What Is The General Opinion On Using A Refundable Ticket For Lounges?
 

So this friday I had a coworker that needed a ride to LAX after work. Getting there around 1800 PST, she offered to buy a bite to eat but there were no curb side dining options.

I thought about driving back to Orange County but Google said it would take 1.5 hours. Instead I booked a fully refundable ticket and we chilled in the Alaska Airlines lounge using my Priority Pass and crediting food to my Amex travel allotment.

Is there a general opinion of such actions?

What Is The General Opinion On Using A Refundable Ticket For Lounges?
 

I expect most opinions will be that your actions were inappropriate.

Will you get "caught" doing it one time - probably not. But there was a fellow who made a habit of doing that and the airline eventually sued him for the value of the lounge access on the theory that there was never an intent to fly.


I wouldn't make a habit of doing that.

I can't give you a "general" opinion, just my own - pathetic and lame.

I'd file it under "Total d-bag move" to be honest.

You do realize I pay $450 for the Plat card right with lounge access being a perk?

if you have to ask....

Simple way of clearing this up, ask their airline you are buying the tickets from if it would be okay with them. If it is then your in the clear.

+1 I won't go into morals and ethics, as I think you intended. I just fail to see how the hassle is worth it.

If you don't have lounge access, go to a bar (there are always plenty in airports) and get a drink or something to eat. It will almost certainly be nicer than the lounge anyway. If you must have lounge access, use a pay lounge.

Going to such lengths for such marginal benefit - quite aside from ethics - is not something I would be boasting about.

Yes, the ticket is fully refundable, but purchasing a refundable ticket with the prior intent to use it solely for lounge access then checking in for a flight with no intention of travelling is, in my opinion, an abuse of the rules.

It may not be written anywhere that you can't do this, but that doesn't mean it's right. PP has provided you with a membership at a certain fixed rate on the understanding that it will be used only when you are travelling. That is why they require a same-day boarding pass. The fact that you know of a loophole that allows you access even when you have no intention to travel on that day is, ethically, a moot point.

I did not know that but you are still wrong.
If you lean to the left, it is acceptable.
If you lean right, not so

Article about a guy in China:

http://nypost.com/2014/01/29/man-use...ee-for-a-year/

My opinion is that I wouldn't make it a habit, but my reply to your query would be "whatever".

There's a difference between buying the ticket for gate access and buying the ticket for lounge access. The OP did the former.

The latter is reprehensible. The former isn't so bad (but I'm not saying it is good). After all, the airline did make money off the OP from Priority Pass.

One of the early OzFests featured a ground tour of the Sydney airport. After that we all headed for one of the terminals. Those who had guest access took themselves and another FTer into the Qantas Club. There weren't enough of those people to get all of us in, so a few of us did something like that to get two more people in. We all ended up being kicked out, but not because some of us were there on bogus refundable tickets - it was because we were being too rowdy! ("Too rowdy" in Australia is very, very rowdy by most other standards. :D ) I probably shouldn't have done it, but it didn't feel like a mortal sin at the time. It still doesn't.

Around the same time I was dating an American Airlines Executive Platinum desk agent. She told me of one EP flyer, at the time fairly active on FT as well, who would always buy refundable trans-oceanic tickets to follow his trans-continental trips in order to access the Flagship Lounges. (There were several more of them then than there are now.) Everyone at AA knew what he was doing, but they let him keep doing it. He flew nearly 200,000 paid miles a year, much of it in domestic F. They figured it was a small price to pay to hold onto his business. I have no idea if he knew they were onto his game.

Personally, I wouldn't make a habit of it. I don't think I've ever done it, other than the situation in the first paragraph above, though I've bought annual memberships, 30-day passes and day passes more than once each. I think calling it "reprehensible" is a bit strong, though. I'd put it a small notch above overtime parking.

I'm sure this is a trolling thread to elicit precisely the sort of reactions that have been posted. Either way, I'd agree with most of what has already been said.