This thread confuses and concerns me. I have been informed by the T&C of some airlines that the miles belong to
us (the airline) and not you. This is the justification when an airlines says...
- ...we can change the rules at any time with notice, short notice, or no notice at all.
- ...we can close your account or zero-out your account without due process and you have no recourse. (there is an active thread in the US forum right now on this very subject)
So my
confusion is this. Why is a judge dividing "property" that doesn't belong to either spouse? If just
one airline would communicate with the ABA and remind that organization that any FF miles in a member's account belong to that airline and not the member then I would hope that a judge would look into an airline's T&C for miles presented in divorce court to see if there should be any discussion at all about miles!
My
concern is this. If U.S. courts start assigning a value to FF miles (whether it be low like $1, medium, or high) then how long will it be before the IRS starts taxing our miles as income? The airlines don't want this because it would devalue their programs and they (the airlines) would probably start having to send out MISC-INCOME statements in January of each year. This might also legally limit their (the airlines) ability to confiscate miles since income tax was paid on the miles by the members.
The airlines as a whole have been pretty unified in saying to businesses
"NO, we will not credit the miles your employees earn to a common account even though your business paid for the ticket. The miles go into the passengers' accounts!" So I would think that the collective airlines would also want to make a statement to the courts that the miles don't belong to individuals so STOP DIVIDING UP
OUR PROPERTY!!!!!
Feel free to set me straight on my thinking. I would to love be neither confused nor concerned anymore.
