orbitmic

Wow, didn't know this existed. Indeed, it does seem to me that if this is found out by the airline, it will suspend the person's account and with good reason too - and indeed, as the 'buyer' you would get extremely little sympathy/protection when something goes wrong...

brunos

It is quite common in the US where there are several brokers buying and selling miles awards. Easy to find on Internet. But when one needs to change dates of travel.....

JOUY31

+1

more4less

I remember in a trip to USA around 15 years ago one guy mentioning that he had sold 500k miles, so as brunos has pointed, this must be a normal practice in the States, and now much easier with internet.

As several of you have mentioned, the situation is very different if the TA has made the bookings with the OP miles or using miles from other pax.

If it is using someone else´s miles, the OP has saved a lot of money in the deal? also the OP should take into account that they will not obtain any miles in this trip, so the are some hidden costs.
I consider that all this procedure is too risky, even if there are no irrops, so unless the savings are colossal, I would not contemplate it.

af fp

If the OP still wants to make this trip he should adopt a low profile! Take whatever AF gives him, and be glad he can travel anyway.

If the OP wants to take this matter seriously, and is sincere having bought a ticket agianst Delta's T&Cs without his knowledge, he should get a lawyer and sue this agency for lots of $$$... this probably involves forfeiting the ticket. This agency will lose its license (if it has one). This would mean, though, that the OP has very little knowledge of or pays very little attention to travel arrangements. Most of us on this forum could not be fooled by an agent selling a ticket on miles because at the very least we would check beforehand the reservation on the airline website, and the fare class.

orbitmic

Yep, it's a bit like borrowing someone's car if the car insurance won't cover you as a driver. There is 99% chance you will have a safe trip to the grocery stop and back, but if this is just the day when an idiot bumps into you on the way, all you can do is keep a low profile and hate yourself for taking the chance. I would NEVER buy something which is not allowed to be sold and would recommend others to do the same.

OT but recently in the UK, some people hated themselves for buying expensive black market concert tickets which, according to the T&C couldn't be resold. For several concerts, the artists decided to put a stop to it and refused entry to all the tickets involved. This is exactly the same here, if miles and award tickets cannot be resold according to the T&C, the airline could very easily have invalidated these tickets and the person be stranded with their money wasted for nothing. That many people may do it changes nothing: this was the same for the concerts and hasn't prevented the artists and companies to stop turning a blind eye on a practice which they had known to exist for a while.

irishguy28

Somehow, I don't think Tender Loving Care had anything to do with it!

You mean T&Cs (terms and conditions)

orbitmic

Oops indeed, sorry!

amarain

This makes sense, but in this case, the pilot unavailability actually happened at CDG (the flight into IAD from CDG was cancelled due to pilot unavailability, thus we had no aircraft for our flight). I would think that if they had reserves anywhere, it would be at CDG.

I agree with you all that this miles issue that the OP had is puzzling, to say the least!

orbitmic

Oops, I hadn't realised that. It does indeed sound pretty bad that they could neither find another pilot for the 388, or at least a replacement 777 with crew.

Goldorak

Keep in mind that if they replace the A388 by the B777, the return flight to CDG will be delayed by almost a day (often technically cancelled and returns empty to CDG), as the crew in place at the outstation (who arrived by the A388 the day before) is not qualified on the 777. So it's the same crew who flew from CDG who will fly the bird back to CDG after the minimum resting period.
This situation happens regularly every summer in BOS when the 744-operated flight goes tech and is replaced by a 773.

brunos

I am wondering whether and A388 pilot is only qualified on that plane. I would assume that he is also qualified on another plane, probably A340/330. Any info on cross-qualification of AF pilots?

orbitmic

If I remember correctly, qualifications have to be renewed periodically, so although 388 pilots will certainly have had another qual before, they may have lost it in the meantime. Not sure. The solution to Goldorak's excellent point though is that I guess the replacement 777 could have brought a second reserve flying crew to fly the reserve? I'm sure it must get messy somewhere down the line but I know it has happened to me with other airlines so there must be some solution I guess?

Schlossie

Hi everyone. Sorry I just now got a chance to get my hands on an internet connection since we've been driving around the country for a few days.

I had no knowledge that the ticket was booked with skymiles, I'm not even a skymiles member. So to answer a few of the questions that came up: The miles used were not my miles and I don't know whose they were. I booked through a travel office, paid them for my tickets. Checked my reservation online and they were valid on Air France. I don't know anything about the classes, so since it said business (Affaires) on my reservation when checking it on Air France all looked okay.

It's like going to a tax preparer and paying them for your return. Does that mean I have to know everything about taxes? I don't and that's why I went to a professional. I'm upset that they are not returning my calls or emails and I guess that means I'll be short the day and will pursue these matters (against the travel agency) when I get back to the U.S. Sucks, it's my annual family visit and now it's short. Apparently I'm to blame, because I don't know how to properly make a reservation.

cfischer

I would keep it VERY quiet and NOT complain at all about this issue. Your ticket is essentially invalid since selling miles and free tickets is prohibited. Just out of curiosity, how much did you pay for the ticket?
Anyway, if Delta finds out your ticket will be cancelled and you might be stranded having to purchase a ticket on the spot which will be very expensive. Delta will also cancel the SM account where the miles came from and they might charge you a full fare C-class ticket.
Believe me, this is happening! Next time buy your tickets from 'real' TAs and you won't be running into these issues.