Leave it to Costco to have another Hawaii deal that deserves mention. The big-box store is now selling Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines gift certificates. The good news about these is that they will save you 10% on any fare. With earlier this week’s Hawaii deals in mind, a $76 airfare would have been just $68 if purchased with a gift card.
1. Costco Alaska Airlines Giftcard. The good news here is that you don’t need to go anywhere beyond your phone or computer to take advantage of this. It can all be purchased then redeemed online. Costco says that “emails are normally delivered within the hour to the email address you have entered.”
2. Costco Southwest Airlines Giftcard. As with the Hawaiian gift card, Southwest’s card is available for purchase and redemption online. Costco also says about the Southwest cards that “emails are normally delivered within the hour to the email address you have entered.”
3. Costco Hawaiian Airlines Giftcard. The Hawaiian Airlines gift card previously offered by Costco is not available at this time. We have seen them in the store itself recently, so they could either be discontinued or only be available for in-store purchase.
Here’s how we plan to use these.
First, find the flights that you intend to buy. There’s no reason to lock up money with an airline if you can’t use it right away. Then head over to costco.com and purchase the gift card. Wait until the email with the gift card voucher arrives and then immediately purchase the airfare desired.
Please let us know if you have purchased Costco gift cards for Hawaii or intend to.
With careful planning, these appear to be a no-brainer way to save 10% on Hawaii flights or those to other destinations these airlines serve.
Updated 2/17/22.
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Richard G says
I bought eight Hawaiian air gift cards and one Southwest gift card when they were on sale a few weeks ago. The Hawaiian air gift cards went down to $439.99. Also, keep in mind if you use your Costco visa and are an executive membe,r you will be getting back an additional 4% from your rebates. What a deal!
Sheri S says
I have used the Alaska ones several times. Word to the wise, don’t download multiple certificates into your wallet. 2 reasons, Alaska restricts what you can use your wallet for (read the fine print) but doesn’t restrict gift certificates and secondly, the wallet only belongs to one person so other family members can’t use it to purchase tickets (ie. Companion fares are person specific).
Great deal though.
Patrice P says
Thank you for this info. In terms of expiration date of the gift cards, did you see anything about this? Maybe I missed something but I could not find anything indicating expiration date when I looked at the page you included the link for. Thanks for clarifying.
Beat of Hawaii says
Hi Patrice.
We aren’t aware of any expiration date on these. Perhaps someone else can comment.
Aloha.
Dee Dee says
Per the Federal credit card act (CARD) gift certificates can’t expire for five years. And they can’t charge any fees for non-usage for one year from purchase, at which point they may if it’s clearly spelled out in the terms and conditions. Some states have stricter laws, though. Not sure if any of the airlines have the fees or not, but it’s worth checking out before purchase if not planning to use it right away.
Richard G says
I bought five Hawaiian Air gift cards($2500) yesterday. I received my email with the gift cards in just a couple of minutes after completing my purchase. I paid for my cards with my Costco visa. I’m assuming that I will get back an additional 2% or 3% if they counted as travel, on the visa. I should also get 2% back on my purchase with my Costco membership rebate. Not a bad deal. I’m thinking of buying another five cards.