Hot Damn !!!!!!!

That's a nice win, congrats.

And if you'd like to enable a fellow Canadian now living in Texas to visit Quebec for the first time ......

Hey, I'll even do the last segment in a jungle jet.

Ya, ya, I should burn my own miles

EmailKid

they are clearly your miles, but i would probably throw your friend a bone and give him a ticket or two

Since you didn't have to ask for the ticket he gifted you, wouldn't you consider that magnanimous of him? I'm sure you can afford to be the same and offer him a domestic "cattle class, lost luggage" voucher without his having to ask.

You later indicated that this was enough for 25 Economy tickets to the US.
Would you have signed up and have been entered into the contest without your friend referring you to it? If you would not have signed up in time for the contest, I would think it odd that you would not offer to part with some (or one) of the trips WITHOUT being ased. But.... that might just be something I would do. One or two tickets, I might understand, but 25 tickets (or 12 business class tickets to the US) is another matter.

Just curious as to why you didn't mention his generosity in the original post. Kind of changes the scenario.

just curious - why does the principle change based on the amount of the prize?

I stand by my original comment. They are yours - giving your friend a portion would be nice but should not be expected.

Yes, it does. It also begs the question as to whether your friend also paid for the taxes and fees on your first free points flight.

--

I'm gonna lean way out the window on this one, and see if I fall out.

I'm not sure that either of your positions (yours or your friend's) is good for your friendship. OK, you say you didn't ask/beg, but your friend offered and you did accept. The question I'd ask myself: have I been enough of a friend to deserve that ticket and am I still acting like the friend I was when I accepted it?

I'm sure your friend is also confused and probably interpreting (rightly or wrongly) your position as being greedy and ungrateful, for both the previous free ticket and the referral that led to the win. I would've had a heart-to-heart with my friend a long, long time ago, rather than asking strangers to fortify my bunker against a friend. I save this type of stuff for my enemies.

You even say, had he won, you would've suggested another free trip on his miles, but wouldn't expect it. Why, then, would you suggest it? That alone shows your expectation.

Yes, the law says they are yours; I think you know that. Still, I think it's a bit harsh to say "MINE MINE ALL MINE HAHAHAHAHA!" (and you CAPPED it in both of your posts). Whether they're mine or not--with my true friends, I wouldn't be gloating, especially if that friend is the one who made it all possible.

I think you're looking at this in black-and-white and asking a bunch of miles hounds (meant affectionately) what we think. The law, and a lot of strangers are on your side. Yes, the miles are yours.

But, what I'd be considering: there will come a day when those miles are gone, probably due to expiration . When that day comes, will being 'right' have been worth it?

A friend and I used to play in gambling tournaments for extra income. We always discussed BEFORE the tournament how the win would be distributed. You have a situation where if your friend had won, you probably wouldn't have gotten anything, because it doesn't seem like you had any sort of arrangement, unless I missed it somewhere. So you don't owe your friend any of your win. A gift would be nice, but better make it a modest gift until you see your 1099-MISC. You are the one who will be paying taxes based on the value of your prize, not your friend.

For the record, our "deal" was that the winner kept 80 percent and the friend got 20 percent. It worked great, because both of us played often and won many times. But you have a one-time situation here. Your friend is likely to never win anything to share with you. So, again, my instinct is to say that a modest gift is fine...a friend "hinting" that he should take a significant part of your prize is being a little emotionally abusive for money and he is already willing to stress the friendship to get what he wants...so I would question how real your friendship ever was. Certainly I wouldn't try to buy his continued friendship with miles.

My advice is worth what you paid so think for yourself. I can only tell you what I would do and have done.

As Bob and Doug McKinzey would say, "Hey, take off, hoser"!

I guess each of you just needs to ask how much is the friendship worth to you . . .

Well, I am probably going against the grain here, but in my opinion you are a very bad friend indeed. Let us face it, if he had not referred you, you would have gotten nothing. Probably just looking greedily around for freebees...

If I were in your position and had won one flight, I'd have called him, depending on the mileage would have invited him for a drink or dinner. He would have been happy for you and all would be well.

You won a lot. The minimum would have been to have immediately offered him some flights or if you are really the greedy one, at least have said nothing.

It seems that elementary education and $$$ stop right at friendship. Too sad.

Let us wait for the future: you'll probably will enjoy your flights, I just wonder in what form the bill will be presented and then paid for.

So, this person gave you a ticket for free that he/she actually had to earn miles for...and you are unwilling even to return the favor from your windfall? And cackle about this???

With friends like you, who really needs enemies?

I think you have a clear ethical obligation to return the favor given by your friend.

You don't, however, seem too interested in "ethics."

And I thought that was a Canadian only show ....

BTW, that would be "Hey, take off, eh, hoser!" to be more properly Canadian.

Of course I somehow managed to lose the "eh" after living here in Texas all these years.

EmailKid

Thank you again for your continuing thoughts.

As a previous poster mentioned, everyone got an entry into the contest simply for joining up, plus additional entries for referring others to join. I do not remember referring anyone, so that would give me one entry.

I didn't care about the contest. I thought the site was interesting enough to join without dangling any contest in front of me. And it would not have mattered who promoted the referral, I would have joined. Winning miles was simply stunning and completely unexpected.

That being said, I believe there is a difference between (1) Person A offering Person B points/flights and (2) Person B feeling entitled to at least half of Person A's points. Considering there was no agreement in place in the event either won.

The heart-to-heart was tried a long time ago and it didn't help. Humor hasn't helped either. This person also has a history of setting up multi-stop itineraries and not travelling on them, for medical or other reasons, sacrificing the points (his own) in the process.

As for that other ticket I mentioned, I guess I didn't realize that it still had a string attached years later. I thought using it to participate in a convention I wasn't 100% committed to was "stringy" enough. Grog, regarding your fees question, I don't remember who paid them at the time.

The principle didn't change. Offering a couple of tickets out of 12 (or 25) is much easier to do than offering a couple of tickets out of a win of 1 or 2.