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When is a ‘travel hack’ unethical?

washingtonpost.com

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Re: When is a ‘travel hack’ unethical?

#41

Post by delecti »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #10

Looking at the reactions of people to this topic, I come to believe there are two general approaches to life. Some people try to look at the whole game and want everyone to win, so they play by the rules. In terms of prisoner's dilemma, they choose to cooperate. Others notice that the market economy is designed around people being selfish, so they use it to justify defecting - minding only their own short-term intere…

Going along with your argument only works if you assume that the airlines always cooperate, which seems to be universally false. Cooperating when you know the other player always defects isn't altruistic, it's just dumb.

Re: When is a ‘travel hack’ unethical?

#42

Post by ZenoArrow »

tomp wrote: post #36
venomsnake wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Air travel is not a free market - the capital requirements are insane, the cost of fuel is often subsidized by the government (you cannot tax or excise it IIRC), you have a lot of regulations and so on ...

Regulations are a part of a free market. They provide transparency and ensure that everyone is playing by the same rules.

> "Regulations are a part of a free market."

Are you sure? I've never heard another free market capitalist argue that government regulations are an important part of how their ideal market works. Can you point out any free market economists that have argued for government regulation?

Re: When is a ‘travel hack’ unethical?

#44

Post by zeveb »

> For instance, although Klaeysen holds a PhD, she won’t book a flight with the “doctor” title, because it implies she’s a physician, which may afford her preferential treatment.

Anyone who thinks that 'doctor' is reserved for physicians deserves whatever his mistake costs him.

As for the broader ethical issues: if one party wishes to charge differing rates according to certain attributes, then it's a-okay by me if the other party wishes to signal different attributes. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Re: When is a ‘travel hack’ unethical?

#45

Post by TeMPOraL »

ZenoArrow wrote: post #42
tomp wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regulations are a part of a free market. They provide transparency and ensure that everyone is playing by the same rules.

> "Regulations are a part of a free market." Are you sure? I've never heard another free market capitalist argue that government regulations are an important part of how their ideal market works. Can you point out any free market economists that have argued for government regulation?

How do those free market economists solve the problem of externalities?

Re: When is a ‘travel hack’ unethical?

#47

Post by mikeash »

venomsnake wrote: post #18
mikeash wrote: post #9

Let's compromise. I promise to be totally clear, transparent, and straightforward in my ticket purchases as long as the airlines are totally clear, transparent, and straightforward in their ticket pricing. Any takers? ...No?

I will take it - the airline charges the maximum their datamining of your information tells them you are able to tolerate.

And you will make available all the information that goes into that process, the algorithms applied to that information, and the prices offered to other people?

Re: When is a ‘travel hack’ unethical?

#48

Post by fancyketchup »

klipt wrote: post #37
TeMPOraL wrote: post #10

Looking at the reactions of people to this topic, I come to believe there are two general approaches to life. Some people try to look at the whole game and want everyone to win, so they play by the rules. In terms of prisoner's dilemma, they choose to cooperate. Others notice that the market economy is designed around people being selfish, so they use it to justify defecting - minding only their own short-term intere…

Hidden city tickets are weird because if the cost of flying A to B to C is lower than A to B, that implies the cost of flying B to C is negative . Does the government pay airlines to fly to podunk towns that wouldn't otherwise get service, or something? Why don't they just make that leg of the flight $50, but hand out $150 to everyone who's actually on board mid-flight? That would prevent people from booking the flig…

> Does the government pay airlines to fly to podunk towns that wouldn't otherwise get service, or something?

In some cases, yes. It's called "Essential Air Service." But that's not the usual reason for B->C having negative apparent cost.

Re: When is a ‘travel hack’ unethical?

#49

Post by dionidium »

Everybody in this thread is talking about the ethics of this in terms of our obligation to the airlines. But what about your obligation to yourself?

I'm not saying I wouldn't do this -- I probably would -- but deception in general makes me uncomfortable, and whether you think this practice is justified or not, it's clearly based on concealing intentions. That sort of thing should at least make you pause.

As a side note, I've noticed that people seem to get confused about this, in general. A cheating spouse will come up with all sorts of reasons that their behavior was justified, without ever addressing the core offense: they weren't honest about it.

Re: When is a ‘travel hack’ unethical?

#50

Post by joshu »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #3

I disagree with everything in this article. The assumption is that Americans should be scalped for airline tickets because, they're American and rich and deserve it. To take cheap tickets away from people in poorer countries by paying in Rupees or whatever is 'unethical'. Well, airlines are a for-profit business. They don't choose their rates out of some public-service motivation. They charge what they think they can…

I agree. The price of the thing should depend on the parameters of the thing and the buyer's willingness to pay the price, and not other factors.

That said, I thought ticket prices were regulated by the IATA?

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