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The American Airlines Shopping Portal is doubling its normal payout on GiftCards.com to 2 miles/points per dollar on up to $2000 in spend. There is an additional, stackable, 500 mile bonus on purchases through the portal of $200+. These 500 miles will not create loyalty points towards elite status, but the 2x miles/dollar will.
The Deal
- American Airlines shopping portal offering 2x miles on Giftcards.com purchases.
- Direct link to offer.
Key Terms
- If using Safari 12, go to your browser settings and disable the ‘Prevent Cross-Site Tracking’ setting before clicking through the portal for proper tracking to occur.
- Orders over $2,000.00 max per month per customer are not eligible.
- Not eligible on purchases made with coupon or discount codes that are not found on this site.
- 500 miles bonus expires 2/17.
Quick Thoughts
The largest Visa Gift Card that can be purchased through GiftCards.com is $250 and there is a $4.95 fee per card. Shipping is $8 per order. I bought 7 cards with my Hyatt Business Card and the total came out to just over $1800. I’ll receive 4100 redeemable AA miles, 3600 Loyalty Points and 1800 Hyatt Points. I value the Hyatt Points at about $27 and the 500 bonus AA miles at ~$5 for a total of $32. Using my (generous) math, that puts me at a $18 cost for 3600 AA miles/points or .5 cents per point.
Although the terms of the 500 mile bonus offer exclude gift card purchases, that doesn’t seem to apply to Giftcards.com, so you should get the 500 miles bonus. Note that the cards are issued by Metabank. Liquidation has become trickier for many with these cards, so take that into account when deciding whether or not to pull the trigger.
(h/t: GC Galore)
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Not good: https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/t1tmau/manufactured_spending_weekly_thread_week_of/hyrkpc8/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
I had to open a ticket with customer service on the portal, but miles posted today.
K, Thanks for the follow-up
Two (and the only two) transactions in Jan was clawed back on Feb 28. A new user to use this merchant and not exceed $2000 monthly limit on AA portal. Order is purchasing the third party gift card. I remember there is another similar DP somewhere around…
How long do these normally take to track on the AA portal? I’ve received the cards but i’m still not seeing the miles track on the portal.
Business Rewards cards have a limit of $500 and a fee of only $6.95.
That’s better than $10 in fees on two $250 personal GCs.
Do the Business Rewards cards qualify?
Sounds like a worthwhile experiment if you’re willing to go for it
I don’t have any experience with the Business Rewards cards and didn’t realize that they have a larger limit. It seems to be serviced by the same site, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t count up to the $2000 limit. That’s a much better deal if it does work!
They require SSN/tax ID for business cards, so I went the personal card route.
The fee schedule suggests that $250 visa gift cards have a $4.95 fee but whichever kind I add to my card it is charging me $5.95. Which card did you buy, Tim?
Yeah I’m seeing a $5.95 fee too (S&H is also $8.75)…they’re really nickle & diming us to death
You guys are both right. It shows the $4.95 fee, but when I look back at my order, it charged me $5.95 and I never even noticed. I’m going to give them a call tomorrow and see what’s up (don’t hold your breath 🙂 )
@Tim / Larry – Did either of you guys receive your points from the AA portal yet?
My store visit tracked, but haven’t seen it changed to a purchase, nor have miles been awarded. Tomorrow I’ll be able to start a ticket, and will if I still haven’t received anything.
Understood, thx
Would appreciate it if you could update the post once the miles post
been a while since I ordered from them – does a certain CC issuer with a RAT team award points on these transactions nowadays?
I thought it was a hard no, but now I see a couple of DP for folks that say they did receive points. I’d personally err on the side of caution and try another bank, but if you do, let us know what happens.
I ended up just using a different card. Thanks for the reply though
Any data points on the liquidation issue beyond “trickier”?
Geez and I thought that was pleasantly mysterious 🙂
Many people have found their local Wal-Mart is only able to do $99 swipes and there have been problems with some supermarkets as well.
Thanks for the reply & post Tim.
I tried to purchase virtual cards twice & both transactions were immediately flagged for fraud & cancelled. One transaction was cancelled before setting up an account with the site & one was cancelled after. Ended up settling for two physical cards on two different transactions – delivery via snail mail. Used Amex so we will see if I get MR points or if it counts toward my renewal spend. Ill be happy either way. Cheaper & easier than giving away wine & cancelling subscriptions.
Thanks for pointing out that it worked for physical cards. They did the same to me. Had tons of problems checking out (invalid CC number, order cannot be processed, etc.). When my order finally went through, they immediately canceled it.
Was able to do seven $250 GCs and one $194 GC. Total after fees, shipping, and tax was $1999.35.