Originally Posted by
diburning
You are correct, but my point is that airlines go through the third party and don't sell directly so that there's no misunderstanding. "Airline A told me that they'd sell me these miles! What do you mean I don't own them? I bought them directly from Airline A!"
However an airline sells miles in the US, the customer buying the miles is still subject to the airline’s rules applicable to the purchased miles. Whether or not AW is engaged in various kinds of customer-unfriendly shenanigans with the miles, AA still owns the sandbox.