Target now sells Southwest gift cards - use RedCard for 5%?

[msquoted]

You can only use 4 payment methods per purchase on Southwest. That would be 3 GCs and a credit card for the balance or 4 GCs if they cover all of the costs. You will not be able to use all 15 $100 GCs in a single reservation.

I spoke to a SW rep yesterday who said they would just seperate out our reservations. We have a party of six. So, each person's ticket would be its own reservation (SW doesn't do assigned seats) tickets #1-5 would use 3-4 gift cards depending on how much the ticket costs (we won't be spending more than $400 per ticket) and then ticket #6 would use giftcards + credit card. If we needed to, we could also get two one-way tickets instead of roundtrip tickets for each person, making a total of 12 reservations. I don't think we will need to do that though.

 

[msquoted]

I know separating out the reservations seems like a pain in the tush but I am willing to do if it means saving $246 ($2,100 of gift cards for only $1,854)

 

[Marionnette]

I spoke to a SW rep yesterday who said they would just seperate out our reservations. We have a party of six. So, each person's ticket would be its own reservation (SW doesn't do assigned seats) tickets #1-5 would use 3-4 gift cards depending on how much the ticket costs (we won't be spending more than $400 per ticket) and then ticket #6 would use giftcards + credit card. If we needed to, we could also get two one-way tickets instead of roundtrip tickets for each person too, making a total of 12 reservations. I don't think we will need to do that though.

I do that all of the time when buying tickets for my family, but we are all adults. How does that work if you are purchasing tickets for minors? Can you buy a single ticket for just a child without having to pay the unaccompanied minor fee? Yes, I know that the child would not actually be unaccompanied, but how do you get that point across online when you purchase each ticket separately?

 

[msquoted]

I do that all of the time when buying tickets for my family, but we are all adults. How does that work if you are purchasing tickets for minors? Can you buy a single ticket for just a child without having to pay the unaccompanied minor fee? Yes, I know that the child would not actually be unaccompanied, but how do you get that point across online when you purchase each ticket separately?

I had the exact same question The SW rep told me it was no problem making a separate reservation for a child.

 

[nalajms]

I had the exact same question The SW rep told me it was no problem making a separate reservation for a child.

You can do all that online as well. Book the adult ticket first and have the confirmation number handy. Book the minor ticket, it will ask for an adult's confirmation.

FYI - Target allows only 6 per order. But you can have several orders a day. Mine took about 3 hours before they emailed them to me. It's a bit to keep track because the 6 e-GC will be on 1 webpage with 6 different links to "print". I saved each one to PDF and numbered them so I know which is which.

 

[msquoted]

You can do all that online as well. Book the adult ticket first and have the confirmation number handy. Book the minor ticket, it will ask for an adult's confirmation.

FYI - Target allows only 6 per order. But you can have several orders a day. Mine took about 3 hours before they emailed them to me. It's a bit to keep track because the 6 e-GC will be on 1 webpage with 6 different links to "print". I saved each one to PDF and numbered them so I know which is which.

Thank you!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Better yet is if you are planning to purchase $2,000- in SWA GC then apply for the SWA credit card. RIght now they are offering a bonus of 50K in points for opening a CC. In order to get the 50K bonus you have to spend $2k in 3 months of opening the acct.

Last week I applied both the SWA Plus and Premier cards got my cards in 6 days. I am now closer to achieving the 110K point qualification for the companion flies free when flying with me for 2015 and 2016!

I know this is an old thread but I am resurrecting it because I have been looking into utilizing SW gift cards to help cut the costs of our flight. My plan is to buy target gift cards from Raise.com (usually saving around 7% off of target gift cards) and then using those gift cards in conjunction w/ my RedCard to buy SW gift cards.

Target now has $100 SW e-cards (gift cards that are bought online only and then e-mailed to you) but I see that they limit your purchase to six. Not sure if this is six per order- if I could place another separate order of six or what. Has anyone used this method to cut down on your transportation costs?

If it works the way I think it will, I am looking at a pretty good savings:
$2000 target gift card from Raise for $1854 Saving $146
Use that gift card to buy:
$1500 in SW giftcards for $1425 + $600 in Disney giftcards $475

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

I had the exact same question The SW rep told me it was no problem making a separate reservation for a child.

I was advised the same thing by SWA. For the next release date next month we will be booking our Oct WDW stay and my "problem" is I have enough SWA points for me and DH has enough SWA points for himself however that leaves DS out. I did the Raise 8% off Target, then converted to 2, $100 Southwest gift cards and our flights are usually slightly higher than that. She suggested I use my points for DS and then buy mine or whatever leftover there is on my SWA account as I'll earn at least double points on my card.

If I have any issues I'll give them a call as they are always helpful if/when I've had issues in the past.

Heather

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Better yet is if you are planning to purchase $2,000- in SWA GC then apply for the SWA credit card. RIght now they are offering a bonus of 50K in points for opening a CC. In order to get the 50K bonus you have to spend $2k in 3 months of opening the acct.

Last week I applied both the SWA Plus and Premier cards got my cards in 6 days. I am now closer to achieving the 110K point qualification for the companion flies free when flying with me for 2015 and 2016!

I agree. All of this GC stuff seems like a lot of work for a tiny discount. Not that I don't want to save money but we have the SW visa and earn roughly a one way seat to MCO every other month. Sometimes more.
Once you get used to that, $20 off 8 seats (4 seats, RT) doesn't look like much.

I would suggest getting the SW visa and put all this energy into making sure it's paid off each month and you will save a lot.

Just in the last year and a half we've used SW rewards for all of this:
Sept 2013- 8 free seats for MCO
March 2014- 2 free seats for MCO
August 2014 - 6 free seats for Vegas. (UT & AZ visit)
Sept 2014- 3 free seats for MCO
Jan 2015 - 3 free seats for MCO
Apr 2015 - 3 free seats for MCO

In addition to the points from the cc, I also do e-rewards which can now be converted to SW points. I also do e-miles which become SW points.

Every chance I can I use the SW shopping mall for online purchases. You earn SW points just by entering a particular website via the SW shopping mall page. They also offer occasional bonuses such as back to school time and around the holidays.
It's so easy and if there's a price drop the points are simply returned to your account.

 

[kristenrice]

Better yet is if you are planning to purchase $2,000- in SWA GC then apply for the SWA credit card. RIght now they are offering a bonus of 50K in points for opening a CC. In order to get the 50K bonus you have to spend $2k in 3 months of opening the acct. Last week I applied both the SWA Plus and Premier cards got my cards in 6 days. I am now closer to achieving the 110K point qualification for the companion flies free when flying with me for 2015 and 2016!

How about using the SWA Visa card to buy the Raise.com Target gift card (thereby earning the 50K bonus points) and then using the Target gift card to buy Disney gift cards? That way, you are not only scoring a sweet discount on your Disney expenses, you are also getting your airfare for "free"

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Most places don't allow you to use a GC to buy a GC so not sure you could use a Target GC to buy a Disney GC.

 

[SUSIEQ]

Most places don't allow you to use a GC to buy a GC so not sure you could use a Target GC to buy a Disney GC.

Yes, you definitely can.

 

[trstno1]

How about using the SWA Visa card to buy the Raise.com Target gift card (thereby earning the 50K bonus points) and then using the Target gift card to buy Disney gift cards? That way, you are not only scoring a sweet discount on your Disney expenses, you are also getting your airfare for "free"

Another post where I wish I had that, "Like," button.

 

[mjallemand]

Would I run into any issues booking one-way tickets going to Florida and then another booking for one-way tickets coming back?

That seem like it'd be the best way to spread out the gift cards. Take $150 off the Departing flight via three $50 gift cards and then $150 off the Return flight via another set of gift cards.

 

[nalajms]

Would I run into any issues booking one-way tickets going to Florida and then another booking for one-way tickets coming back?

That seem like it'd be the best way to spread out the gift cards. Take $150 off the Departing flight via three $50 gift cards and then $150 off the Return flight via another set of gift cards.

That's exactly how I purchase our summer tickets 2 weeks ago. Purchased 1 ways instead of round trips. Target sells $100 e-cards too.

 

[mjallemand]

That's exactly how I purchase our summer tickets 2 weeks ago. Purchased 1 ways instead of round trips. Target sells $100 e-cards too.

Ah, I'm just going off the opening post's mention of $50 increments.

 

[smraynor]

So can you buy Disney gift cards at Target and use the Redcard?

 

[wink13]

So can you buy Disney gift cards at Target and use the Redcard?

That is correct.

 

[msquoted]

I used this method to purchase airline tickets for the way down to Disney yesterday (our return ticket dates haven't been released yet) and thought I would share my experience here in case it was helpful to anyone else.

I purchased a $800 Target gift e-card from Raise for $760 (they do sometimes have them listed for steeper discounts. I have seen some of the bigger ones up to 7.3% off but, alas, this was the best available at the time). I purchased the card at 1:43p and at 2:50p the ecard was delivered to my Raise account.

I then used that $800 gift card to buy $800 worth of Southwest $100 gift e-cards from Target. I had my RedCard as my default form of payment so the cards only cost $760. I still have $40 left on my target gift card which I will use towards buying more SouthWest gift cards when it is time to buy our return tickets or to get Disney gift cards. Target only allows you to buy 6 SouthWest gift cards per order but I was able to make two separate orders pretty much back-to-back. I purchased the SW gift cards at 3:35p and the ecards where delivered at 4:18p.

Each $100 southwest e-card is separate, so it can be kind of confusing. I guess you could print off each one but I had followed someone else's advice and saved each as a pdf, numbering them (SW1, SW2, SW3, etc.). From the southwest website I searched for a flight for six people (I wanted to make sure to buy tickets from a plane that still had six seats left so we were all on the same flight). Since SW only allows you to use four forms of payment (each individual gift card counts as a separate form of payment) Once I found the flight, I changed the order to two people. The total for the two tickets was $268.20. I used three of my $100. I then repeated the process, the next time using four gift cards (the small gift card with only $31.80 from my last order and then three of the $100) and then again using my last three gift cards (my giftcard that had $63.60 on it from the last order + two $100 gift cards) and then my credit card for the remaining $4.60.

By doing this, I saved $80 off our airline tickets. If I can do about the same for our return flight, that will be at least another $80. Definitely worth it, IMO.

 

[msquoted]

Oh, and I had never used gift cards to buy anything on Target's website while also getting my 5% off before and I did find that a little confusing. After I figured it out though, it wasn't hard. Here are the steps for that:

1. Add the gift card to your cart and then click "checkout"
It will take you to a page that shows you the items in your cart. At this point it will still show the full price.

2. Click "Proceed to checkout"
Now you will be at a page that asks, "how do you want to pay?"

3. Click on Credit/Debit Card and enter your RedCard info Then click "save & continue"
Now you will see that they have applied the 5% discount to your order. But.. you still want to use your gift cards.
On the top there is a bar with a picture of a shopping cart and then "shipping", "billing", "review & place order", "done"

4. Click on "billing"
That will take you back to the page asking "how do you want to pay?"

5.Now click the box next to "Target GiftCard" and enter your GiftCard information and then complete your order.