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US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

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Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#181

Post by cats_4_freedom »

nemomarx wrote: post #87
hopelite wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Related to that; I am curious in what airlines think they will get or what motivates them to prioritize being deceptive, sneaky, dishonest, manipulative, lying, con-artists, i.e., just abusive all around? If everyone is required to provide "all in pricing" then there is no competitive advantage in being a bigger, better fraud; so must it be concluded that they think they have a competitive advantage at being the bett…

First principle is that customers will choose whoever has the cheapest flights in general, and airlines that try to market on having an inclusive price without surprise fees suffer anyway because the real cost is closer to fees. The second is price discrimination - think current McDonald's prices. Soaking people who can afford it and letting people who are very frugal navigate your confusing system and membership etc…

Nope. A good airline is hard to find (as long as they aren't f@sc1st$)

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#182

Post by whatshisface »

makeitdouble wrote: post #94
ghaff wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm most familiar with United. Economy Plus (which is mostly about a bit more legroom) does have a modest premium absent sufficient status that gets you it for free. But Premium Economy that gives you somewhat wider seats as well as legroom gets into the hundreds of dollars. International business has lots of benefits including legroom and lie flat seating but that usually gets into the thousands.

Nothing should be allowed to be called "Premium Economy"

Premium doesn't have to mean "elite," it might also refer to a risk premium or any situation where a buyer has to pay extra. ;)

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#184

Post by lunias »

Flying has become such a terrible experience that I avoid it all costs. I'd love to take more trips, but the service is so poor that I can't justify supporting it more than absolutely necessary. I doubt anything will change though, the majority of other people seem to not really care.

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#185

Post by jghn »

jen20 wrote: post #115
jghn wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you never seen a confrontation erupt from this? Or a flight attendant "suggesting" the person being asked to move?

Despite flying at least 10-15 times a month on average, I have actually never seen this happen. Reddit suggests that there is an epidemic of it. The actual problem is an epidemic of terminally online dipshits making mountains out of molehills.

And yet as someone who only flies 10-15 times a year and being a terminally online dipshit, I have seen this happen. Not like one of those TikTok videos with fisticuffs, mind you.

I remember as I was annoyed that this whole thing was holding up my flight. Family asked someone to move, they declined, family kept insisting. Boarding line was getting held up due to this. FA arrives, starts imploring the man to move his seat, obviously just trying to get boarding complete so we can all move on with our lives. Eventually the man got up & changed.

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#186

Post by jjcob »

AtlanticThird wrote: post #153
jjcob wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you want to sit together, pay for that privilege This is evil. There is no cost to the airline to put people who booked together next to another. It's seems like Mafia-tactic to seat people apart from another unless they pony up another $500 in upgrades. I refuse to fly with United. I understand that there may not be 10 adjacent seats when flying with a big group, but spreading out a family on purpose just so yo…

What do you mean there is no cost? Aisle and window seats are more valuable and can be sold for more, and this would force airlines to sell them to families without any up charge they would've received from other customers

I have no issue with airlines offering reserved seats for money. Let people buy their aisle seats and window seats and exit rows.

Most people don't give a shit where they sit, so most seats are not reserved. Traditionally, airlines tried to just put people close together when they booked together. When we check in, we just get random seats that are close together. That's okay. I'm fine with taking whatever seats no-one else wants.

If I understand United marketing correctly, they will actively sit you apart from others in your group unless you buy an upgrade. That is, instead of assigning you some of the free spots close together, you get put as far apart as possible, and they hope that you will buy an upgrade to sit close together.

Other airlines don't do that.

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#187

Post by lstodd »

lumost wrote: post #112
hedora wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Checked luggage charges are mostly about price discrimination and not cost savings. They also free up the cargo hold so they can transport mail. Speaking of which, did you know the TSA screening area is a farce?

I’ve always wondered if it would be cheaper to just have everyone check their bags and eliminate the overhead bin. I wouldn’t be surprised if airline boarding was sped up by 2-3x this way.

OTOH it would overwhelm baggage reclaim and everyone will get stuck there instead.

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#188

Post by bilekas »

These two in particular :

> Automatic Refunds for Cancellations

> Transparency of Fees

How does a lawmaker justify this being in the publics interest ? I'm not even joking, I know "well lobbyist going to lobby", but this is a legitimate question. How does a regulatory body say "Yup, that's okay with us to remove" ?

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#189

Post by cwmoore »

asah wrote: post #107
jghn wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd pay $99 so that the person in front of me *can't* recline their seat

I'd pay $99.01 so I can recline again... oh wait, I see where this is going...

Why not? Let’s also reverse the auction, make a C2B market:

I’d offer $300 roundtrip to Lahaina for 5-10 days, airlines? Any takers?

Re: US airlines are pushing to remove protections for passengers and add more fees

#190

Post by tastyfreeze »

hedora wrote: post #45
eadmund wrote: post #17

> [Elimination of] Automatic Refunds for Cancellations Does this mean when the passenger cancels or when the airline cancels? If it’s when the passenger chooses to cancel, this seems fine and fair: he paid for a flight; he chose not to take it. If it’s the latter, then it seems very unfair. > Transparency of Fees This seems patently unfair. Folks should know what they’re going to be paying ahead of time. > Family Sea…

Family seating guarantees are pretty crucial. Many airlines have punitive seating algorithms (looking at you, Alaska), or pull crap like moving your seats around and separating you after you select them unless you have status (United used to, at least, since they had a practice of selling non-existing flights, then bin packing planes the day before) so without this you can end up having a breast feeding infant sittin…

A breast feeding infant doesn't require a seat. Children under 2 can sit on a parent's lap.
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