grush

Hello,
I fly non-rev, however, to access lounge through Amex, and I need a boarding pass to go to a lounge, so I was thinking of getting refundable or first class ticket to anywhere, going to the lounge and canceling the ticket while I'm there.

Can I do that?
Thoughts on that?

Thanks
Andrew

Often1

Of course you can do that. Perhaps once. Engage in ticketing fraud with any regularity and you will find yourself in a whole lot of hot water, especially with the carrier issuing your non rev tickets.

Why not simply ask for a gate pass?

FirstInFlight

Trouble is in the eye of the beholder. You will have no trouble canceling the ticket. You will have no trouble accessing the club. You will have trouble if this becomes a frequent occurrence - maybe.

There have been cases where people bought refundable tickets and the ticket itself gained them access to the lounge. After repeated misuse, there were arrests and prosecution.

Your inquiry is different in that the access is unrelated to the ticket. Indeed, if you buy the ticket on a different card the AmEx folks might never know. Presumably the lounge will charge AmEx a fee but it's not clear that AmEx will ever catch the cancellations.

But you might draw attention to yourself from CBP if they realize that you routinely access the secure area and never fly (and then they detect the cancellations). You might also jeopardize your non-rev status.

The only way to know for sure would be to give it a try. I think you'll be safe once - and probably a few times if you spread them out. But you should report back and let us know.

Efrem

What they said. I did that once, no problem. I would be wary of doing it enough times for anyone to care if they noticed, because today's computers can notice that sort of thing.

Lost

This is the part that would make me jittery about doing what you are proposing.

Your employer may not be happy with you if you get caught, especially if you do it with your own airline or any airline you're trying to get a seat on.

I wouldn't have the cajones to try it.

Allan38103

You don't need an actual boarding pass if you're flying standby/space available. The same document that allows you through security will allow you into the lounge (assuming you are otherwise authorized access).

vgutkovsky

I heard that they've been implementing some smart algorithms to catch this type of thing...tread carefully.

LondonElite

Also, depending on your personal cash flow situation, you may find it a big deal that some airlines take many weeks to actually refund your money.

beckoa

grush, welcome to Flyertalk.

Please follow the redirect as we send this to TravelBuzz.

~beckoa, co-moderator Information Desk

Fabo.sk

Even if they do chatch the cancellations, once in a while, it might be a reasonable thing to happen. But not too often.

I suppose that he would actually fly, on non-rev ticket, but yes.

This is the one I would be most worried about, generally speaking if you bought a real refundable ticket and then fly out on a different revenue ticket, then everybody mostly got their money and unless you do this often, shouldn't care too much... but I wouldn't risk non-rev privileges over this.

pinniped

I've never understood why anyone would go to all of these cumbersome (and potentially illegal, or at least very suspicious to authorities) lengths to get lounge access.

The only lounges that are truly *great* will require a long-haul 3-cabin F ticket, a pretty significant cashflow pinch given how long it takes airlines to refund a ticket.

The rest of the lounges in this world are a bit 'meh' after a while, hardly worth risking detention/questioning about why I was sneaking into them. For all its flaws, a cheap Priority Pass membership handles my basic lounge needs in almost all places I actually want to use a lounge.

This just doesn't seem worth it. Get a credit card. Live with the sometimes-semi-crappy PP options. Don't do this.

KDS777

Seems like a lot of work for a free beer and nuts.

javabytes

pinniped

I'd be surprised if there's *no* way you could be charged with something for misleading the TSA to access a secure facility for fraudulent purposes. IANAL, but it seems like you could easily be detained, questioned fairly extensively, and charged with something - perhaps even trespassing. Reality? You'd probably get a warning and told not to do it again. Worth it to get into a crappy AAdmiral's Club and score some six-ounce cups of Bud Lite? No.

ibrandsguest

When I asked the US Airways Club how to get access to get there without flying, the staff TOLD me to book a ticket and then cancel it--as the OP proposes. This was about 10 years ago, though. At least then the staff could also arrange a "gate pass" to get through security.