How to Beat High Airfares • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Beat High Airfares

#131

Post by euroclydon » Fri, May 06, 2011, 6:52 PM UTC

tibbon wrote: post #129

tptacek wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, because ethically, not liking the way somebody prices a good or service doesn't give you a free pass to abuse other consumers of those goods or services. If you believe obtaining the best possible price for a service by inconveniencing other consumers is ethical, I can save us a protracted and boring argument by stipulating that there is then nothing unethical about hidden-city itineraries. But if you don't think…

I'm still not sure why it's a big deal if I get off a plane at a stop, but getting off a train isn't a big deal. They could always allow some way for you to inform them, "I'm leaving, don't wait for me." (or simply you could just go to that gate and tell them. That way they aren't holding the plane, and no one else is at a loss. You don't inconvenience anyone else, except maybe a few confused people working at the ga…

It's a big deal because you are signaling your intention to to fly to destination C, not B, when in fact your hidden intention is only to go to B. This is called lying. Try telling them the truth, either by buying the single A->B flight or by telling the check-in clerk that you have no intention of flying to C, and you won't get the good price and may get banned from the airline.

Re: How to Beat High Airfares

#132

Post by tibbon » Fri, May 06, 2011, 9:14 PM UTC

euroclydon wrote: post #131

tibbon wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still not sure why it's a big deal if I get off a plane at a stop, but getting off a train isn't a big deal. They could always allow some way for you to inform them, "I'm leaving, don't wait for me." (or simply you could just go to that gate and tell them. That way they aren't holding the plane, and no one else is at a loss. You don't inconvenience anyone else, except maybe a few confused people working at the ga…

It's a big deal because you are signaling your intention to to fly to destination C, not B, when in fact your hidden intention is only to go to B. This is called lying. Try telling them the truth, either by buying the single A->B flight or by telling the check-in clerk that you have no intention of flying to C, and you won't get the good price and may get banned from the airline.

Again, for some reason no other form of transit seems to really care. Even if you tell them about it. What other businesses do this (really strange) practice? I can buy the entire Microsoft Office and only use Excel and Microsoft doesn't care.

Take a cruise somewhere, stop along the way and you think to stay there for good? They don't care.

Take a Greyhound bus somewhere and stay in the Arby's too long? They don't care if you want to stay in that random town.

Take a train somewhere, and they certainly won't care where you get off.

Buy a commuter rail pass that will get you to Worchester from Boston, tell the attendant that you're going to Worchester and then get off in Newton... they don't care.

And you know when the airline doesn't care? When you buy the ticket and don't show up at all. They'll happily take your cash, but it seems they don't want to take you halfwhere there.

Re: How to Beat High Airfares

#133

Post by [deleted] » Fri, May 06, 2011, 9:15 PM UTC

euroclydon wrote: post #131

tibbon wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still not sure why it's a big deal if I get off a plane at a stop, but getting off a train isn't a big deal. They could always allow some way for you to inform them, "I'm leaving, don't wait for me." (or simply you could just go to that gate and tell them. That way they aren't holding the plane, and no one else is at a loss. You don't inconvenience anyone else, except maybe a few confused people working at the ga…

It's a big deal because you are signaling your intention to to fly to destination C, not B, when in fact your hidden intention is only to go to B. This is called lying. Try telling them the truth, either by buying the single A->B flight or by telling the check-in clerk that you have no intention of flying to C, and you won't get the good price and may get banned from the airline.

[deleted]

Re: How to Beat High Airfares

#134

Post by euroclydon » Fri, May 06, 2011, 9:30 PM UTC

tibbon wrote: post #132

euroclydon wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a big deal because you are signaling your intention to to fly to destination C, not B, when in fact your hidden intention is only to go to B. This is called lying. Try telling them the truth, either by buying the single A->B flight or by telling the check-in clerk that you have no intention of flying to C, and you won't get the good price and may get banned from the airline.

Again, for some reason no other form of transit seems to really care. Even if you tell them about it. What other businesses do this (really strange) practice? I can buy the entire Microsoft Office and only use Excel and Microsoft doesn't care. Take a cruise somewhere, stop along the way and you think to stay there for good? They don't care. Take a Greyhound bus somewhere and stay in the Arby's too long? They don't ca…

The concept the airlines are employing is called market segmentation. It's legal and they have the right to do it. The concept you seem to be referencing is some generic measure of product utilization.

The office analogy is wrong. A better one would be the person who tells MS they are a student but uses Excel in their business.

The train analogy is backward, would you intentionally buy a ticket to a more expensive destination if your intention were to get off early?

Re: How to Beat High Airfares

#135

Post by sliverstorm » Fri, May 06, 2011, 9:30 PM UTC

aterimperator wrote: post #84

hugh3 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many man-minutes of inconvenience are you willing to create for random strangers for every dollar you can save for yourself? Come to think of it, this question is about as close to an objective measure of an individual's level of morality as we can get. Screw all theories of moral relativism; I can tell whether you're a good person or not by knowing how much money it would take to tempt you to leave an entire pla…

To be fair... money has different value to different people. I doubt any billionaires would care to waste 10 minutes of other people's time to save much money, because money doesn't have that much value to them. On the other hand, college students that eat lots of ramen are already valuing money more than their own health, so it seems natural that they'd place far more value on the money, even if they place the same…

college students that eat lots of ramen are already valuing money more than their own health

Speaking as a college student, college students eat ramen today so they can eat ramen tomorrow instead of eating steak today and not eating tomorrow.

And when I say "tomorrow", I really mean the whole week.

Re: How to Beat High Airfares

#136

Post by yters » Sat, May 07, 2011, 11:30 PM UTC

rhizome wrote: post #68

yters wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So whenever I can get away with crime it's someone else's fault? So you're the reason the lawyers don't let us do fun stuff in the US anymore!

What's the crime here?

That's an extension of your reasoning.

Nothing is forcing people to minimize costs at the expense of others. There are many things I could do that are not technically illegal, but cause great problems for others. Is the responsibility of corporations to make it costly for me to be immoral? That seems to be what you're saying.

Re: How to Beat High Airfares

#137

Post by rhizome » Mon, May 09, 2011, 11:51 PM UTC

yters wrote: post #136

rhizome wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the crime here?

That's an extension of your reasoning. Nothing is forcing people to minimize costs at the expense of others. There are many things I could do that are not technically illegal, but cause great problems for others. Is the responsibility of corporations to make it costly for me to be immoral? That seems to be what you're saying.

It's a perverse incentive, provided by the airline. I don't understand your point otherwise.