Originally Posted by AcnNWAPlatinum
Please excuse this question, as I am new to FT. Can someone please clarify just what the airlines consider to be improper use of mileage acct? I have several hundred thousand miles on several airlines. On a few occasions, I have let family or friends use my miles to travel. I always do the booking myself, and the taxes are always charged to my credit card. Since I'm not making money off this and not using a broker, is this considered ok by the airlines? No one using my miles has ever been asked questions regarding them.
Welcome to FT!
The airlines forbid anything like an arm's-length business transaction. They allow anything that's a personal arrangement between people with a prior connection. That's a bit of an oversimplification, the fine print varies from one airline to the next, but it's the basic idea.
Since airlines are not legislatures, they can't make this illegal. All they can do is make it a violation of program rules. The punishment is limited to what they can do with their programs: confiscate miles, invalidate awards, close accounts. For many of us here, that's severe enough.
(Reportedly, under California law at least, it's against state law to use a ticket for carriage in violation of its terms and conditions. If that's correct, it is actually illegal to sell miles there, though I'm not aware of anyone being hauled into court for it.)