Originally Posted by
bluto
It's strange that they would have this limit. I don't see why they would care where the miles go as long as they get the money for their miles...
Originally Posted by
josephstern
Strange that they have this limit? They count, to some extent, on breakage. If a corporate travel department could buy 10M miles, there would be little breakage. But if a business gives out 100 miles to 100,000 customers, there would be a ton of breakage - a sizable percentage would expire unused...
It ain't breakage. The limits are way too high for that to be an issue. They still figure on some miles expiring unused, but not because of the limits.
The limit is mostly to keep people from buying miles to use for international F/J awards, where the fare is usually much higher than miles for an award would cost. The limits are usually too low for one such award, let alone two or more. It's not an absolute barrier, as has been posted on FT, but it prevents most of that sort of thing. (You can usually buy enough miles for a "saver" domestic U.S. round trip or its regional equivalent elsewhere, but if you're within the capacity controls on those awards, you can probably buy a ticket for the same or less - and earn miles, too.)