Strategy for getting miles for flight w/o actually flying
 

Would this work?

1. Buy ticket like one would normally do for a mileage run
2. Check in at the airport like normal
3. Have ticket scanned by the gate agent
4. After ticket is scanned, turn around and leave the terminal

After all this the airline still thinks you are on the plane, so they will still give you miles without having to actually fly.

Wishful thinking
 

They will do an actual head count. If the numbers do not match, they will offload you. You would have wasted your money and time.

wouldn't just using an airline credit card to charge everything in your life be a lot simplier, more sure, and integrous?

How would you do that? Aren't the tickets scanned right at the entrance to the jetway?

A head-count would really cause you and the actual travelers serious problems in this scenario.

To think that someone boarded after having their boarding pass scanned, then LEFT the plane is a huge security red-flag...

It's the EQM's that the OP is referring to.

What does this have to do with integrity? They are still getting my money, I'm just not on the flight.

Might just get you the SSSS on your boarding pass for life :(

EmailKid

It doesn't have anything to with integrity. Jtkauai just wanted to be credited in a future Safire column for making up a new word ;)

Pushpak

As this is not about a mileage run, I'm going to move it over to MilesBuzz.

Dave, a.k.a. dmfriedman
Moderator, Mileage Run

Used to be you could do it and get away with it. If you had your boarding passes in advance, sometimes you could present them at the gate and they'd tear them there and stamp the pass. Those miles would credit. You could also have "forgotten something" and walk back out the jetway after it was taken there and usually not be noticed. Tricks like those were most common at high-fare fortress hubs where people would buy a 4 leg flight that connected through that hub and use only 2 passes. Some would have the nerve to even send in the first pass and request credit.

Those days are long gone, though, thanks to all the new tracking and 9/11 (though they were gone some four years or so before 9/11).

Maybe it doesn't have anything to do w/ integrity (though some may disagree), but the policy clearly states that you have to actually fly (butt in the seat) to get the miles. I think it is to discourage people from racking up points w/o flying. Otherwise, everybody would be doing it. So, in short, this is no possible. Also, they are very strict esp w/ the security issue in making sure that anyone they scan is on board. Also, like another person said, they scan you at the door, so you can't just leave without them noticing. If you are caught, it might be more of a mess than what it is worth (IMO).

I was on an AA BOS-MCO flight in January that was delayed seven hours. (Mechanical problems; they had to fly a part in from New York.) The aircraft stayed at the gate. We were allowed on and off at will with nobody checking. I don't recall the cabin crew counting noses before we finally left; they might have, but if they did it was pretty subtle. Several passengers did leave: some canceled their trips, some were rerouted on AA (especially those who were connecting through MCO to somewhere else), some flew on another airline. I doubt AA had an accurate count of any except those who were rerouted on other AA flights.

I don't know what happened to people who boarded this flight and then decided to bail. They may have gotten the miles for it. (My travel companion and I each got 9,000 goodwill miles from AA, too.)

However, it's hard to plan ahead of time for this sort of thing, so even if it worked in this case it wouldn't make much of a strategy.

Seems to me that in many cases, it would be easier to count the empty seats to determine how many passengers are on board.

I think it's okay as long as the OP reserves the middle seat next to me! :D