Airline miles (and other rewards points) have increasingly become a currency, given how fervently some people collect them, and what great rewards they can unlock. I know I value miles immensely, and even assign values to each individual points currency.
Continue reading: Can You Sell Airline Miles? Is It Against The Rules, Illegal, Or What?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Airlines might skimp on technology to aid flyers but their technology used to sniff out consolidators buying miles and FF selling miles seems to be very effective. If you sell miles do so accepting that you might be thrown out of the airline's FF program and any remaining miles confiscated.
I fully get it, but I do have to say that my 25 year frequent flier points hobby was initially sparked by a friend who ran a points brokerage on the side and got us those amazing Lufthansa First seats with the rose and the Hi-8 VCR for next to nothing. (He gave up on the brokerage eventually because the airline IT systems were getting too smart)
@Lucky. However, if you earn your AA miles through Bask Bank, then the miles earned in lieu of interest ($) are taxable. The tax rate is still considerably better then if I earned $ as interest.
Seems like you could easily get away with this once or twice without arousing suspicion.
You should also include the selling/bartering of upgrade certificates that the airlines distribute
I use my Alaska Credit card to maintain my status in spite of my reduced travel. If that situation changes, I would stop doing that.
Marshall
Back around 2002 I was 16 and my dad used a “mileage broker” to get me a business class ticket on UA DEN-SFO-NRT-HKG. I remember freaking out when I heard my name called at the gate in DEN. They called me up to the counter and were asking me all sorts of questions; how did I know the person who booked the ticket (he had told us to tell UA if they asked that he and my dad worked together, so I did), asked how long they worked together, where they worked, what details I knew about the guy, etc. I legitimately thought they were going to cancel my ticket right then and there but maybe because I was young and obviously nervous as heck, they let me continue. They definitely knew something was up though and this was 23 years ago. Never went the mileage broker route again!
The problem with relying on advice from a blogger ,that selling miles is not a crime, is not going to help you if you are charged with that crime in Utah.
I'm not a lawyer, but I was a mileage broker in the 90's and I know that Utah has or had a criminal law against selling miles.
This reminds me of the Reddit forum where people give advice about taking their prescription narcotics to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Singapore, etc.
I'm sure everyone realizes that invoking the name of " RedditUser036 " that taking your scrips with you is OK, won't help if you are arrested.
As a practical matter, nobody to whom I sold a biz class ticket was ever even questioned by an airline. That's because I would not strip all the miles out o an account in a day if someone wanted to sell, and I was very small time compared to someone like Raejean Bonham (google that name for a great read). I know two brokers who sold to Bonham and lost a $9 mill suit to Delta .
When I was 8 yo & learning English, my teacher told us never to end a sentence with “what”. She said it was improper or “bad English”.
Haha .. bingo.
And if said blogger sells miles through his website, all the more you should not heed his advice.
Lucky, do you sell miles via LifeMiles etc. on this site?