If I have say, 100,000 AA miles but rarely fly on them and so I book awards for a friend of mine who DOES want to fly their routes, but has no miles...

That's ok.

Now... if he books ME an award on NWA because he has lots of miles on them and I have none, that's ok too, right?

Yup.

OK, so whos to say we did a trade? Or did not trade?

Both things above are ok.

If that friend buys me a beer for the fact I booked him a trip with my miles, is that ok? Who wouldnt accept a free beer from a friend? I might say, oh no worries man, it's totally on me, but hey, if you are gonna buy me a cold one to enjoy at the bar together, then yeah, I will take it!

So, is that beer considered compensation or bartering for this award ticket I got you?

My friend and I are traveling out west to ski in Mar in CA. I am going to use my UA miles to fly us both. He is going to buy our lift tickets. We have been friends for over 20 years. Dayum, I'd probably buy his plane ticket anyway... and he'd probably hook me up with ski passes anyway too.

Did we barter?

These are very GRAY areas.

Now, if one of us did this as some ongoing business with people we do not know, THEN the world of lurkers, airline policy, and big brother sudenly considers it FRAUD.

Funny how the world works when it WANTS to see things a certain way, or just wants to let things go cuz they dont really count, eh?

This is where this paper could have some rather "liquid" arguements to it, or have to ignore a whole portion of the reality of trades and hook ups, and such things. If it does talk about some of the situations I bring up above, then it needs to discuss the overall psychology of all of us, and that will be hard!

MM