Miles deal
 

Hi fellows,
I would like to know if it is possible to sell a ticket purchased with my miles (Oneworld, Skyteam). I have heard that it is normal. Should it be discussed in this forum??

no, if the airline catches you doing that, they may punish you by closing your frequent flyer account and you will lose all your miles. In addition, who ever you sold the "miles" or "ticket" to will be out of luck as well as the airline will not honor that ticket. However, i dont believe its illegal and I am sure that it happens from time to time as the airlines do allow you to book for someone else. Personally, I wouldnt do it, and risk losing it all, however, if it was a close relative, I may help them out and they can compensate me without the airlines finding out.

Normal it is against the FF program rules.

can't sell, but you can give a ticket to anyone.....even family members

Let's put it this way: you absolutely cannot resell your award ticket, but you can redeem your miles for a ticket issued on any name. This must answer your question.;)

Be aware of the airline rules, though, they may require the person who shows up with the reservation to present the same credit card that was used redeeming the ticket (like taxes and fees).

I don't think this is being enforced. Otherwise Coupon Connection wouldn't exist.

Coupon Connection rules are fairly closely worded to permit only transactions that are within program rules.

This kind of transaction is not "illegal" in the sense that you cannot be sent to jail. However it violated the program rules and can - and has - resulted in people having their tickets cancelled and FF program miles forfeit.

It does happen all the time however. Just look at Craigslist. Based on my limited knowledge, I don't think the airlines are actively out there trying to entrap people. I did hear once that people were using a ruse to sell Delta miles on EBay, something like selling an empty envelope (which would normally be worthless) along with a cover letter that would have a password to access an account with DL miles. It wasn't exactly that, but something like that. The Skymiles people busted that.

In short - yes, Virginia, there is a black market. But that's what it is, a black market. Now keep in mind, I've been to hundreds of concerts and sporting events and I've never ever not even once even thought of buying/selling to/from a scalper (cough choke sputter "These are great seats" yeah right they have a great view of the bullpen). If I had enough miles for a ticket and I didn't want to use it for myself and the miles were about to expire, I might consider doing something like that. But I would definitely not consider it a primary avenue, nor something to be done regularly.

Greetings:

Cardinal Fang informs me he wants to buy your ticket. He's over at the annual Heretics Roundup and Barbeque right now, but would be happy to meet you there. In fact, you could be the Guest of Honor! Just bring a stake, rope and some matches as we are running low on supplies.:D

Asked and answered. The airlines "own" your miles and allow you to use them IF you follow their rules.