A. Buy a refundable ticket, print a boarding pass, and then cancel the flight...;

I recently bought a refundable ticket on line at continental.com as part of some research I was doing. After getting the info I was looking for. I cancelled five minutes later. Ten minutes after that I got an e-mail from CO acknowledging my cancellation and saying that the money would be applied to a future ticket [not refunded].

As a followup, the ticket cost has not shown up on my Amex acct. after three weeks. Leaves me wondering what's going on.

Jack