Buy / Sell Points
 

Hi,

Just wondering - I have seen many websites offering reward points or miles to buy/ sell. Is this legal ? Or atleast is this valid with the TOS ?

Thanks

Legal: yes
In accordance with the freq flyer program t&c:- no way! The ffp will close your account if they find out.
www.points.com seem to be the only web site that works with the airline ffp's

There is a long FT thread on these web sites selling miles/awards:- cannot find it just now

Edit:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...solidated.html

not the thread I was looking for, but on topic http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...ure-audit.html

http://millionmilesecrets.com/2014/0...es-and-points/

To cut a long story short, stay away from this.

You can always "gift" your miles to a relative or friend. That does not violate the rules of any program I know of.

Within TOS, generally not and termed as fraudulent activity. See AA Conditions of Carriage and AAdvantage Terms and Conditions, for instance.

Legal? As a seller, you won't likely be legally charged under most circumstances, but you risk your account being closed, losing miles and status. And they hunger to shut brokers down.

As a "buyer" it's not unheard of for such a buyer to show up for checkin, get intercepted and find out the award has been cancelled and you'll have to pay full, walk up fare if you wish to fly.

An interesting thread is: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html

The airlines don't like it. It violates their programs' rules. They dislike it so much that they have groups of people dedicated to stopping it. These people are good at their jobs. The consequences if you're caught, as posted, will be:

> To the seller: Closure of account, forfeiture of all points/status.

> To the buyer: Cancellation of ticket at the airport, leaving a choice between paying the full last-minute fare or staying on the ground.

The airlines' revenue protection units (names vary) don't catch everyone. They may not even catch a majority of the violators. However, they catch a lot of people. Thanks to the magic of "big data" and data mining, they get better all the time. I wouldn't try it. Since you came here for advice, I advise you not try it either.

(It has been suggested in other threads that selling miles/award tickets is actually illegal in the strict sense of the word, since in at least some places it is a violation of the law to use a ticket for transportation in violation of its terms and conditions. I am not a lawyer, I doubt anyone has been hauled into court for this, but it sounds plausible to me.)

Buy / Sell Points
 

echoing that "illegal" is not coextensive "directly violating a criminal law or specific statute," as many FTers mistakenly believe