Originally Posted by
ijgordon
True, but since he's not purchasing refundable tickets in the first place, chances are that it's a violation of company policy to purposefully delay the purchase of a ticket to book a higher/more expensive fare class to get greater frequent flyer benefit (i.e., a policy that requires tickets be purchased as far in advance as possible). Personally, something I would be careful about.
I have no doubt that it is a technical violation (and certainly if I'm three+ weeks out with clear travel needs I'll definitely buy the ticket then), but if we're talking about a few days, the difference between an H and an M fare is small due to the higher corporate discount on the M fare. The difference in fare one way is usually less than $40 on a $500 ticket, which is significantly less than the $135 Comfort+ one way upcharge which is in policy (if, of course, it was available to begin with). $40 is also within the in-policy discretionary amount for airline preference when there are two eligible itineraries.
In short, I'm not too worried.