Gifting awards is fine. Actually when in Chile I found out that LanChile does not allow gifting of awards, even to a spouse, each person must accumulate enough miles in his own account to redeem for himself. So all you idiots out there who have to attempt to circumvent the rules to sell the award tickets, what you will probably end up doing is ruining it for the rest of us who play the game according to the rules that are agreed to when you join the program - airlines may stop allowing gifting of awards if they feel that it costs them. In any case, this is not a legal issue with the government but an issue against the program rules. Remember that the airline is the complete ruler of the program and they have carefully reserved their right to close anyone's account if they so desire.