Illegal, how? It helps you. You know how your boss cuts a deal with the hotel, and even though you're the one away from home and stuck in a hotel room...your boss picks up all the chips (rebates, points, etc) for the hotel loyalty benefits? You want your boss or company to also pick up all the frequent flyer miles when they buy you an airline seat and send you to outer east elbow? There are lots of things broken about Delta Skymiles. This rule is not one of them. The person who is in the seat should get the miles. The person who is not in the seat should NOT get the miles. Made-up persons such as cellos sure as heck shouldn't be getting miles and competing with real people for the very limited redemptions out there...