is it illegal to hire someone to fly under your name?
 

this would make a nifty money-making operation for your frequent flying friends. i wonder if they can book a ticket in their name, i get a refundable ticket and go through security. cancel the refundable ticket and fly with my friend's ticket.

thoughts?

Really, really bad idea... and yes, illegal.

and... I am pretty sure the airline would close your account and confiscate your miles if they ever caught you.

and you would get home how?

Do the same thing on the return...

On a related note, why don't airlines allow you to purchase a ticket, not fly and get the miles? This would benefit the airlines because they then could either resell the ticket (this could be built into the agreement if the person does not fly) or fly without the added weight of the person and his/her baggage.

Nevermind - missed that the person on the ticket would never show ID... not sure how well that will work....

It's certainly against airline rules, but as far as illegality is concerned, no posters have yet cited any law that would be broken.

I've often wondered the same thing. I'm not so sure that it's illegal, it might breach their contract of carriage, but you're not using any fake identification to get past airport screening. I recall seeing an ebay listing offering this same sort of service.

Lets see. someone get caught flying with a ticket in another person's name. do you know how the CIA treat suspected terrorist?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13739_3-9769089-46.html

It is not illegal if that person has your consent to fly domestically since that person is not impersonating you to cross borders. A written statement endorsed a notary. However, TSA may decide to nit pick and find some charges to place onto that person if they have a tip-off.

I know that some airlines are ok with such things, normally those that have an unfavourable earn/burn ratio. But its not something that i would discussed openly until stricter controls are in place to kick out the airline revenue protection reps.

OK, I'll bite. 18 U.S.C. Section 1343 ("wire fraud"):

"Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both."

You can't make an airline reservation without making or (causing to be made) some kind of wire communication. Frequent flyer miles are property, and obtaining credit for miles flown by others violates the statute by imposing liability on the airline that it would not otherwise have borne. There are quite a few cases discussing this issue in various contexts; here is just one: US v. Mullins.

The facts of this case do not match your hypothetical exactly, but the principles apply. The scheme you describe could certainly be prosecuted as wire fraud.

............

I great idea in theory. As you can obtain miles, or have an alibi if you murder someone, etc. HAHA

However, the plan fails if your flight is detoured or emergency situation and everyone needs to recheck into security area. While this is infrequent it can happen with summer storms, mechanical difficulties, etc. so your flight from DFW to ORD is landing in ST. Louis and must show ID to check in to different aircraft.