Cheap way to buy Miles Booster miles without flying

I chanced upon this by accident.

I bought a mileage ticket yesterday and had to cancel it today. Being outside of 24 hours of travel, and because I made the cancellation within 24 hours of purchase, I received a full refund of both miles and taxes/fees. I was not aware of this latter benefit, and I can't find mention of it in the T&C.

In the interim, I'd decided to make use of the current 30% Miles Booster offer.

When I cancelled the ticket, I asked about this, and the VS agent said that the Miles Booster miles (plus 30% bonus) would still be credited.

I checked the T&C and was surprised to find this:

17. If the itinerary associated with the Miles Booster purchase is changed or the customer does not take the flight, payment is still taken at the point of sale of the Miles Booster purchase and the Miles will be credited to the Member’s Flying Club account within 72 hours after the originally scheduled date of the first sector of the flight in the itinerary.

The current offer works out at 0.77p per mile (and about 0.75p per mile if you pay for the Miles Booster on a VS CC).

So, this appears to be a completely legitimate way to purchase miles relatively cheaply if you need a quick top-up. I'm not sure if they'd stop you, or get suspicious, if you started doing this repeatedly.

I'll try to remember to report back to verify that the Miles Booster miles and bonus miles for this cancelled flight actually post to my account, and that I received a 100% refund. Unfortunately, I suspect this will be after the current Miles Booster promotion ends.

I doubt they mind at all.

Selling miles - even at the cheaper Miles Booster rate - is an important revenue stream. Crucially for VS, they've got your cold hard cash for something you may never use and, if they so pleased, they could devalue tomorrow.

Presumably this would also work if you purchased a fully flexible ticket, then put in for a refund.

I chanced upon this by accident.

I bought a mileage ticket yesterday and had to cancel it today. Being outside of 24 hours of travel, and because I made the cancellation within 24 hours of purchase, I received a full refund of both miles and taxes/fees. I was not aware of this latter benefit, and I can't find mention of it in the T&C.

In the interim, I'd decided to make use of the current 30% Miles Booster offer.

When I cancelled the ticket, I asked about this, and the VS agent said that the Miles Booster miles (plus 30% bonus) would still be credited.

I checked the T&C and was surprised to find this:

17. If the itinerary associated with the Miles Booster purchase is changed or the customer does not take the flight, payment is still taken at the point of sale of the Miles Booster purchase and the Miles will be credited to the Member’s Flying Club account within 72 hours after the originally scheduled date of the first sector of the flight in the itinerary.

The current offer works out at 0.77p per mile (and about 0.75p per mile if you pay for the Miles Booster on a VS CC).

So, this appears to be a completely legitimate way to purchase miles relatively cheaply if you need a quick top-up. I'm not sure if they'd stop you, or get suspicious, if you started doing this repeatedly.

I'll try to remember to report back to verify that the Miles Booster miles and bonus miles for this cancelled flight actually post to my account, and that I received a 100% refund. Unfortunately, I suspect this will be after the current Miles Booster promotion ends.

So quite a stretch i know, but at .77 a miles Dubai return at 80,000 miles is 616 plus 452 tax. Now there is availability 17th to 24th May, however the cheapest cash price on expedia for those dates is 2.3k + (ignoring Royal Brunei) What am i missing?

Presumably this would also work if you purchased a fully flexible ticket, then put in for a refund.

Yes, exactly: a bigger financial outlay prior to reimbursement, though.

So quite a stretch i know, but at .77 a miles Dubai return at 80,000 miles is 616 plus 452 tax. Now there is availability 17th to 24th May, however the cheapest cash price on expedia for those dates is 2.3k + (ignoring Royal Brunei) What am i missing?

Nothing at all: you'd just need to buy and cancel flights (reward, or fully flexible) that add up to 40,000 flown miles, and in the interim double-Miles Boost(er) those flights.

Just bumping this thread to confirm that I received full refund (including CC fee) today. The underlying miles should post in the next few days, and the bonus miles by the end of the month.