PayPal to meet minimum spend

[Bikesy]

I'm planning to go to Alaska this summer to visit family.  I signed up for the AA Citi card with a 50,000 mile sign up bonus which is enough for 2 round trip tickets (normally cost $6-700 a piece!).  Minimum spend is $3,000 in 3 months.  Assuming I need to get the bonus asap so we can get everything booked could I just send $3,000 to a friend via PayPal, earmark it as goods and services, and have him write me a check for the amount?  Would this count as a purchase toward my minimum?  I'm aware there will be a 3% transaction cost, but I'm more than willing to pay $90 to get the miles quickly and at a minimum hassle.

On a side note...I'll be getting free air fare and selling the other ticket to my buddy who's also going on the trip.  I'm currently in the process of completing the minimum spend on a Barclays card that will net me another $450 towards the trip.  With these two card hacks I'll be going on a 10 day fishing trip to Alaska for around $500.  Not too shabby considering my friends are all paying $2,000!

[ken]

Using those intro offers is a great plan to fund your trip but there is no need to use Pay Pal. Just buy some gift certificates for places that you will be shopping at in the near term anyway (your local gas station, grocery stores, walmart, etc.) You could even buy gift certificates for your buddy for similar places and have him write you a check in return. No need to pay a 3% transaction fee.

[KevDolan]

Recently, I was in a grocery store in the suburbs of Kansas City, and there was a "no credit cards accepted" policy for purchasing gift cards. They would accept a debit charge but not a credit charge. Has anybody else seen this trend? My guess is that the credit companies are catching on and limiting gift card purchases.

I don't know if the paypal hack would work. If you try it, please update this post. It would be helpful to know if this would work for points.

[milesdividendmd]

There is a better PayPal hack.  It is better than free. 

Try this.

http://www.milesdividendmd.com/friend-for-hire/

AZ

[Bikesy]

Using those intro offers is a great plan to fund your trip but there is no need to use Pay Pal. Just buy some gift certificates for places that you will be shopping at in the near term anyway (your local gas station, grocery stores, walmart, etc.) You could even buy gift certificates for your buddy for similar places and have him write you a check in return. No need to pay a 3% transaction fee.

My only concern is how long it might take me to unload 3k worth of various gift cards.

MD... Thanks for the PayPal hack.  I'll definitely look into that.