gift cards CANNOT be used any time and are not treated like cash

[takalata]

Don't bother trying to save up your Southwest gift cards.  They only allow you to use 2 per person.  My daughter had (7) $100 gift cards to pay for her and her boyfriend's flights to Nashville and Southwest wouldn't allow her to use all of them.  Aren't gift cards supposed to be treated as cash?  Not in this case.  Terrible!  What is the point of having gift cards if you can't use them?  Do better Southwest!  

[floridaguy]

How were those cards obtained originally?

[takalata]

They were given as gifts for Christmas, birthday, etc.  She had been collecting them since last year knowing she would be going to Nashville to celebrate her 21st birthday.  

[strgth]

Here is a SW link that states only 3 GCs can be used PER passenger. Try to purchase her and boyfriend's fare separately. You may also need to purchase one-way fares vs RT in order to successfully use all of them.

[takalata]

Thank you.  I called the SW customer service and they confirmed only 2 per guest.  My point is if a gift card is treated the same as cash then there should be no restrictions.  It is very inconvenient to purchase multiple peoples one way airfare.  

[DancingDavidE · Accepted solution]

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@takalata wrote:

Thank you.  I called the SW customer service and they confirmed only 2 per guest.  My point is if a gift card is treated the same as cash then there should be no restrictions.  It is very inconvenient to purchase multiple peoples one way airfare.  

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It is the same as cash, the problem is that they don't add up to the total value of the ticket, you could use three of them as long as the three of them added up more than the fare - if you have to top off with cash then it would be four methods, so therefore it's two, unless three gift cards covers the whole fare.

[takalata]

There are 5 people in my party.  My total for flights came out to over $2000.  I had a total of $1000 in gift cards (between my husband, daughter and I).  I would’ve still owed over $1000 and would have paid via credit/debit card.  I should have able to use all of my gift cards and then pay the remainder of my balance in credit or debit card.  Now I have $200 in gift cards left because SW wouldn’t allow me

to use them.  So dumb. 

[jksobonya]

Southwest has always had the "3 payment types" rule which means that you can use up to 3 forms of payment to pay for a transaction. This includes credit cards, gift cards, LUV vouchers, and flight credit. If you have 3 $100 gift cards and you are trying to pay for a $500 flight, you can only use 2 gift cards, and another form of payment to cover the remaining balance.

--Jessica

[takalata]

That’s stupid.  Gift cards should be treated like cash and should be able to be used as such, no matter how much or how many someone has.