Updated on September 20, 2017
How To Buy American Airline Gift Cards In New Jersey
UPDATE: 9/11/17, Almost 2 years later, I tried this again and the system allowed a purchase with a NJ address to go through. Is it working for you too?
Try buying an American Airline gift card with a billing address in NJ and you will get this lovely error message:
Based on recent Gift Card-related legislative action in the State of New Jersey that requires sellers of such products to report voluminous documentation with regard to our customers, we have regrettably elected to no longer sell or deliver Gift Cards to individuals in the State of New Jersey. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Your credit card has not been charged.
American Airlines has chosen to avoid all the extra paperwork of selling gift cards in NJ by simply not selling them to people in NJ.
Whether you just wanted to buy a gift card as a gift or to have it reimbursed by your American Express Platinum Card ($200 Airline fee credit) or Gold Premier Rewards Card ($100 Airline fee credit), there is a way to solve this frustrating problem. As someone suggested on Flyertalk, you could move… or just follow the easy steps below.
THE WORKAROUND: CHANGE YOUR BILLING ADDRESS
The workaround is changing your billing address temporarily with American Express. For example, if you work in NYC, you can use your New York City address. It's only temporary but make sure your bill is not being sent during this time. The shipping address will also be your temporary address but you will be buying a virtual gift card so nothing will be mailed to you. Here are two options:
- Call 800-492-8468 (Amex Platinum) and ask them to do a temporary billing address change. It can be for as little as 1 day and then it will revert back automatically.
- Change it yourself at www.americanexpress.com. Click ‘Account Profile' and edit your address. Put your order in and then change it back.
SUCCESS!
Option #3 (YMMV): The Amex rep said I could add the non-NJ address as an alternate shipping address and it should work. Maybe I didn't wait long enough but it didn't work for me until I changed the billing address.
And reimbursed a few days later…
ALTERNATIVE – DISCOUNTED GIFT CARDS
NOTE: This will not help you if you are trying to use the Amex $200 Airline Fee Credit!
Another option is to buy gift cards through a gift card marketplace like Raise.com (see my post here) or GiftCardGranny.com. However, I would only do this is the savings is significant. A small 5-7% savings on a $100 gift card where you might have problem would be a total waste of time. I'd rather see you spend that time earning or burning your miles and points!
RELATED:
- Flyertalk Forum: NJ resident trying to buy AA gift card
- TheRewardBoss: Amex Platinum $200 Gift Card Reimbursement STILL Alive (Even For Prior Purchases)
Buy AA gift cards at discount. giftcardgranny.com Sign up.
Thanks Jerry. Added to the post, however, keep in mind this won’t work for the Amex Airline fee credit. Also, I wouldn’t recommend anyone buying an airline gift card unless the savings is significant.
Also factor in that credit card protections and benefits would not apply if using a gift card.
True. I often buy travel insurance to make sure I have the coverage I need for an entire trip. It’s cheap and simplifies things. For short simple trips, I usually get the Amex insurance which triggers when I charge a flight paid by cash or awards. I would imagine a flight partly paid by gift card would also trigger the insurance, but fully paid by gift card would not.
The discount AA gift card is for NJ residents (this topic) or for BIG fares where 5% discount is a significant savings. I buy discount gift cards for a lot of things. Dining, department stores, and more. Like buying money at a discount.
I see they list 48 x $100 AA gift cards so that’s more than anyone would need. I could see someone potentially buying 10 of these and saving $55. Too bad they don’t list bigger amounts. I could use some discount Qantas gift cards.
Yes, giftcardgranny.com does not have Qantas or Air New Zealand (for flights to Autralia) gift cards. Here is a wild one. Qantas is Oneworld. Ask if you can buy tickets with AA gift cards (bought at discount, of course.) or any loaded debit/PIN cards.