Save money by buying airline gift cards at the grocery store
Grocery stores sell airline gift cards at full price but, there are ways to get a pretty substantial discount.
Image: The Window Flyer
ADVERTISEMENT
Deal hunters and couponing aficionados will be pleased to know that they can save money on airfare for their next vacation by purchasing an airline gift card at their local grocery store.
You’ve probably seen the gift card rack at the store when you buy groceries.
Retail stores usually sell gift cards at full retail price (i.e. a $50 gift card is sold for $50). But did you know, there are ways you can bring down the effective price and save money on those gift cards?
Sounds useful, right? Especially for plane tickets which can make up a large chunk of vacation expenses, even more so for families. Here’s a quick how-to guide on saving on airfare by buying an airline gift card on your next grocery trip!
Saving money on airline gift cards at the grocery store
1) Find the gift card rack
The first step is to find the gift card rack at your grocery store. These are usually located in the front of the store near the checkout counters.
Different stores carry cards for different brands, so availability may vary depending on where you are. The most common gift cards sold at grocery stores are for Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
2) Look out for your grocery store’s promotional coupons on gift cards
The second step is to check for any promotional offers or coupons on gift cards.
Pretty much every major grocery store chain such as Kroger and Safeway has a fuel rewards program. Rack up enough points, and you can get some pretty good savings on gas. To help bolster their fuel business, these chains often offer bonus fuel points for gift card purchases. Kroger brands frequently run 4x fuel point promos for gift cards that can be activated by adding a digital coupon to your loyalty account.
These offers can save you a lot on gas (or airfare, depending on how you look at it). During a 4x promo, if you buy a $250 gift card for Southwest, which will easily cover most if not all of the cost of a plane ticket, you would earn 1000 points. Those 1000 points would be good for a $1/gallon discount on gas. Therefore, if your car holds 15 gallons, your total savings from the gift card purchase would be $15, or about 6%.
3) Buy your groceries with a credit card that offers good rewards or cash back
Cash back and rewards credit cards are everywhere. Most offer about 1% to 2% cash back or 1 to 2 airline miles on your purchases. Some of the better ones, such as American Express’ Blue Cash Preferred card offers 6% cash back on grocery store purchases.
Most credit card companies don’t know the exact content of your purchases, especially if they are made in-store, so an airline gift card purchased at a grocery store will show up as grocery purchase.
So if you play your cards right (no pun intended) you could easily save 12% just buy purchasing an airline gift card at the grocery store.
American Express' Blue Cash Preferred Card offers 6% cash back on grocery purchases.
Image: Courtesy American Express
Some other ways to save on airfare
Grocery stores are convenient, but are not always the best deal.
Can you save up to 20% on airfare with the grocery store strategy? Yes, you can. Find out here.
Costco sells discounted airline gift cards, typically at 10% off. But you can save up to 14% with additional discounts. Find out more here.
Sam’s Club, similar to Costco, sells airline gift cards at a discount as well, though the deals are not as good. Read about that here.
Amazon sells gift cards at full price, but you can get them up to 5% off. Find out here.
Related Content
