Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Between AUS, EWR, and YTO In a little twisty maze of airline seats, all alike.. but I wanna go home with the armadillo
Programs: CO, NW, & UA forum moderator emeritus. Eurobonus Millionaire
Posts: 38,648
This whole debate is really much ado about nothing.
I've found that almost univerally, merchants will refund based on how they were paid. This is PARTICULARLY true with expensive items. Getting 100 miles here or there won't make much difference in your FF balance or the merchant's wallet. Buying and returning to get cash/miles will also get very boring very quickly. You'll have to buy/return $100 worth of merchandise 250 times to get a US domestic ticket. Nobody is going to do that. Nobody is even going to do it 50 times to get 5000 miles. The whole idea is absurd.
If you really want to get miles for doing basically nothing, try eating out with friends while earning FF miles (and iDine miles) on your credit card. Pick up the tab and have your friends pay you cash for their parts of the bill. You'll get a lot more miles for a lot less effort.
[This message has been edited by xyzzy (edited 02-04-2003).]