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Trading Airmiles (US Carriers)


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Does anyone know if one can trade airmiles of one frequent flyer progam to another individual that has airmiles in another program? If its possible is there a website that would act like a broker for a reasonable fee?

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Generally no, you can't send miles between programmes.

 

But the devil's in the details. Do tell, what airline to what airline? I know people sell miles on eBay all the time.

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Generally no, you can't send miles between programmes.

 

But the devil's in the details. Do tell, what airline to what airline? I know people sell miles on eBay all the time.

 

I'm confussed, if someone can sell their miles to another person then why couldn't they trade for those miles? How would the airline know that the miles they are transfering to another where paid for or traded?

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Remembering the old saying, "If you want something done, then do it yourself" I decided to call the airlines. What I found out is that its very easy to transfer miles, only drawback is it isn't cheap. I called United, American and Northwest and they wanted between $50 to $75 for each 5,000 miles that is transfered plus a fee for each transaction.

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I called United, American and Northwest and they wanted between $50 to $75 for each 5,000 miles that is transfered plus a fee for each transaction.

 

So you can trade between these three airlines? Or only inside each of their plans?

 

Example. I know United is $75 plus a tiny bit per 1,000 miles for family and more for non-family - but only on United.

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So you can trade between these three airlines? Or only inside each of their plans?

 

Example. I know United is $75 plus a tiny bit per 1,000 miles for family and more for non-family - but only on United.

 

Trading would have to be between two individuals and would be transparent between the airlines. For example I have airmiles with Northwest, American and United. United is the program I prefer. If another person has airmiles with two or three of the above but their preferred carrier was either Northwest or American then I would want to do an exchange. I would transfer 15k miles to them (either Northwest or American) and they would transfer 15K miles to my United FF account. Basically this would have to be done with trust, that's why I was hoping that a broker would be involved.

 

You have the United's costs wrong (check their website if you don't believe me). Each transaction cost $35 plus .015 cents a mile. Min 5K-Max 15K miles to be transfered each transaction. The other 2 airlines were only 1 cent a mile plus $25 transaction fee. So if I could find someone that wanted to trade me 15K United miles they would have to pay $260 to transfer the miles from their United account to mine. I would then have to pay $175 to tranfers 15K Northwest miles from my Northwest account to theirs.

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Good stuff Emil, thanks, especially the correction. One clarification: this trading has to be an equal number of miles exactly? Meaning (in effect) you couldn't actually sell them?

Edited by joekicker
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One clarification: this trading has to be an equal number of miles exactly? Meaning (in effect) you couldn't actually sell them?

 

The amount traded is strictly between the 2 parties and what they agree upon. So if someone like me had 14K miles of American and let say Hub had 12K miles of United we could do the trade. One of us would have to trust the other and do the transfer first which is done on line. Technically I don't see what would prevent someone from selling them. If I were to transfer 15K United miles to another person it would cost me $260 so I would want at least that amount or it would be a present. These transfers are really not that good of a deal unless your about to lose some miles because of inactivity. Right now I can pay United about the same $260 dollars and get double miles on my next flight which is 16K miles and I would still retain my American miles.

 

Also lets assume that I could get 4 individuals to transfer 15K United miles each to me and I reimbursed them their cost of $260. 60K miles is a free trip to LOS so my cost would be $1040 plus another $75 for taxes and booking fees for a total of $1115. This is less than the $1450 which I just paid for my next trip to LOS, however I will earn 32K miles on my paid flight so in reality my cost of $1450 is for 1 1/2 trip to LOS.

The best way to do a trade would be for the individauls to get awards tickets issued it the other person names and then just trade the tickets.

 

The only way I see that someone can make some bucks on their miles is if they have a friend or family member who hardly ever flys. Then get an award ticket issued in their name (I don't think the airlines charge for the miles redeemed, just taxes) and then that friend or family member gives the person some money for the ticket.

Edited by Emil
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Also lets assume that I could get 4 individuals to transfer 15K United miles each to me and I reimbursed them their cost of $260. 60K miles is a free trip to LOS so my cost would be $1040 plus another $75 for taxes and booking fees for a total of $1115. This is less than the $1450 which I just paid for my next trip to LOS, however I will earn 32K miles on my paid flight so in reality my cost of $1450 is for 1 1/2 trip to LOS.

The best way to do a trade would be for the individauls to get awards tickets issued it the other person names and then just trade the tickets.

 

According to United's website, you can only have a maximum of 15,000 miles transfered to you in a calendar year.

 

What if the recipient has already reached the 15,000-mile per year maximum?

In the event you try to transfer Mileage Plus miles to an account that has already received 15,000 miles from the Mileage Plus Transfer Mile program during the same calendar year, the system will automatically verify the number of miles eligible to be transferred and provide you with an error message, voiding that part of your transfer.

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There is a website, but I can't recall where at the time, that allows you to buy and sell airmiles. I know this doesn't help, but Emil's comment that it should be possible is true, as far as I know.

I did find the following (via Google, of course), but it's not the site I was looking for.

http://www.biztravelbrokers.com/pages/more...g_airmiles.html

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According to United's website, you can only have a maximum of 15,000 miles transfered to you in a calendar year.

 

Correct, while one can transfer 60K a year one can only receive 15K a year. My example was to show how costly it is to go this route. The only way that I would do this trading is award ticket for award ticket unless they have jacked up the fees on issuing an award ticket in another person name.

 

So if anyone wants to use 60K United miles and get a ticket issued to me, I'll use 70K American miles and get a ticket issued to them.

Edited by Emil
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Off subject, but only '$75 (£42) in taxes and booking fees'.

Boy do we get gouged in the UK...

Edited by jacko
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The only way that I would do this trading is award ticket for award ticket unless they have jacked up the fees on issuing an award ticket in another person name.

 

There are no extra fees with United for getting an award ticket in someone elses name, at least as recently as March. I got my dad an award ticket to China for 60,000 FFM plus $36 in fees. My upcoming trip to LOS was 60,000 FFM plus $47 in fees.

 

Off subject, but only '$75 (£42) in taxes and booking fees'.

Boy do we get gouged in the UK...

 

I think the fees are locality specific. See above.

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Generally no, you can't send miles between programmes.

 

But the devil's in the details. Do tell, what airline to what airline? I know people sell miles on eBay all the time.

 

 

How this works, is you pay the the owner of the miles and then he will get you the ticket in your name using his miles.

 

The only problem is trying to get a flight with the miles that the other party has in his airmile account. Most of the time there won't be a seat available for the time you want to travel using the other person's miles.

 

I know that some of the BM's here rag on using Northwest to fly to the LOS. They do have a good miles program and you can book a seat using your miles unlike some of the other airlines. You have to have him keep checking your dates. When you have the miles it is a lot easier. When you find something, jump on it before the mile's seats are taken. Going through a third party would take more time and sometimes the mile's seats will be gone by the time you both work out the deal.

 

Last year I used miles for two of my trips to Thailand and this year, one trip using miles back in July. The only problem is when flying using miles you don't earn miles. I try and keep my elite status at gold and sometimes platinum to earn the bonus miles and also have access to the Northwest Club.

 

I tired to give a friend miles for a LOS trip, but was told that I could get his ticket in his name using my miles on Northwest and this worked.

 

Emil, your plan would be great except for the amount of money it would take for all the transactions. Like you said, the best way is to just buy a ticket and earn miles for a free trip in the future.

 

LeoTex

Edited by LeoTex
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I purchased 100K US airways miles on Ebay for $1,500, enough for a business class ticket on Thai airways from JFK. The regular cost of this ticket was over $4K. Economy alone was about $1,500. Yes, by having the Ebay guy book my ticket using his miles, I did not earn any miles, but in this case the difference between economy and business was worth it.

 

If your dates are relatively flexible, you can put your reservation on "hold" for 48 hours and give the other person the confirmation code. In my case, we were on a 3-way call with the airline. But if you go this route, don't even THINK about trying to cancel or change your reservation because all the miles will go right back into the orignal account

 

Depening on how many miles you need, it may also be advantageous to transfer your miles into the other guy's account and have him make the reservation rather than transfering all his miles into your account, but as someone pointed out, it's a trust issue.

 

You can "earn" 25K miles on US airways by applying to a CC. 15K for AMX on Delta.

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