[Originally posted 8/12/16. Reposting on 10/27/16 since there are just a few days left. Don’t leave it for the last day since the charge might not post in time.]
There’s currently a targeted Amex Offer to get $50 off $300 on airfare. I didn’t have it on any of my primary cards but found it on some authorized user cards.
Just about every commenter there on the original post wondered whether buying airline gift cards will work to trigger the Amex Offer credit. So I tried it out.
- Southwest – worked
- American Airlines – worked
- Delta Airlines – worked
- United Airlines – no longer sells gift cards online
- United TravelBank – works
- Alaska Airlines – works
After each purchase, I got an instant confirmation email from Amex.  Although I haven’t yet gotten the actual statement credit, I’m confident it will come through.
The terms of the Amex Offer don’t exclude gift cards, and there’s nothing surprising about these results. The only reason to think it might not work would be if gift cards are processed differently at checkout. In the case of these three airlines, it worked like a charm.
Millionmilesecrets ran similar tests to see which airline gift cards work to get Barclay Arrival redemption. He concludes the same that Southwest, Delta, and American count as a travel redemption. On the other hand, he found that Alaska and Jetblue do not work for travel redemption on the Arrival. I’d guess that for our purposes the same would hold true, and Alaska and Jetblue won’t work to trigger the Amex Offer credit.
If anyone has additional data points, please let us know in the comments.
There’s also an Amex Offer to get $200 off $1000 on Delta. If you buy $1000 in Delta gift cards, it should work to trigger the offer credit. And if you have the Delta offer and the airline offer on the same card, you should get both credits for the $1000 in gift cards for a total of $250 off.
At this time, it might not make sense to buy up gift cards since there’s still a few months until the October 31 expiration of this offer, and there’s still time to use these offers organically. Still useful to keep in mind. We’ll try to repost this information when the deadline comes closer, hopefully with some additional data points from readers as to which other airlines work and which don’t.
The gift cards themselves also came via email within a few minutes of the purchase. It’s worth noting, however, that you can’t use an American gift card for 72-hours from issuance. Also good to know that you can use up to 8 American gift cards, 3 or 4 Southwest gift cards, and 3 Delta gift cards per transaction.
See also these related posts:
Would amex take back the credit if I book a refundable ticket with southwest and canceling it after a couple of weeks ?
likely yes. this happened to me with amex offer for amtrak. a direct refund of the same amount months later triggered a clawback.
I have this $300/50 back on 5 cards, 4 of the same 5 also have the Virgin Atlantic $1000/200 back. Will this stack with a VA gift card? And can VA gift cards be used with VX (Virgin America)?
Not sure if the Amex Offers work on VA gift card. If they do, they should stack.
How do you check offers for AU card? Do you create a new account for them? Also are the card numbers same for AU cards?
Amex issues unique numbers for AU cards. To get offers on AU cards you can create a separate login for them or you can link the card to Twitter to get a smaller number of offers.
I have an offer for 80 as a statement credit if I spend 500 on a hotel. The terms don’t state anything about gift cards, so do you think it would work too?
I think that one is for Amex Travel?
Did I read your post right that you can get amex offers as an authorized user?
Yes. This is not new.
Does anyone know if it works on amazon gift cards via United? (Is this still possible through the app?)
MPX not working
Hey William/DoC… I assume credit for MPX still hasn’t posted? Please post something if the status changes… Since it runs till the end of October, we have time for new information…
Thanks.
Still not working
Bought $300 American Airlines gift card
As soon as completed god Txt from Amex Express saying completed offer of $300 for Airlines and would be receiving $50
I saw it on two of my cards earlier today on mobile, then when I went home to activate the offers and make the purchases, the deal no longer shows up on mobile or desktop. Dead?
I thought that I was delirious/mistaken but the exact same thing happened to me yesterday!
same here… saw it yesterday but didnt add the offer to my card at that time
now i went back to look again, it has disappeared.
i think amex is being sneaky?!
This is why you gotta add these offers quickly, they are usually restricted by numbers and as this was a popular offer I guess they reached their maximum.
i see. didnt know there’s a quote. learnt a lesson!
Alaska gift certificate also works
Thanks, I’ll add that.
A bit surprising.
In the text you say MMS found Alaska didn’t work for Arrival so probably won’t work, but in DP and comments it did work as I understand it?
Can you make $300+ in purchases with different airlines or does the $300+ need to be with one airline? Can I buy 3 $100 GCs from 3 different airlines?
The terms sound to me that the $300 is cumulative, and that it can be combined across airlines. But I’m not 100% positive.