Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is happening now! Follow us as Greg, Nick, and Stephen compete to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines before November 23rd. Who will complete the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
Earlier this week, we reported on the fact that the American Airlines eShopping portal is offering 3x miles (and therefore 3x Loyalty Points) at GiftCards.com. Separately, we reported a deal to get 5% off of Virtual Visa Gift Cards at GiftCards.com with a coupon code. At the time when we reported it, the coupon code was not showing up on the portal and therefore we assumed you wouldn’t get miles / Loyalty Points. However, code SPRING22 showed up on the portal yesterday and is good for the same 5% off on virtual Visa Gift Cards through 3/25/22, so this should be an easy way to pick up some Loyalty Points up to the monthly cap.
See this post for more info on the virtual Visa Gift Card sale. The short story is that you can buy 3 Virtual Visa Gift Cards loaded with $250 each for a total of just over $730 with tax (making $20 appear out of thin air). You should end up earning 3x on $712.50 for a total of 2,137.50 American Airlines miles / Loyalty Points.
Keep in mind that you can earn portal rewards on up to $2,000 in orders per month at GiftCards.com. I intended to place an order the other day and dragged my heels, but now I’ll place an order for me and I’ll have my wife also place an order through my AAdvantage eShopping account so I should earn a total of 4,275 miles and Loyalty Points and get a total of $1500 in virtual Visa Gift Cards for $1460. I typically use gift cards like these to make insurance payments. My monthly insurance bills add up to a bit more than that actually, so this is an easy $40 savings for me and a chance to pick up easy Loyalty Points in the quest to reach Platinum Pro status without flying.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Checking in now that it’s many months later. Did people get the 3x loyalty points on these gift card purchases?
Yes, but had to open a ticket.
Anyone else’s order NOT showing any amount spent under “Recent Store Visits”? I will go ahead and email AA, it’s been over a month now.
I’m writing to customer service right now. I also don’t have the miles posted yet.
I don’t have them either
I filled out the form and AA said that I exceeded $2,000/month. I explained to them that it isn’t possible, let’s see what they’ll say back.
same! it definitely tracked and then it mysteriously disappeared… I wrote to customer service, we will see what they come back with…
Even though my March order has not posted in portal, I was able (after a few days of issues saying could not order) to order another set of gift cards at 3X. Due to credit card used, the cost for cards is washed out by the $$ back so this is a great way to get loyality points, IF they eve post to AA portal and then AA account.
I am getting super frustrated with AA portal. I did a transaction that clearly shows in their portal but after 14 days has not posted. If AA is going to do this loyalty program this way they should commit to it. Also my concern as we reach end of term for loyalty point accrual is not getting to status level due to a technicality on their side. Therefore if I am to continue I would want to be across the finish line a good month or two before the next cycle and also hope they doing find a reason to claw back anything near the end of term. Support frustrating!!
Cool process. I have my first virtual gift cards. Put them towards a Chase SUB. Now I just have to google a bunch to figure out what to do with them.
Quick question, I placed my 2 orders on Friday, 3/11, one with the SPRING22 order and another using SPRINGVIP (I know I might not be credited for but it was worth the try). Both orders were placed through the AA portal and I used a AA issued credit card. I am in receipt of all 6 giftcards but I didn’t see my orders track. Is this normal ? How do I know if my orders tracked or if I will be credited? Please let me know what you guys think. Thanks !
I am on the same boat. Ordered this morning and got giftcards through email. There is a click history on aa portal. But it does not show any amount. Normally that means they did not track it. Should I be worried?
I finally placed orders on Saturday and they show up under shopping trips with the amounts I spent. No pending miles yet, but I never really expect this stuff to show up for a month or two so I don’t usually worry about it before that much time has elapsed. I know that many portals have gotten faster, but I guess got into portals years ago and the way it long worked you didn’t know for 30-90 days whether or not the points were coming because the portal didn’t make any promises until they knew they got paid by the merchant. These days, I know that many portals show the tracking information quickly, I just don’t usually look for it right away.
I can’t imagine that we won’t see the miles for orders placed with SPRING22 (up to $2K in cards per month). Whether or not SPRINGVIP will pay out miles is anyone’s guess.
Normally they would show up under recent store visits. And there will be total amount spent. Also it will send me an email. But this time total amount spent is blank. Also I did not get email. This happened couple of times before when it’s not tracked from other shopping. I had to email them to investigate after 15 days. I think something is wrong here.
Same here. It is very frustrating! I used a AA card when I could have used my AMEX business Hilton credit card to hit my SUB. The things we do in the name of points and miles for the love of travel status! lol
I am expecting 1,500AA miles from credit card spend and at least another 2,250 miles in loyalty points (I could potentially earn another 2,250 miles from my other code SPRINGVIP) and the 1,000 AA bonus miles. Fingers crossed !
I also purchased on Saturday and received my virtual Visa giftcards immediately. My purchase (at the pre 5% discount amount) is showing on the AA shopping portal on the “Recent store visits” tab but not on the “Recent transactions” tab. I feel confident that my transaction is tracking but less confident that I ultimately will receive (and/or AA will not claw back) regular shopping portal points, bonus points for the promotion ending March 14, and/or loyalty points for this, but I am fine with the ~$20 profit and finishing my Venture X spend requirement.
Another purchase I made at a different retailer on the same day showed up on “Recent transactions” as pending by Sunday morning, so it seems like both the retailer and the portal impact the timing of points being awarded.
Broke down and got myself a CapOne Venture X (and will downgrade the Ritz for a year to see if CapOne is better) and have a 10K spend to meet. Does CapOne RAT like Amex?
Same question. I heard someone imply that some MSing is OK for CapOne, but don’t have a firm grasp on how much they would tolerate when working for a SUB
Could I buy one $250 card, use that to buy another, then use that to buy another? My cost would be $230 or so for one $250 card.
Genius if it works lol
I tried to buy a Petco card on giftcards.com with their own virtual Visa and it was not accepted.
Bought $750 worth, promo applied and 3x notice came up. Used a Freedom Unlimited that I use often. “Cards” came in a few minutes. So far, so good. My insurance company that takes any credit card did not accept it. I tried to buy a physical gift card at Walmart.com and it also declined. I was able to reload balance at amazon. Where have you guys been able to use these cards?
I tried to buy these visa gift cards through giftcards.com and it didn’t work. Went through the AAdvantage portal, put three $250 visa cards in the cart, applied SPRING22, and placed the order. Got an email immediately saying that giftcards.com had my order. But then got a followup email saying that the credit card had been declined by the issuer and I should go back and reorder with another credit card. OK, I should absolutely not have been declined at that dollar amount. But I retraced my steps and ordered ONE $250 visa card with another credit card. Same thing happened, with giftcards.com sending me an email that the issuer had declined my card. What a waste of time.
What cards were getting declined?
Two different Citi mastercards.
The same thing happened to me for years. I placed one successful order and then they canceled all of my orders for years. Couldn’t get an order through for anyone else with my address either. Then one day, I tried and it worked again. I think you can perhaps try to reach out to their customer service.
11-Mar: $250 on citi MC just to test it out / result was g2g
11-Mar: $750 on same citi MC immediately following success of firsr order / result was g2g
11-Mar: tried $500 on same citi MC immediately following success of 2nd order (and after seeing the $2k/mo cap on AA) / result was 1) order confirmation email, 2) notice of $1 charge on citi MC (same as all other trans), 3) card declined email.
Typically I get a fraud notice from citi if they decline my card. So after seeing other people’s responses that giftcards.com might enforce hard caps on # of trans or amounts, I decided to let it cool off.
13-Mar: $250 on same citi MC as all other trans / result was g2g
13-Mar: $500 on same citi MC following success of new order / result g2g
I stopped here as AA seems to include the BEFORE discount price as total spent on giftcards.com. which after 7x trans at $250, put me close enough to the $2k cap.
Browser: chrome with ad block paused
VPN used: none
OK, I screwed up. I did not get a message from citi about the charge(s) being declined, but just now when I logged into my account I see that citi actually DID decline them. I should have checked that before I wrote my post. In any event, I checked the block telling citi I did recognize the charges and I will try giftcards.com again.
And now giftcards.com has cancelled my third order for “security” reasons. Oh well. Last post on this topic!
In you article you say the 5% off on virtual visa gift cards is God through 2/25/22.
Is that a typo?
Yes, that was a typo. Fixed, thanks.
I cannot get the code to apply.
Also AA Shopping has a 1k mile bonus offer if you spend $300 on the portal by 3/14. Won’t get loyalty points, but hey — free miles is free miles.
Will this count? From the fine print: “Qualifying purchases” do not include returns, cancellations, shipping and handling, taxes, gift card or other cash equivalent purchases, and certain products that are not eligible for bonus miles”
Also wondering if BofA’s online category includes GC.com
Good point. Maybe not — I just don’t know if that exclusion applies to gc.com, since that’s all they sell are gift cards. I’ll find out soon when my purchase posts.
The points & bonus posted for my 3x last week.
What is the impact of the fee?
Not sure I understand what you mean. $750 in gift cards costs about $730 all-in with shipping / fees.
Is it safe to use your Capital One Venture X card to hit minimum spent?
If I tell you yes and they shut you down will you blame me?
We’ve not heard of that being an issue. We purchased GCs during min spend without issue and have on other C1 cards before. But obviously YMMV.
Thank you. I would NEVER blame you,Greg or Tim for anything!!!!!LOL