Originally Posted by
omaralt
i'm sure they try their best; but mistakes happen... imagine meeting a guy on the subway and you strike up a conversation. his mom is dying and he cant afford to go see her. you generously offer to buy him a ticket to go visit her with your miles. how does AA know if you sold the miles or not? they have no way to know if the guy slipped you a few hundred bucks.. so as good as you think they are; mistakes are bound to happen. the only reason the OP got caught is because he (stupidly) put his phone number on the ad
This was a situation of openly advertising a mileage sale on the internet, in one of the more highly visible places at that for trying to sell things. Very different than giving a ticket away to a homeless guy or some random person at the airport and not asking for something material back for it.
As much as I dislike some of the ways of the airline programs, it’s important to recognize that some situations cause problems for customers redeeming miles in a way that other situations don’t.