One of the early OzFests featured a ground tour of the Sydney airport. After that we all headed for one of the terminals. Those who had guest access took themselves and another FTer into the Qantas Club. There weren't enough of those people to get all of us in, so a few of us did something like that to get two more people in. We all ended up being kicked out, but not because some of us were there on bogus refundable tickets - it was because we were being too rowdy! ("Too rowdy" in Australia is very, very rowdy by most other standards. ) I probably shouldn't have done it, but it didn't feel like a mortal sin at the time. It still doesn't.

Around the same time I was dating an American Airlines Executive Platinum desk agent. She told me of one EP flyer, at the time fairly active on FT as well, who would always buy refundable trans-oceanic tickets to follow his trans-continental trips in order to access the Flagship Lounges. (There were several more of them then than there are now.) Everyone at AA knew what he was doing, but they let him keep doing it. He flew nearly 200,000 paid miles a year, much of it in domestic F. They figured it was a small price to pay to hold onto his business. I have no idea if he knew they were onto his game.

Personally, I wouldn't make a habit of it. I don't think I've ever done it, other than the situation in the first paragraph above, though I've bought annual memberships, 30-day passes and day passes more than once each. I think calling it "reprehensible" is a bit strong, though. I'd put it a small notch above overtime parking.