I apologize for the delay in posting, however, let me refer SPN to another provision of law which makes the sale of frequent flyer mileage illegal; California Business and Professions Code, 17500 which declares as follows:

"It is unlawful for any person, firm, corporation or association, or any employee thereof with intent directly or indirectly to dispose of real or personal property...or to induce the public to enter into any obligation relating thereto, to make or disseminate or cause to be made or disseminated before the public in [or from] this state...in any newspaper or other publication, or any advertising device, or...in any other manner or means whatever, including over the Internet, any statement, concerning that real or personal property or...concerning any circumstance or matter of fact connected with the proposed performance or disposition thereof, which is untrue or misleading, and which is known, or which by the exercise of reasonable care should be known, to be untrue or misleading...Any violation of the provisions of this section is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county
jail not exceeding six months, or by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or by both that imprisonment and fine."

Therefore when one makes an offer to sell or barter frequent flyer miles [as opposed to airline tickets secured with frequent flyer miles] which he/she knows or should know to be impermissible [thus meaning the offer to sell or barter is untrue or misleading because it implies the seller will be able to convey legal title], either to a California resident or from California [for your information, eBay is located in Campbell, California and its T&Cs specifically incorporate California law into ALL auctions regardless of the residence of sellers or purchasers], a crime has been committed.

Thus if someone purchases frequent flyer mileage from another who has made his/her offer to sell in California [such as on eBay]; or he/she is a California resident who purchases frequent flyer mileage from someone located somewhere else; the sale is as a result of some type of advertisement where the seller knows or should know the sale is impermissible; and that seller has not affirmatively disclosed he/she/it will not be able to transfer legal title to those miles because the airline involved does not allow it; the transaction IS unlawful.

We had another recent thread on this Board where the poster purportedly sold frequent flyer miles to a ticket broker who later sold them to a third party. The third party's ticket was confiscated by the airline; the third party made claim against the ticket broker [which presumably was honored]; and then the broker threatened legal action against the original seller. In that thread I suggested to the poster that if in California, the broker would not be able to use the court system for restitution.

Being an illegal contract, hopefully we now all see that at least in California, the broker has no legal remedy.

So like many things in life, although we as frequent flyers may be able to get away with selling or bartering our frequent flyer miles, that fact neither makes it legally permissible [according to the airlines] nor lawful [according to California].

Hope this helps.




[This message has been edited by smarten (edited Dec 07, 2003).]