Originally Posted by Efrem

Giving miles to another person is possible but generally involves fees. It's not usually cost-effective unless the person receiving them has nearly enough for an award and just needs a few more to "top off" his or her account.

Using your miles to get an award ticket for a friend is always OK. However, it's supposed to be a gift to a real friend, relative, or similar. I've done this more than once for friends and family members.

However, getting an award ticket for another person in return for money, or anything else of value, is against the rules of all FF programs I know of. Many airlines have departments whose purpose is to guard against this sort of thing. If they catch someone who bought or traded for an award ticket, they will invalidate that ticket (forcing the traveler to buy a ticket at the last-minute fare or not fly at all) and cancel the account from which the miles came with the loss of all the miles in it. (The common eBay trick of selling an empty envelope, and giving the successful bidder an airline ticket as a thank-you gift, has no legal validity. People caught doing that face the same penalties as people caught selling award tickets outright. They are fooling themselves if they think that creating the form of a gift, without its substance, will make a difference.)