Looking to purchase FF Miles
 

I'm looking to purchase 1MM FF miles on any major domestic US airline. Any suggestions on the most economical way to do this? Also - any recomendations of reputable mileage-brokers would be appreciated.

all on 1 airline?....by when?

yes - all on 1 airline. Purchase time is < 3 weeks.

wow....that might cost you more than the actual flights if you were to make them ....no?

Good point - that's entirely possible. However, for my particular situation I need 1MM (transferable) miles, not flight coupons/tickets.

wow. that's a lot of miles to buy. Obviously you can buy a small amount directly from the airlines.

Most airlines limit FF mileage purchases to approx. 50k per year. Amex limits Membership Rewards point sales to 500k/year, so that would be a more reasonable option (2 seperate purchases with Amex) - however Amex charges a huge premium ($0.025/point) if making this transaction directly with them. This is why I've posted here looking for leads/info on a direct purchase from another source (private person or mileage broker).

That is against the law in some places. And you run the risk that you pay the money and then you don't get anything because the airline takes the miles away.

Against the law? Or against the terms of a particular FF program? Thanks for bringing this up - I wasn't familiar with any legal issues surrounding FF mileage. Are you aware of any cases where someone was charged for trading (either buying or selling) in FF mileage. My understanding was that this was an 'unregulated' industry.
Please advise.

A friend can transfer you up 100K AA miles from their account, and it'll cost you about $1200 in fees.

really?! well - then I guess I'm looking for 10 new friends :-) I couldn't find any info on this 100k transfer allowance on the AA website. Is this transfer allowance anecdotal or did I just miss the info in the fine print?

AA miles would be fine. Are the fees you mentioned payable to AA?

It's referred to as "sharing" miles, and the cost quoted is payable to AA. I'm sure your new "friends" would expect you to compensate them also -- which is technically against the T&C's of the AA program.

Amex is a good deal. If you do 10 transfers on AA for $1200 in fees to AA, you still have to give your "friends" something for the miles. With 1.5 cpm being pretty common you will get miles then @ 2.7 cmp.

I gotta be nosy and ask why you need so many miles, so quickly.

Your best bet would be to find a friend who has 1M+ AMEX points and is willing to do you a favor. These AMEX points can be transferred to a number of airline programs. Ofcourse, it is very likely that you may have to return the favor too. :) ^