Refundable ticket just for SC access?
 

Hi guys,

I am usually a UA flier, so cut me some slack for asking a stupid question... but I am flying out of an airport that has no United Club or other lounge options. My AMEX Platinum gives me access to the DL Sky Club. Is it totally stupid to buy a refundable Y fare and then cancel it prior to departure so I can access the lounge with my Platinum Card?

Thanks!

No problem. Don’t do it too often.

Just know that you’ll have to call to cancel since you will need to check in to get a bp and then uncheck in to cancel.

I've done that several times when escorting someone to the gate or meeting them at the gate. I just call and have it refunded on the way home.

If you do this, you won't need to buy a refundable ticket - Delta's Risk Free Cancellation allows you to cancel any ticket booked the day of or day prior to the flight up until the end of the day of the flight (technically even after departure).

Go for it. Why do you continue to fly "the friendly skies" of UA?

You can't do it yourself. You'll have to call, and at that point, you may as well just cancel the ticket when you call. Technically the Sky Club agent could do this for you, but I think better to not do it that way in this case.

I would still buy the 100% refundable ticket. I do not have all the rules handy, but it would not surprise me if there was some sort of fares that did not apply when purchased the same day, somehow. I know awards have a "within 7 day" clause.

Totally stupid? No.

Unethical? Yes

Selfish and self-indulgent? Beyond doubt.

In an era when airlines are doing their best to fill airplanes, you will be tieing up, until the very last moment, a seat that someone might actually have a legitimate need for. Preventing them an opportunity to make orderly plans to address their travel needs.

But, go ahead and seek your gratification.

Don't take that as approval... rather, take is as an acknowledgement that considering the impact of one's actions on others is becoming an increasingly rare phenomenon.

More disconcerting than you actually posing the question is the fact that the first 8 responses in this thread actually condone your plans.

Not that I condone doing this, but, one could certainly buy a ticket for a flight for 8, 10, 12 hours later in the day, and cancel it, and that would still make the seat available for sale far ahead of flight time.

It is not merely unethical, it is ticketing fraud and directly violates DL's COC. At some point, DL cottons on because this sort of fraud costs a lot of money in revenue forgone.

An alternative would be to ask for a gate pass. DL is particularly easy about these and you then don't have to spend time afterwards fixing things.

Again, NOT THAT I CONDONE DOING THIS, but . . .

COC = Contract of Carriage

There isn't going to be any carriage.

;)

Agreed.

It is not hard to envision a situation where this shenanigan directly costs DL revenue.

OP buys last aisle C+ seat (or last C+ seat, period).

Someone might have been willing to buy that seat (or pay the increment to access that seat), had it been available. But it wasn't. Seat becomes available at last moment. Someone gets moved into it without having to pay the UG fee.

DL loses the incremental income.