4 ms·

This is insane on a whole other level, because United profits when you don't get on that 2nd leg. If they're overbooked, they avoid having to pay to bump someo

by rconti 8y ago

This is insane on a whole other level, because United profits when you don't get on that 2nd leg. If they're overbooked, they avoid having to pay to bump someone. They incur less in fuel costs, as the plane lands in its destination city with a slightly greater fuel load. Some passenger somewhere has a more pleasant flight because they have an empty seat next to them.

394549 8y ago
> This is insane on a whole other level, because United profits when you don't get on that 2nd leg. Not necessarily. If you use use hidden-city ticketing, they lost out on extracting the extra money they wanted to charge you for going to your intended destination AND the extra money they may have been able to charge someone else for the leg you didn't take. That said, I think it's the airline's fault for using an over-complicated pricing model with odd behaviors that customers can take advantage of like this. There'd be no issue if they just charged the same per leg regardless of your final destination. That'd make everything transparent and totally remove the need for hidden-city ticketing.
- tempestn 8y ago
  It depends how you look at it. Once you've booked your ticket, United is better off if you don't take the last leg of the flight than if you do. Prior to booking, they would of course prefer you book the more expensive ticket. Forcing you to take the last leg is about encouraging you to book that more expensive ticket; it's not because they actually lost something when you chose to skip the final leg of the journey rather than take it.
- computator 8y ago
  > they lost out on the extra money they may have been able to charge someone else Not necessarily. Airlines have sophisticated yield management programs that should give them a good estimate on how many passengers are likely to skip the final leg of any particular route -- the airline can oversell the final leg by exactly the number of passengers who aren't likely to show up.
  - jrnichols 8y ago
    and am incorrect in thinking that if they now have an empty seat because you bailed on the leg, that they can let a standby passenger fill the seat?
nemo846 8y ago
I think they will just carry less fuel. Hauling around fuel - that has weight - you don’t use will just result in you burning more fuel than necessary. Heck, jetliners actually can’t land if the tank is too full - https://youtu.be/R9oqi6HteJg https://youtu.be/R9oqi6HteJg

by rconti 8y ago

394549 8y ago

> This is insane on a whole other level, because United profits when you don't get on that 2nd leg. Not necessarily. If you use use hidden-city ticketing, they lost out on extracting the extra money they wanted to charge you for going to your intended destination AND the extra money they may have been able to charge someone else for the leg you didn't take. That said, I think it's the airline's fault for using an over-complicated pricing model with odd behaviors that customers can take advantage of like this. There'd be no issue if they just charged the same per leg regardless of your final destination. That'd make everything transparent and totally remove the need for hidden-city ticketing.

tempestn 8y ago
It depends how you look at it. Once you've booked your ticket, United is better off if you don't take the last leg of the flight than if you do. Prior to booking, they would of course prefer you book the more expensive ticket. Forcing you to take the last leg is about encouraging you to book that more expensive ticket; it's not because they actually lost something when you chose to skip the final leg of the journey rather than take it.
computator 8y ago
> they lost out on the extra money they may have been able to charge someone else Not necessarily. Airlines have sophisticated yield management programs that should give them a good estimate on how many passengers are likely to skip the final leg of any particular route -- the airline can oversell the final leg by exactly the number of passengers who aren't likely to show up.
- jrnichols 8y ago
  and am incorrect in thinking that if they now have an empty seat because you bailed on the leg, that they can let a standby passenger fill the seat?

nemo846 8y ago

I think they will just carry less fuel. Hauling around fuel - that has weight - you don’t use will just result in you burning more fuel than necessary. Heck, jetliners actually can’t land if the tank is too full - https://youtu.be/R9oqi6HteJg https://youtu.be/R9oqi6HteJg