Man, reading these posts makes me think of how good we have it today. Back in the day (or even just fairly recently - say 4 years ago) we never had the option to buy miles, transfer miles or even have the opportunity to accrue the plethora of miles we can today ie. via credit card or buying flowers. Now we have 3rd party online vendors dealing with airlines directly to offer us incredibly affordable prices for the thrill of going somehwere or to top off our miles. I would have never been able to do this in 2000. The way I look at it, ethical issues are a direct result of the rules that we are bound by when we purchase our ticket. I guess the more options we have, the more we are likely to bend the rules.