From the USA today online travel section today:
http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/


Be aware about buying refundable tickets to get thru security/bumps..

"Two city police officers who patrolled Philadelphia International Airport for more than five years are being probed for allegedly buying refundable tickets on numerous sold-out flights. Officials say the officers then racked up nearly $10,000 worth of airline vouchers as compensation after being bumped from the sold-out flights. “They would show up for the flight, get bumped, get a round-trip flight credit and also get a refund," US Airways spokesman Morgan Durrant tells The Philadelphia Inquirer (free registration).

Though such a practice would seem to be a legal way to take advantage of both the airline’s rules and its practice of overselling seats, the officers could face trouble on two fronts. First, there’s a question whether the officers made the travel arrangements and changes while on duty. And second, Edward Ohlbaum, professor of law at Temple University, tells the Inquirer that “the behavior might lead a prosecutor to consider theft by deception charges.” Ohlbaum explains that Pennsylvania crime statutes define “deception” as creating a false impression as to one's intentions, the paper writes.

US Airways officials and “two sources familiar with the matter” tell the Inquirer they think the practice had been going on for almost a year. Airline employees apparently became suspicious during last year’s busy Fourth of July weekend, claiming that the men showed up with refundable-fare tickets for two separate oversold flights on July 3. The men received vouchers –- and a refund -– for the first flight. But the Inquirer’s “sources” say a US Airways employee recognized one of the men when he allegedly tried to get bumped from the second oversold flight. The employee denied his request to be bumped from that flight. “With that outcome, the officers did not board the plane and got refunds on their tickets 45 minutes later,” the paper writes. "