LX/ LH to go after "miles traders"
Mar 25, 2008, 7:14 pm
#1
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LX/ LH to go after "miles traders"
This is a word of warning that I've been asked to pass on by a very reliable first-hand source:
In a nutshell, Miles & More has started chasing people they believe are trading in miles proxies, namely Coop Superpoints. While they had noticed in the past that members would transfer Superpoints from their Coop accounts over to their M&M accounts and then issued tickets for other people, they now see an increasing amount of cases where one person's Superpoints are transferred to another person's M&M account. LX argues that this constitues a "trade", which would violate the terms & conditions of the M&M program. They also dislike the fact that some people out there actively publish (e.g. on Ricardo) that these kinds of deals were fine.
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I am not endorsing or refuting this point of view and merely act as a messenger.
Aus gut unterrichteten Kreisen ist zu hören, dass SWISS und Lufthansa Jagd auf Meilenhändler im Miles & More Programm machen. Den Käufern von Meilen werden die Gutschriften nicht weitergeleitet bzw. bereits gutgeschriebene Meilen wieder belastet. Die beiden Fluggesellschaften erwägen rechtliche Schritte gegen Teilnehmer an diesem Handel, welcher im Widerspruch zu den Teilnahmebedingungen sind. Aufgepasst, die scheinen es mit der Bekämpfung gegen den Missbrauch ernst zu nehmen!
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I am not endorsing or refuting this point of view and merely act as a messenger.
Mar 26, 2008, 1:23 am
#2
Moderator: Lufthansa Miles & More, India based airlines, India, External Miles & Points Resources
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M&M is behind ebayers trading points for quite a while. Often UA/LH will buy the award/points and then cancel the persons account. 
Mar 26, 2008, 2:14 am
#4
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: CH
Programs: LH
Posts: 1,780
Miles Traders
First of all, this step really does not come unexpected. While Miles and More might still make profit with the "Miles Traders", the customer of Miles and More might not like people that "use the system and do not get used by the system", whereby they can not book the flight they want.
But still, there are a couple of questions.
:-: Is there a sufficient legal base to do this? (flyinglawer, your turn)
:-: What happens in following scenario: Someone buys 80.000 miles (CHF 1.600 or € 1.000) and travels to America in Y. When he comes back, M&M debits his account by 80.000 miles because this was bought from a "Miles Trader"?
:-: What will the partner (for excample Coop and so on) do, when their miles/points are not accepted?
But still, there are a couple of questions.
:-: Is there a sufficient legal base to do this? (flyinglawer, your turn)
:-: What happens in following scenario: Someone buys 80.000 miles (CHF 1.600 or € 1.000) and travels to America in Y. When he comes back, M&M debits his account by 80.000 miles because this was bought from a "Miles Trader"?
:-: What will the partner (for excample Coop and so on) do, when their miles/points are not accepted?
Mar 26, 2008, 3:20 am
#5
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I always thought the "legal" (aka T&C conform) way to do this was to sell/auction and then transfer Superpoints from the seller's Superpoint account to a buyer's Superpoint account. IIRC, selling Superoints is allowed according to the COOP T&C.
Then the buyer converts the Superpoints residing on his Superpoint account to miles on his M&M account.
Then the buyer converts the Superpoints residing on his Superpoint account to miles on his M&M account.
Mar 26, 2008, 4:22 am
#6
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) --- or is it just another urban myth?
Mar 26, 2008, 5:01 am
#8
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Mar 26, 2008, 5:19 am
#9
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HON/SEN membership
What I can think they could do is cancel a membership of someone who does business with miles. As airoli named the thread, Mile Traders.
And that was the 2nd question, are you selling Miles? If no, why should they cancel your membership?
Mar 27, 2008, 4:50 am
#10
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Mar 27, 2008, 4:53 am
#11
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Mar 27, 2008, 5:02 am
#12
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LH/UA go after the name and address of the eBay seller. eBay will actually provide this data to them. If LH/UA find someone with a similar name/address in their FFP member files, they'll freeze the account for a very long review. Enjoy! 
Mar 27, 2008, 5:33 am
#13
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Mar 27, 2008, 6:15 am
#14
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Name/address is easy to circumvent. The question is, would they ask ebay if you just told them you had a technical issue and couldn't sell the miles to them (and obviously not accept any money from them either)?
Mar 27, 2008, 6:23 am
#15
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eBay hands over personal data of sellers to certain big companies/brands who participate in a certain eBay program. It's embedded in the fine print of the T&C.