Originally Posted by
writerguyfl
Throw as many emojis and jokes in your post as you want. But the truth of the matter is that unless you plan being 100% honest (by saying you knew in advance that you couldn't take your purchased flight) when you arrive at the airport 6 hours late, what you are describing is fraud.
It's not fraud that will ever get prosecuted. It's probably not even fraud that the airline will discover. But, that doesn't make it right.
This makes no sense. It's not fraud. The airline will either do you a favor or not do you a favor, but no prosecutor in the world would remotely consider this fraud. (The act of asking for the favor.) Even the court of public opinion doesn't consider this fraud...even if we generally agree it won't work.
Others here are correct in saying they won't do you the favor. Not because WN isn't nice (they often are nice), but because this one would be kind of difficult for them to do even if they wanted to.
Sounds like OP is going to follow the more prudent course of action - not gambling on a very low-probability outcome - but asking the airline for a favor isn't a ethical problem and definitely not a criminal one. Obviously for the sake of all of us, behave nicely whether your request is accommodated or not.