What FF program rules have you broken, and what was the punishment?
 

Most FTers presumably abide by all the rules, terms, and conditions of the various FF programs to which they belong. However, I assume that many have committed minor infractions -- for example, booking several award ticket reservations for the same trip and then cancelling all but one of them when you were certain of the date; some have committed moderate infractions -- for example, buying a refundable FC ticket and then cancelling it the day of the flight all as a scheme to make sure your elite upgrade goes through; and some have no doubt committed major infractions such as selling miles.

I'm not interested in what you've done -- what I want to know is what have you been caught doing, and what was the punishment? Actually let's expand the question to what have you, or someone you know, done.

I'm sure there are some good stories out there. Just from reading the forums over the past year and a half I have a pretty good idea of the range of shenannigans (sp?) that go on, but there have got to be some good (or bad, depending on your perspective) stories about what folks got caught doing, and what the airline did to punish them.

Sorry. Not only have I broken no rules but I don't even know of anyone who has done so.

I have never been punished for breaking the rules. But I frequently get punished for obeying them. That is probably why I break them from time to time.

Like it or not, virtually EVERYONE who has swapped - i.e. bartered - airline or hotel related items via the Coupon Connection has broken the rules. I guess many people rationalize that it's perfectly OK to exchange my XXXX *Points for your XXXX AA miles but it's a heinous crime to exchange my same XXXX *Points for your $XXX in US currency.

Can I suggest a new thread?

"What FF Rules Have You Broken? I Need Some Ideas"

:D :D :D

right, i also get quite often punished because i follow the rules. it's getting quite frustrating and that's why i am probably going to leave m&m. i have in mind to fly next month for the first time with either emirates or starting to do business with alitalia.

On a certaain aairline thaat will remaain unnaamed, I've been known to book award tickets for more than 21 days out, then change them to a nearer term date, to avoid the "expedite" fee.

I consider this stretching the rules, not breaking them.

Last time they caught on. But all I got was a congratulatory comment from the agent:
"Nice job. Not many people have figured this out".

I'm not sure what the infraction is here - some airlines will let you put a "hold" on award flights for a defined length of time; others won't. I frequently reserve 2-3 award itineraries for the same trip, then go find the hotels, and then come back and ticket the appropriate awards, canceling the rest. If it were any kind of infraction to do this, then you simply wouldn't be able to do it, as the award "holds" are done directly with the airline and directly linked to your name/account.

Anyway, I've never been punished for breaking a program rule. Usually when I'm doing things in the "grey area" it's with hotels, as there are more paper certificates involved there. I'm not aware of any major airline program that will send me totally untracable Free Flight certificates for 25k each so I can hawk 'em on eBay or Coupon Connection.

I find it perfectly acceptable to do both. That is, I don't find any ethical difference between the two. If I buy a widget from a store, and then decide to trade it to my neighbor for a different widget, that's no different ethically-speaking than if I sold my widget in a garage sale to a stranger.

In practice, I don't sell my miles/points for cash and have only traded low-value hotel certs on CC. The reason is simply that I get more value when I use the stuff, not because I think there is a problem with it.

Airlines and hotels frown on all of this activity equally. I really don't get why some people think the bartering is all fine and good but if cash gets involved, somehow it's dirty.

Or, more specifically,

"What Loyalty Program Rules Have You Broken, and gotten away with?"

:D

it looks like no one want to fess up :p

Or... "Hey guys, I've been selling award tickets on eBay, and all of a sudden I can't log into my account. Any idea what might be going on?" ;)

I accidentally broke one.

I booked an award ticket for one flight that had seats available on a flex saver, then needed to switch to a flight that only had seats available for the next higher up point level. They switched my tickets with no extra fee, since a ticket, once awarded, is the same as any other ticket for the same flight number (even thought I was switching to the day before.)

I'm sure no one will believe me :eek: but I didn't start this thread in order to find rules I could break. I'm actually quite rule-abiding (the occasional coupon connection transaction aside) and intend to stay that way!

Coupon Connection ... is somewhat legal... as u are just bartering...