Originally Posted by
Often1
While you are certainly correct that the easiest way to deal with hidden city fraud is simply to shut down the FF account, zero it out and cancel any status, the question is not about damages, it is about contract.
How that would be handled will differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. But, in most jurisdictions, combining the contract you make when you purchase your ticket with the contract for your credit card, simply issuing a debit memorandum to the credit card for the difference between the fare flown and the fare due would be a simple matter.
It would then be for the passenger to sue the carrier to recover.
All of this is notional because while it is reported as a regular practice on FT, FT isn't the real world and not many people really do it. Or at least do it often enough for carriers to care. And then they care, punting them out of the FFP is punishment enough.
While we agree on the topic I strongly disagree about the airline's ability to charge your CC or bank account without your consent.
If an airline thinks that your actions breach the contract between you they are entitled to pursue a resolution in the legal system, any attempt of charging your CC without your consent or a court ruling would be considered CC fraud under Israeli law (I'm less familiar of the EU and US legal systems but assume similar laws are in place).
The major problem for airlines dealing with this matter is how variable laws are between jurisdictions. for example in Israel (where I'm based) local laws trumps whatever is in the contract (actually this is the case in most legal systems, contracts need to be respected but not if they contradict local law). Moreover consumer laws will allow you to cancel the airline charge in case the airline is unable to show your consent for the reprice.