Cheating for FF miles
 

Bending the rules creatively seems to be a popular pastime on FT... but where do you draw the line?

One example case: some time ago, an acquaintance of mine <cough> booked a longish award trip. The tickets came stencilled "BONUS AWARD" and price "0.00"... but, due to the cancellation of the planned flight a few days before departure (thanks Saddam), the flight was rebooked onto another airline and the new tix had no award markings, except for that "0.00" bit. So, after the trip said acquaintance figures "what the hell", and submits the stubs to the FF member service with no additional documentation. Ka-ching, a few weeks later 6000 miles appear in his account! Fair compensation for the reticketing hassle, or unethical cheating?

A few more hypothetical scenarios:

1) I buy a Y ticket, but get bumped to C at check-in. What happens if I send off the C stub? (Flight miles already registered as Y.)

2) I get a cheap round-trip and fly one way only. Is there any way of getting points for the return leg, short of checking in and then no-showing? (And were I to do this, how I can I tip off the airline to not hold the plane for me while not sabotaging my mileage?)

first case: I probably would just passivly 'accept' the mileage credit (if it would be on my LH miles&more account, I would tell my local LH angels, and they would probably say: 'thank you for telling us' and 'enjoy' - they did so in the past)

1) I buy a Y ticket, but get bumped to C at check-in. What happens if I send off the C stub? (Flight miles already registered as Y.)

my experience with all StarAlliance carriers (and LX and KL): they will only credit the miles for Y, and not change that after you send them the C stub (as the C stub is, int heir records which they will check, still shown as an upgraded Y stub). Wrongly higher credits can (as an exception) happen, if the agent 'doing' the upgrade/rebooking does that wrongly.

2) I get a cheap round-trip and fly one way only. Is there any way of getting points for the return leg, short of checking in and then no-showing? (And were I to do this, how I can I tip off the airline to not hold the plane for me while not sabotaging my mileage?)

I never got (accidently) credit for 'throw-away' practice. In add you risk other 'sanctions' doing so. A very good friend of mine, when 'having' to throw away the last segment, plays the game as follows (and doing so was never 'punished' with a later higher fare etc):
a) at his final stop (before the 'throw away-segment') he goes to a ticket counter and says that he unfortunately can't take the booked last segment (or return segment) and that he expects to get a refund
b) getting (the expected) answer, that no refund is possible, he, with tears in his eyes, very much regrets and says, that he is disappointed, but still, for the 'sake' of airline-management, the agent should nevertheless cancel his last sement ...

Trust me they won't "hold the plane" waiting for you. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Since I assume you mean holding the seat, even though you checked in, if you don't get on, the miles won't show up (at least not on the airlines I fly). You probably could call up and tell them that segment never showed up and you want your miles, and may get them.

Ethical? You really shouldn't intentionally be throwing away the last segment, or asking for the miles. With that said, I throw away last segments at times, but I don't ask for the miles. You also shouldn't ever drive over the posted speed limit.

Airlines overbook all the time based on the history of no-shows and various other reasons. So you are probably already calculated into the expected load as just another no show. While the airline would prefer to know, standby's would thank you for not showing up.



[This message has been edited by 1K_From_SNA (edited 10-05-2003).]

At least for AirCanada they know if you flew the segments or not.

With AA they know if you flew.

Continental is hit and miss in this regard.
A few years ago I missed the last leg of a two segment flight and was credited for the mileage (BP obtained at first check in). Recently, I have skipped the return flight on a RT after checking in and was not credited. I suspect that the airlines' IT systems are becoming more sophisticated now and it will become more and more uncommon to get the credits.
Oh for the old days when it was not too difficult to get full mileage credit on award trips by getting your FF# into the system anywhere along the way.

You get better chance of getting "C" credit if you are flying a partner airline.

With the own airline, as said, you will get "C" credit only if the upgrade was done incorrectly. I had this happen on a return from Singapore.. and it credited as "C" miles.. very nice indeed.

UA also knows if you fly.

In fact, I once checked in at Denver, got my boarding pass, and actually boarded the plane (BP was sent through "the machine"). Due to mechanical problems that developed after boarding, we had to disembark, and I arranged for some alternate transportation. The plane did eventually take off, without me.

I kept watching for those miles, but they never showed up...

On AA, and I'm pretty sure its the same on other airlines, checking in doesnt have any bearing on getting the miles. You are not considered having flown till your BP is collected/read at the gate/jetway.

If you check-in and leave without ever showing up at the gate and boarding your recoerd will be treated as a no-show. No miles.

Howdy,

I would call AA and tell them about a mistake on my account as I certainly do call when a mistake is made in their favor. The one time I did this (mistake in my favor) they also told me to enjoy the miles and that they would make a note of it for their IT department. To each his own; but I sleep better this way.

In regards to credit for mileage not flown; sometimes it is given - I have asked for it in the past when flying on a full Y ticket and due to missed connections did not make the flight and ended up driving. Officially I think the policy is to deny this - only miles for miles actually flown. However, the one time I did ask for credit; they gave it to me. The way I see it (and perhaps whomever I spoke with at the time saw it) I paid for the flight; part of that ticket price paid for my miles. By not sitting in my seat; at a minimum they used a bit less fuel perhaps - either way - they were out nothing by crediting me with the miles.

This was an exception I believe - not the rule, so it isn't something I would expect. I was happy to get the credit.

Keep the faith,

Pakse

That is not my recent experience. I had checked in for a cross-country return flight. During my long wait (I had checked in extra early and the flight was delayed), I called the office and they wanted me to go somewhere else ASAP. I could not change my flight (different payors), so I bought another ticket and flew out.

Wound up with miles from the un-flown cross-country flight and the one I actually flew.


I just had the same experience returning from SIN, credited for F (which was my outbound class) instead of C (which was my return class).

What to do, what to do????
So far, it has only happened these 2 times. And for all the hassle I have gone thru over the years to get legitimate miles posted (and some that never were), I think it evens out.

------------------
Da DOK

Getting milage credit for a bonus award, where you know for certain you should not get credit and are only able to do so because of an administrative mixup is unethical.
Would it be a common course of action for most people? Sure, as evidenced by this thread and the other "ethics" thread. So it couldn't be said that it was an "unusually unethical" course of action.
But dude, you are trading your personal honor and integrity for just a few FF miles. Selling out is the norm these days but, sheesh, hold out for a million bucks or a guest slot on the Tonight show or something.

This says it well:

"...it couldn't be said that it was an "unusually unethical" course of action.
But dude, you are trading your personal honor and integrity for just a few FF miles..."

If the airline happens to make a mistake that falls in your favor, that is one thing. It is not your job to clean up records when it is contrary to your interests, any more than you should show up at the police station and volunteer to pay a fine because you were speeding earlier in the day. On the other hand, if you are deliberately misrepresenting the facts to beat the airline out of miles, then that is another matter entirely and it is clearly unethical. The title of the post is "Cheating for FF miles". It takes some seriously tortured logic to say that cheating is not unethical or that it is somehow okay to do that.

On the other hand, I once was flying OAK-LAX-east coast. (I used to do that a lot when OAK was more convenient than SFO.) I boarded one flight, then it was cancelled for a mechanical. I boarded a second flight....delayed for a mechanical which had to wait for a part to be driven over from SFO. I was going to miss the last flight out of LAX. So, I got off the plane and talked to an agent. The best option was a SFO-LAX flight leaving in about an hour. I dashed to my car, got across the bay, pulled in to short term parking at SFO 15 min before departure and made my new flight.

Anyway, in the end I was credited for all 3 flights. Somewhat amusing to see
OAK-LAX
OAK-LAX
SFO-LAX
all on the same day on my statement

Edited to add: this was all on UA back in the days of shuttle

[This message has been edited by BlatheringPenguin (edited 10-07-2003).]

So the dividing line is your own actions: letting extra miles fall into your account is OK, doing something to mislead the airline for them is not?

As for the flip side of the coin, I think there are some common airline practices that border on unethical; charging more for one-ways than returns, and changing more for X-Y than X-Y-Z flights spring to mind. (And not just charging, but levying penalties on those who bend these rules too!) My own conscience would not be terribly bothered if, say, I got the miles for a throwaway return, which I had to buy in the first place only because there were no cheaper one-ways available.