Originally Posted by
Kacee
Gift card I would call a "loophole"
Paying a pet fee with intent to cancel and refund just to get a statement credit to me crosses the line. It would certainly fit within UA MP's definition of prohibited conduct, as it's analytically very similar to buying a ticket without intent to fly just to get lounge access.
I disagree. Unlike using lounge access without paying for it, United presumably isn't losing out on any services rendered by a book-and-cancel within hours, particularly if a flight is chosen that is months away. And to do it once a year -- the limit of the Amex benefit -- is not frequent abuse of book-and-cancel that has any impact on United. I can't imagine there is any meaningful danger that United punishes the customer. How are they to know it was never intended to be flown? Tickets get canceled all the time.
At most, it would be
Amex that is losing $200 in a manner they did not intend, but even there I don't blame the customer for doing this move, since the refund is just how Amex chose to program its system. They could presumably claw it back if they wanted to.