Sam’s Club currently has Southwest Airlines gift cards on sale for 10% off. While this may be old news to some, I headed to Sam’s earlier today to prepare for the upcoming
Snowmageddon that is heading for the Austin area. While there, I noticed a large Southwest gift card display offering $500 gift cards for $449.
This seems like a great deal if you have upcoming travel planned with the airline but it does come at an opportunity cost. If you have credit cards, like the American Express Platinum Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve, which earn 5x points on airfare, you’re missing out on those earnings you’d receive by booking directly with the airline.
American Express Membership Rewards points are valued at roughly two cents apiece. Therefore, on a $500 booking, you’d earn roughly $50 worth of AmEx points. That would essentially make this purchase a wash.
However, even at 1x point per dollar, you’d earn roughly $9 worth of Membership Rewards points by purchasing one of these gift cards from Sam’s. That may move the needle and make this purchase worthwhile for some.
I didn’t leave with a cart full of gift cards for a couple of reasons, first, I don’t have any upcoming plans to fly Southwest and, second, I place outsized value on Membership Rewards points as I find they’re easy to redeem for cheap, transatlantic Business Class flights.
Summary
Sam’s Club is currently selling Southwest Airlines gift cards for 10% off with $500 gift cards on sale for $449. While this may not make sense for everyone, if you fly Southwest often and aren’t looking to maximize your transferrable points balances, this could be a great option for some.
