MilesBuzz! - Are FF point buyers/sellers legit?

Are companies that buy points and sell business/first class tickets legit? Are they allowed to do this?

Not at all! Avoid at all costs. If an airline catches a ticketed passenger at check-in, the ticket becomes invalid, and the frequent flier account used to "pay" for the "free" ticket is closed. And worst off, the ticketed passenger doesn't fly.

These ff brokers mainly advertise cheap first/business class fares.

- Pat

These "cheap" fares ain't that cheap at all!! And as far as getting caught goes then as long as both parties maintain that it was a FREE gift then no airline can cancel anything.

Many of these companies(buying and selling FF miles) have been in business for many years---it would seem that if they were doing something wrong they would have been shut down by now. It is not illegal to sell miles or upgrades--it is just not allowed in the airline rules. It is obvious that the airlines are aware that this happens and in most cases just look the other way.

As long as both parties know something about each other, the chances of being caught are nil. It would seem that both parties (the seller and buyer) would work together and the buyer would know enough about the seller so it would not raise eyebrows at the check in counter.

The average business class ticket being "sold" this way will cost the user around $3000 for a trip across the Atlantic. This is much cheaper than the average published J fare of around $6000-$7000. This is a big savings to the average consumer.

Many of these companies do not charge you for the ticket, but have a very steep delivery charge.

Please do not take the above comments as any indication that I support this activity--but I am not oppposed to it either.