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It is nevertheless a wasted resource that could be used better. Indirectly it will cause all tickets fares to fall down which will benefit the people that actua

by plafl 10y ago

It is nevertheless a wasted resource that could be used better. Indirectly it will cause all tickets fares to fall down which will benefit the people that actually flies. I'm not against overbooking but forcefully expelling a passenger is just another step in the direction of making taking an airplane just such a shitty experience. The correct, common sense, ethical and business savvy way to proceed would have been to start bidding until some passengers sold back their tickets. That would have been fair instead of some fixed compensation that doesn't take into account all kinds of inconveniences you will suffer because of losing your flight. I try to avoid taking airplanes nowadays which is quite sad considering I'm an aerospace engineer. My only positive thought is that airports are a nice contained experiment everybody is forced to watch of what happens to people when there is a power imbalance, even if you live in a democracy.

flukus 10y ago
The following may not apply in other places as it does in Australia, so correct me if I'm wrong. Airlines don't care about unused seats, if they did we'd have last minute rates like we do for hotels. Hotels know it's better to have someone pay $20 a night than to have their capacity go unused at $50 so they'll drop the price for booking a day or two in advance. Airlines do the opposite, they charge more for booking late.
- dlubarov 10y ago
  It's just a form of price discrimination. Early bookers are usually price-sensitive individuals. They're prepared to shop around, or even forgo the trip if it's too expensive. Late bookers are mostly corporate customers or price-insensitive individuals. So airlines make the most revenue by setting prices low early on, and higher toward the flight date. They certainly care about unused seats, but the revenue from expensive last-minute bookings normally outweighs the revenue they would get from filling all remaining seats at a discounted price. They do their best to minimize unused seats by getting the prices right early on, and adjusting based on observed demand. But at a certain point, it makes sense to raise prices even if it's highly likely that there will be unused seats.

by plafl 10y ago

flukus 10y ago

The following may not apply in other places as it does in Australia, so correct me if I'm wrong. Airlines don't care about unused seats, if they did we'd have last minute rates like we do for hotels. Hotels know it's better to have someone pay $20 a night than to have their capacity go unused at $50 so they'll drop the price for booking a day or two in advance. Airlines do the opposite, they charge more for booking late.

dlubarov 10y ago
It's just a form of price discrimination. Early bookers are usually price-sensitive individuals. They're prepared to shop around, or even forgo the trip if it's too expensive. Late bookers are mostly corporate customers or price-insensitive individuals. So airlines make the most revenue by setting prices low early on, and higher toward the flight date. They certainly care about unused seats, but the revenue from expensive last-minute bookings normally outweighs the revenue they would get from filling all remaining seats at a discounted price. They do their best to minimize unused seats by getting the prices right early on, and adjusting based on observed demand. But at a certain point, it makes sense to raise prices even if it's highly likely that there will be unused seats.