Well this is a welcome change for the better! Back on 24 June last year I put up a rookie post describing what to do if you happen to find yourself holding a bunch of Delta eGift cards and how to check the balance on them (since there is still no way to store your gift card number in your “My Delta” on Delta.com). Or maybe, due to say some 4x fuel points promotion (or other deal where you buy a bunch of gift cards), you have a bunch of physical cards to spend. Or perhaps had some store promotion with “Amex Offers for You” that result in 10 or 20% savings off list price you could not pass up. But then the problem is spending them all that you purchased so cheaply.
In the post linked above I showed you how Delta only allows 3 gift cards plus once credit card per order on Delta.com. Sad to say THAT has not changed yet so if you want to use them that way you still have to apply the workarounds I described. But is there a better way to avoid many one-way tickets and split reservations that can impact your +1 upgrade chances? Yep! Take a look:
“Up to 3 gift cards can be redeemed per transaction on delta.com. If you wish to redeem more than 3 cards for a single purchase, please call 1-800-221-1212 and a Reservations Specialist will be able to assist you.” – from Delta.com (bold mine)
If we look at the internet way back machine for updates to this page on Delta.com after 24 June 2018 (interesting, right?) we see the above wording has been added to the “FAQs” page on Delta.com about redeeming gift cards.
So is there a limit to this change? Can we call and say use a massive dozen or two gift cards combined on one single reservation for you and your family? Take a look at what FlyerTalk user robe0341 posted on the chat board:
“I was just able to use 26 Delta gift cards in a single transaction (mostly $50). It did take close to 2 hours to process.” – robe0341 on FlyerTalk (bold mine)
WoW – you just gotta love travel enthusiasts who push things to the limit! Another user in the same Flyertalk thread mentioned they went to the airport at the Delta ticket counter and were able to use many, many gift cards as well.
Bottom line this is great news for so many of us who end up each year buying all kinds of greatly discounted Delta gift cards to use buying tickets. Sure it would be nice if Delta IT could simply do what phone and airport reps can do at their end, but at least this is an improvement over the old fixed 3 cards and that is it rule! – René
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YES! Finally. Thank you, Rene.
Renee, can you elaborate on “greatly discounted Delta gift cards”? Where does one find these?
@Bob – See linked posts. There are times Amex offers you say 10 or 20% off if you buy things at Lowes. They sell Delta gift cards on the rack. There are endless deals if you take the time to study up.
I am just confused about why someone would really want to purchase Delta gift cards? If you indicated where there are specials where someone can save 10% etc. I guess if you are using them for a $1000 fare you save $100? Then you need to use 20 cards?
@Yamas – There are large value cards you can buy. If you can say save 10-20% and get say $35 off gas via fuel points and earn 3x points from a grocery store buy of the gift cards you can see how the numbers can add up to HUGE savings.
Awesome. Back to Lowe’s for 10% off:)
Great news! Thanks for the heads up.
Not all of the phone reps seem to know this is possible. Last month I called in to use 4 gift cards on a reservation and the agent said it was impossible. Hung up, called again and the next agent had no problem applying the cards.