211–220 of 335 posts
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And so does the incentive to try shenanigans that break the simple model of the game.
There's nothing to suggest the model is overly simplistic. Good luck convincing 100+ people to collude on those shenanigans at their own personal loss.
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They could have just used a rental car or a taxi. Airline crews don't have to travel by air. The amount of inflexibility displayed by United is breathtaking.
Needs to be a fast mode of transport to keep crew duty hours down, so ground vehicles are out. I was once on a plane at Dublin airport that had to wait for a few minutes behind a small jet that turned out to be the RyanAir (UK and Ireland low cost carrier) company LearJet which they use for positioning flight crews in an emergency or time sensitive situation. Surely United should have chartered a small jet to get cre…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They could have just used a rental car or a taxi. Airline crews don't have to travel by air. The amount of inflexibility displayed by United is breathtaking.
Needs to be a fast mode of transport to keep crew duty hours down, so ground vehicles are out. I was once on a plane at Dublin airport that had to wait for a few minutes behind a small jet that turned out to be the RyanAir (UK and Ireland low cost carrier) company LearJet which they use for positioning flight crews in an emergency or time sensitive situation. Surely United should have chartered a small jet to get cre…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They could have just used a rental car or a taxi. Airline crews don't have to travel by air. The amount of inflexibility displayed by United is breathtaking.
Needs to be a fast mode of transport to keep crew duty hours down, so ground vehicles are out. I was once on a plane at Dublin airport that had to wait for a few minutes behind a small jet that turned out to be the RyanAir (UK and Ireland low cost carrier) company LearJet which they use for positioning flight crews in an emergency or time sensitive situation. Surely United should have chartered a small jet to get cre…
The problem isn't overbooking. The problem is not auctioning the seats higher when overbooked. I've seen a number of overbooked southwest flights and people can't line up fast enough for a $300 flight credit + next available flight. I can't imagine it ever going over $1k. IMHO if any airline should continue overbooking it's SWA. No first class, no assigned seats. Most of the flights are short range with multiple flig…
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If you miss a flight they cancel the whole thing, including the return flight. Bastards.
Every single airline does this. In part, because people would often book returns because they were cheaper than one-ways.
However it's still a good idea to book each individual flight in a different transaction. Avoids any shennanigans on the airline's part for no-shows and there's no downside for the passenger other than a slightly longer booking process.
The problem isn't overbooking. The problem is not auctioning the seats higher when overbooked. I've seen a number of overbooked southwest flights and people can't line up fast enough for a $300 flight credit + next available flight. I can't imagine it ever going over $1k. IMHO if any airline should continue overbooking it's SWA. No first class, no assigned seats. Most of the flights are short range with multiple flig…
The problem is overbooking, though. Corporations are getting preferential treatment by being allowed to sell services which they're not going to fulfill. The boner people on HN have for objectivism really does get quite old.
The way it eas handled can definitely be improved, but you can't argue that it is inherently bad.
The problem isn't overbooking. The problem is not auctioning the seats higher when overbooked. I've seen a number of overbooked southwest flights and people can't line up fast enough for a $300 flight credit + next available flight. I can't imagine it ever going over $1k. IMHO if any airline should continue overbooking it's SWA. No first class, no assigned seats. Most of the flights are short range with multiple flig…
Yea, I agree the problem is not auctioning seats high enough. But the proximate issue is that United didn't offer cash, but $800 in United Fun Bux that are worthless for most people. The vouchers they were offering were only valid at dates United decided. The vouchers expired after a year. And they are offered in coupons for which you can only use one coupon per flight, and the excess value is lost. Practically all n…
This response feels knee jerk. It's been demonstrated in countless other threads (1) and articles (2) how economically important it is to overbook. Overbooking is central to airline profitability and their ability to provide flexibility - like partial refunds, or SW's "open tickets" policy on business select. As a consumer I appreciate these things and find them incredibly useful. United's response of "We'll push the…
>how economically important it is to overbook. I still don't believe this claim. A 727 seats 129, a 787 seats 290, and a 747 seats 366. That means it only makes flights slightly less expensive. I only travel a few times a year and I'd rather pay 2% more than get bumped off my flight. Why do we allow airlines to overbook but not movie theaters or other industries? This seems like an artificial advantage we've given th…
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Especially on Delta and American, I don't even get brusque professionalism, I get outright rudeness. The longer I've lived in the US, the more I've learned to minimize conversations to flight attendants to "I'll just have water", "thanks" and "have a nice day". AirTran (now part of Southwest) used to be really nice.
It's always interesting to me how much experiences vary, and how likely it is that our biases also color our perceptions. Almost always when I get on a Delta flight (admittedly I fly them the most), I'll get a friendly hello and what seems like a professional and genuine smile when I get my beverage. My last few experiences on Southwest have been a borderline sneer (if any acknowledgment at all) as I get on the plane…
I've had the complete opposite experience. I used to frequently fly southwest between Denver and PDX, and the flight crew were chill AF. You can almost guarantee a free drink or two on a southwest flight if you ask nicely -- I can't say the same about any other domestic American airline.