Transferring frequent flyer miles/free ticket to another person - can it be done?

[E-Dog Night]

A buddy of mine travels quite extensively for business, and he has accumulated about a million and a half FF miles. When he travels for personal reasons, he almost never has to pay for his ticket, and he also will never be able to use all the miles he has. His miles accumulate faster than he can use them.

Recently, he mentioned that there might be a way to transfer a free ticket over to me, but he wan't sure. I'm planning to go to Ireland this August, and it would be mighty nice to save the $700-$800 round trip air fare.

Does anyone know how this works, or even if it works? Is it legal?

[The Evil Genius]

Depends on the Airline - and it usually costs a nominal fee - best bet is to look up the FF program rules at whatever Airline its associated with.

[JMS]

You can get a ticket for anybody you like if you have the miles. You can also transfer milage from one account for another account. But the latter usually costs money which makes such a transfer prohibitive.

[E-Dog Night]

You can get a ticket for anybody you like if you have the miles.

This is what I'm talking about! Hopefully, I can get one for Aer Lingus. Always wanted to fly on the Lingus. If not, Delta flies from JFK to Dublin.

[techboy]

My father does this for me all the time. It's how I'm a world traveler!

You want to have him redeem the ticket himself, with his miles, but have them issue it in your name. There will be taxes and fees, and possibly a fee for the different name, but they should be fairly minimal (unless it's British Air-British Air does not include the fuel surchage in the regular price of the ticket, so you have to pay that with the taxes and fees, and it can be hundreds of dollars).

Don't have your friend transfer the miles to you. That's ridiculously inexpensive.

By the way, the definitive place for all issues regarding flying, frequent flyer miles, and such is Flyertalk.

[techboy]

Oh yes... Try not to fly through London. It's my understanding that the city of London has imposed yet another tax this year on flights that end or stop there, and it's fairly steep.

Also, the general consensus is that the foreign airlines have better service and nicer planes than the domestics, so you might want to try to see if you can get a ticket on a foreign partner airline.

For example, my father's miles are with United, but for our trip to Vienna, we flew Lufthansa (one of United's partners), and I must say, it was much nicer than the United planes we've flown on (though we always fly Business class, so it's like comparing Filet Mignon and Kobe Beef... ).

[Mickalino]

absolutely can be done.....i used to work in a frequent flyer department for an airline

[E-Dog Night]

That's excellent info - thanks!

[@DCGoldPants]

Most places won't let you transfer miles. But, you can buy the ticket for the other person.