eh9

Hi,

Is it possible to book a southwest flight within 3 hours of entry, then later cancel to gain access to a centurion lounge on arrival?

daw4888

Yes. We did this in Denver. We arrived in Denver at 9 am, and couldnt get into hotel until Noon. So I booked us all a one-way flight from Denver to LA leaving at 10am. Once in the lounge I canceled those flights. If you have southwest points its easy to do, and you lose nothing booking/canceling. I wouldnt do it often, but it is possible.

emcampbe

I mean, I think it would be difficult for them to be able to track and take action, even if they wants to. I still wouldn�t do that regularly, but wouldn�t hesitate to do this on a one off. Also wouldn�t do this regularly for say, UA club (if you have access), since I suspect if they wanted to, they could easily track and cross tab repeated refunds on tickets with lounge entries, and probably cancel your account privileges (per T&Cs) or potentially demand something monetary given repeated breaking of ticket T&Cs, which specifically disallow oufchases for travel you have no intention of taking.

In fact, last week, at SFO, I was already post-security before I found out I�d need to cancel a flight. Into the Centurion lounge no issues (somehow, no wait either), and canceled before I came out. Was tempted to even make a bid for DB, which UA offered, but I didn�t want to wait around for that process to play out.

eh9

I see, thanks

cfischer

Of course you can get away with fraud. Would I post in a public forum that I plan to defraud Amex? ... probably not

txdave

yes it would likely work, kinda iffy to do that

Kacee

Seems a bit much just to access a mediocre airport lounge. A sign of the times I guess.

m907

how is it fraud?

krispy84

Gaining the benefit of lounge use via a boarding pass for a flight you have no intention of taking?

Seems clear to me.

Dr Jabadski

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Whether or not it’s fraud depends on what the meaning of the word “is fraud” is. Regardless, it’s certainly no more sleazy or fraudulent than getting multiple sock-drawered credit only cards for the SUBs, it’s not at the same level of sleaze as covering the words “gift card” with your thumb when showing a card to a money order producing customer service representative, it’s highly unlikely to be noticed or penalized, it’s certainly not illegal. BUT, most importantly, why go through all that effort to get into a mediocre lounge which is likely to be overcrowded and noisy.

Better options: fly on UA and get a (sock drawered) UA Club card and sit in one the mediocre UA clubs, join the Navy (or if you insist the Army or Air Force ) and go to a USO lounge, get Priority Pass access via a different credit card which includes restaurant credits and enjoy one of those restaurants, find a quiet place to sit and read or nap in the concourse, walk the length of the concourse window shopping for exercise, video the next meltdown and/or fight at the Spirit or Frontier gates .

Acidity

It's definitely more sleazy and fraudulent than getting a credit card just for the SUB. There's nothing in the T&Cs on your credit card, or SUB, that requires you to keep spending on it (and they certainly could make that part of the T&Cs if they wanted). There is something in the T&Cs of just about every airline prohibiting you from booking tickets you have no intention of taking.

That said, I have booked an award ticket in the past just for a joke, and then had the audacity to call to get my miles refunded, so I definitely can't judge here

Like others said, definitely don't make a habit out of doing this, because the airlines will care (far more than AMEX) that you're messing with their inventory.

Dr Jabadski

Disagree. It’s reasonable that AmEx “in their sole discretion” could consider multiple high SUB sock-drawered cards to be “abuse, misuse, or gaming”, that’s exactly why none of us would ever tell an AmEx representative that we want to get a bunch of AmEx cards just for the SUBs. BTW, I wrote that it’s “no more sleazy or fraudulent ” without indicating my opinion as to the degree of sleaze or fraudulence.

eh9

Thanks for the input everyone, glad we could have a spirited discussion.

We�ve concluded that yes, it�s possible. Perhaps not recommended, and everyone has varying tolerance for bending the rules. I think we are good now.

Cliff358

The real issue here seems to be about "fairness". Is it fair to the airlines (or Amex) to book a flight that you have no intention of using just to gain access to a lounge? Rules in our society almost always favor the corporation over the individual. It is considered illegal to book "hacker" fares that can save you money but it is completely legal for airlines to overbook and bump passengers off of a flight that someone paid for. Our society is based on loopholes (real or perceived) that some people use because they think it is "fair". That is unlikely to ever change.

jghassell

While I think if you make a habit of this it would become a problem for you, there are certain times I've done this (meeting someone on an inbound flight at the airport, having an in-person meeting with a colleague in transit at a connecting point, helping an elderly parent navigate an airport and providing some oasis prior to a flight) and I sleep fine at night. Airlines have collectively chosen mostly to operate without regard to ethics (see United refusing to refund for cancelled flights during an epidemic, American consistently not following the terms of their own program in upgrades, all airlines publishing schedules they have no intent on flying based on their current fleet and obligations and then changing schedules weeks in advance to itineraries less convenient and then refusing to accommodate changes, among others); I submit we owe them no deference.