Well I called a bunch of these discount brokers for biz class tickets and found then to be no bargain at all. Today I called my TA who booked the cruise and she got us a good deal. The price less than Expedia, Priceline and the airlines and I get miles too.

Wow! What a way to find out you have to go to economy for such a long flight! Sorry to hear this and the poor response by them too. I'll never use them or any of these companies.

Outfits like Fly with Class are a scourge on the industry, and frankly you're lucky you didn't find yourselves sitting at YVR with no ticket at all, coach or otherwise.

Selling and brokering FF miles is specifically prohibited by every airline, and while it's not illegal per se, the airlines can, and do, increasingly so, cancel the tickets, seize the mileage account that "sold" the miles, and pursue the vendors and brokers to get them to stop.

Last year someone managed to hack my FF account at American Airlines and stole over 300,000 of my miles, which they sold to a broker, who in turn used them to sell premium-cabin tickets between N. America and Hong Kong to some unlucky customers. Here's the post I did covering this affair - http://www.fodors.com/community/fodo...lass-today.cfm

<i>Caveat emptor</i> was never truer.

Actually thanks for the warning. I check miles regularly now.