Purchasing a flight with someone else's frequent flyer points
 

Has anyone ever heard of companies that do this as part of their regular thing. A member of my family is planning to purchase such a ticket, and was told it is common in the States. It certainly is not common in my neck of the woods and sounds very strange and even fishy to me. He has been given a very good price for a ticket - and apparently some of the legs are bonus tickets purchased somehow. The airlines involved have confirmed the existence of the reservations and the ticket numbers, and we can see the details on the airline websites. But I am still worried. This was all done online and I don't know what is preventing the agent from cancelling the bookings after he is paid, although he did come recommended. I have googled his name and found no negative references, but also have not found a lot of details at all.
I am posting this on the lounge/ tips as well to get a wider audience.

Is the family member buying this ticket from a stranger? Risky though it is done. And it is not "legal" and your family member runs the risk of having the ticket canceled and not having a ticket and being out of the money spent.

"Legal" from the airlines point of view.

http://www.awardtraveler.com/articles.asp?articleno=27


http://www.smartertravel.com/travel-....html?id=12932


Let the buyer beware...

Is the reservation in the name of the person flying. A reservation in someone else's name is useless. will the flyer have member number and info to pull out if needed?

Generally if airlines found out about this they frown on it and may cancel the ticket.

I have done it.. My broker got me airfares for my wife and I. He used his air miles [south west] and only paid the designated fee [$10 each flight]. Also, a friend had purchased air tickets for his parents using amex/delta air miles [international flights].

One thing though, air tickets purchased with air miles do not have the same rate.. so, you are not really saving any money [in theory]

hope this helps..

It certainly is possible if the ticket is "purchased" with the miles in the name of the person flying.
When my partner died, I called AA to see if I could transfer or buy his miles -- 75,000 of them. I told her that he had died and she said that "technically" his account would then need to be closed. But then she said --clearly indicating she knew what she was saying -- that "he" could still "buy" me a ticket using those miles. So I did. Ironically 75,000 miles was a first class round trip to Hawaii, the same trip that we had planned as our last one and had to cancel because of his increasing Alzheimer's.

KatPen: Tell us the name of the company or link the website and we can give you a better idea how risky it might be . .

It's against the T&Cs of every frequent flyer program. The traveler runs a real risk of the trip being canceled, and the "seller" of the miles to the third party runs the risk of losing all his/her miles and the FF account being closed.

This is not urban legend - the airlines pursue these companies rigorously.

Thanks all. I had never heard of this before so your replies (as always) have been very useful...the links in particular.
NeoPatrick I am sorry to hear about your partner. I always enjoy your posts and am glad you made the trip to Hawaii.
I will pass on all your replies.