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Southwest gift cards sold in stores currently have the wrong redemption policy

dragoncandy
Explorer C

I was very disappointed to learn that Southwest updated their policies for gift card redemption online and over the phone but continue to sell these gift cards in stores with different printed policies. The new policies have a maximum of 3 payment types including gift cards but the gift cards in stores state that a maximum of 4 payment types are allowed. Southwest should be more consistent with the policies, update the physical card policies, or allow us to combine gift cards. 20180524_115102.jpg

 

 

5 REPLIES 5

Re: Southwest gift cards sold in stores currently have the wrong redemption policy

rtbarron
Frequent Flyer A

Has anybody at Southwest told you that the airline will not honor the four-payment-type terms on the gift card?

Southwest generally bends over backwards to please their Customers and it seems to me that they would honor the terms of agreement on the store-bought gift card.

Re: Southwest gift cards sold in stores currently have the wrong redemption policy

dragoncandy
Explorer C

I tried online it only accepted 3 total forms of payments and then I called in to place the order over the phone and was told unfortunately they changed the process and only 3 forms of payments are accepted and I got an apology. I also emailed their customer service and received the same information mentioned in the current payment and gift card policy. 

 

Re: Southwest gift cards sold in stores currently have the wrong redemption policy

rtbarron
Frequent Flyer A

You should e-mail them a picture of the terms as written on the gift card.

If the gift card specifically allows four forms of payments and does not have an expiration date for those terms, I don't see how they can deny you.

As I said before, Southwest generally bends over backwards to satisfy the Customer. In this case you are clearly right and I'd be honestly surprised if somebody in the Customer Service chain of command won't fix this problem for you.

Re: Southwest gift cards sold in stores currently have the wrong redemption policy

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@rtbarron wrote:


As I said before, Southwest generally bends over backwards to satisfy the Customer. In this case you are clearly right and I'd be honestly surprised if somebody in the Customer Service chain of command won't fix this problem for you.


I think it is built into the current version of the website, so I doubt that customer service will be able to make an override. 

 

A workaround may be to book a flight worth the value of the two gift cards you want to combine, then change that flight to the real one with the extra forms of payment.

 

I also suggest to book one-way instead of round trip - I recommend this anyway - but this may also allow you to use three forms of payment on one leg, and three other forms of payment on the second leg.

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: Southwest gift cards sold in stores currently have the wrong redemption policy

chgoflyer
Aviator A

Unfortunately, there's nothing that Southwest can/will do. (This complaint has come up before.)

 

In general, I don't recommend Southwest gift cards. The limitations in use make them problematic.

 

One upside to the new terms is that the limit of (now) 3 forms of payment is per passenger, not per purchase. Meaning that you can use twice as many if booking an itinerary for two people. (Although in general, I never recommend booking multi-passenger itineraries, this is an exception.)

 

Southwest® gift card Terms & Conditions