Gee, I like this part:

"Most complexity results from not thinking a problem through carefully enough to realize how simple and elegant its solution can be."

funny but not original. Got your own?

Could also be that there are so many things to figure out in miles land that it needs collective assistence, which is what see this entire forum as in general.

I mean, take the gift card scheme. Have a simple way to explain THAT ONE to a person entirely new to it?

Didnt think so.
Ok so complexity does have its place...


ANYWAY, though selling of say, 25k awards is technically illegal and ebay is where airlines look for and catch people, I have raised questions on this one in the past. I have often been at odds with this one because everyone knows that if I were to give my award to say, my best friend or my brother, that person would PROBABLY give me something in return for it! Thus, something did in fact change hands and it could have been money or expensive wine, or even another award of some kind that I needed later on.

So who can really judge? Why is that more OK than me selling that same award online to someone I dont know? And how can an airline say that it is wrong when it is actually so blatantly set up to easily do it, that the flaw lies in their system rather than in the way people would naturally chose to handle it? I mean, sure, the rule is on there but what a dumb rule.

If I called and TOLD them "HEY, I AM SELLING THIS AWARD TO MY BROTHER" they could technically bust me for it if they wanted to. They probably woudnt though, because they can see his name, they realize it is a relative and they think that's more ok. But if I were to just try to get rid of it because I maybe had no living relatives or something--even at some low cost where I used ebay to advertise this fact--then they would bust me hands down even if the transaction resulted in a mere $1 gain. They would bust me if only for the princile ofthe thing... because that's the rules, sir! Sorry!

Seems they just dont like competition even if it'snot the intent, that's all. And ebay has put us on their sales level so they hate it. So that is what I never understood. I think instead they SHOULD allow the sale of awards but somehow find some way to put a fee on this which we are wiling to pay. Then they make money no matter what we do and we still win.

But as for the selling of the miles that one can buy in bulk as some sort of promotional tool or way to help sell a product as a reward bonus, it seems as though the people who do that would be less illegal. Think about it: who's to say that EBAY buyers are not their best client or new customers? After all, it seems to me that these 250,000 programs where you spend $6000+ on batches of miles 9as shown in chart from the link in previous post) are geared toward that kind of business model more than anything. What limits the product type being offered?

This went off base though--back to a simpler earth:

I am still trying to see if my product idea--which had nothing to do with selling miles or awards on ebay--will even fly... to make a pun.

cheers!

MM