Fare

$

50.38

U.S. Transportation Tax

$

3.78

U.S. 9/11 Security Fee

$

5.60

U.S. Flight Segment Tax

$

8.60

U.S. Passenger Facility Chg

$

9.00

Total

$

77.36

Payment

Travel Funds xxxxxx
Date: January 26, 2021

Payment Amount: $72.37

Gift Card 20526002xxxxxxxx
Date: January 26, 2021

Payment Amount: $4.99


Maybe Southwest would be willing to work with you since you have the number and can prove you used it to buy the other ticket. Presumably Southwest should be able to determine the remaining value of the card.

 

It's worth a try. Good luck

 

Re: Gift Card Loaded onto Southwest Unrecoverable. Please Help.

jenniferwoelker
Explorer C

Hi there, 

 

I seen you had the same problem. When I seen it seemed impossible to get my the much needed PIN, I freaked. 

I called Southwest and told them from the $500 GC I should have a remaining balance of $204, but I don't see it in my Southwest account. The rep told says for her to check with the GC number, I need the pin. Problem was, after using the GC on my southwest account, I thought it took the credit of the GC amount. But from what i'm learning now, is that it doesn't. I was worried because I had deleted the email of the Costco Southwest e-gift card since I thought it uploaded to my Southwest Airlines account. The rep then told me to call where I purchased, which I called 'Costco Online Order' number (1-800-955-2292). The Costco rep natalie was very helpful. I told her my story, and that the only info I had was my GC #, but had no pin. I also had my credit card receipt when I purchased. She then asked me for my Costco member number where she was able to see my transactions. Then from there, she gave me instructions so I can retrieve that email again:

 

Go to: memberedelivery.com

Click on 'Digital Order Portal'

Info you'll need is the Costco Order number (which if you don't have it, call the Costco online rep to retrieve it), and also the email you bought the e-giftcard with.

 

I know this has happened to you in 2021, but knowing the GC amount doesn't expire, hoping this info can still help you to retrieve your receipt again with the PIN #.

 

And hoping this will help others too. 

 

Learned a lesson, to just make sure I print the e-gift GC emails, or don't toss the email until the entire $ amount is used on the GC.