Read This Before You Sell, Buy, or Trade Miles
Travelfli is tackling some of the major issues distressing frequent flyers today. However, when we pitch our company to others, they invariably suggest that we also tackle another huge problem for frequent flyers. Namely, figure out a way to allow people to sell, buy, and trade their miles.
As soon as this topic arises, we all start to shake our heads slowly. Believe me, we’ve looked into it. And each time we respond with the same simple answer: it’s illegal.
This weekend I was perusing through a handful of travel articles/blogs and I came across an example of this very situation. It will surely make us all think twice before we try to offload our miles.
Laura Moffit, a US Airways frequent flyer, lost 40,000 miles and her membership after attempting to sell them on Craigslist. Although Moffit claims she had no idea she was violating the program policy, US Airways didn’t appear to care.
“Award tickets may not be sold, purchased, bartered, exchanged or brokered,” said airline spokesperson Michelle Mohr in a statement. “Any transaction in violation is subject to deletion of miles. Further violation of this provision will result in program disqualification and could result in civil or criminal litigation.”
Although there are a handful of sites that will help you buy or sell miles, such as Award Traveler, they are not legal. If you get caught selling through one of these sites, most airlines will yank your miles and your membership. In fact, the site admits that buying, selling or trading miles is illegal. They go on to assure people that only United Airlines confiscates tickets. I wouldn’t buy it (especially taking into account recent news).
There IS one site that has developed a LEGAL bartering system to trade miles. Global Points Exchange (GPX) facilitates trading of miles you don’t want for miles you want. They have partnered with six airlines that frequent flyers can choose from to trade miles. It sounds great on the surface but the fees associated with trading miles are completely cost prohibitive and sometimes end up costing travellers more than just buying the dang ticket.
For instance, trading between 11,000-15,000 miles with American Airlines costs $180. Trading between 1,000-30,000 miles with Delta costs $30.00 + $0.01 per mile (which is $330 for 30,000 miles!) Then you tack on a processing fee for the broker, and there you have it…one expensive trade.
Moral of the story: we’ll keep our eye on mile trading and commit to taking a crack at it if the airlines lower their ridiculous barriers to entry. Until then, resist the urge to sell your miles because unless it’s through GPX, it’s most likely illegal.
Note: donating miles is perfectly legal and a great idea if you have miles you can’t use. The best site (IMHO) is Miles Donor.
