Did you accept these "invites"? If so, you still broke the rules and would have paid the price IF caught, as you admit by if you had been caught when "bending" rules.
The bottom line is that PB not only threw the rule book out the window with Robbie Savage (whe was quite capable of flying to various other places during his career, why was this occasion different?), he had also been disciplined twice previously for his behaviour, involving rule breaches (stripping to your kecks can be enough for an Indecent Exposure chatrge to be laid at you, so if that ain't breaking the rules I don't know what is), and he found out that you only get three strikes before you are out.
Why is that so difficult for some to understand?