6 ms·

Yeah. For instance, let's talk about the $29 I paid to American Airlines recently for "priority boarding," before I found out the flight was less than 1/3 full

Yeah. For instance, let's talk about the $29 I paid to American Airlines recently for "priority boarding," before I found out the flight was less than 1/3 full. I got what was offered, but I got no actual value out of it. AA essentially scammed me out of $29, because I never would have taken the offer had I known there were so few people on the flight. Edit to add: they made me this offer at the airport kiosk, immediately before my flight boarded. They knew it wasn't anywhere near full.

ceejayoz 4y ago
The fees described in the article aren't optional; resort fees, ticketing fees, etc. tend to be mandatory. They're fundamentally part of the price, but not part of the price shown. An optional fee for priority boarding is very different. (I don't understand the folks who want to rush onto the plane to sit in a less comfortable seat, but that's a different issue entirely.)
- pxx 4y ago
  Priority boarding offers a slight bit of insurance against the possibility of the plane running out of overhead compartment space. The post you're responding to is essentially a complaint that they purchased insurance (at a known negative expected value) and didn't see a payout. Which on its face is ridiculous.
- kayodelycaon 4y ago
  Priority boarding is useful if you want to avoid having your bag checked and being separated from it. (Pretty much guaranteed to happen if the flight is nearly full.) It doesn’t happen often but checked bags can get lost. Also, waiting 10~15 minutes to pick up your bag can be annoying after a long flight.
BurningFrog 4y ago
When they sold you the ticket, AA didn't know how full the plane was going to be.
- HarryHirsch 4y ago
  Given that they have statistics going back decades, that's just not true.
  - ceejayoz 4y ago
    Sure it is. They get these stats wrong all the time; it's why they have to pay $600 for a couple volunteers to take a later flight because they've overbooked and got the estimation wrong. Stats don't lend themselves to perfect predictions.
    - Zak 4y ago
      I doubt that's a case of getting it wrong so much as calculating the acceptable rate of compensation paid in order to maximize profits. Most of the time, there's somebody who's happy to have the free travel. I've done it and the compensation was approximately one free transatlantic round trip in exchange for spending the night in an airport hotel. The cost to the airline is, of course not the face value of the voucher.
- actually_a_dog 4y ago
  They did when I checked in at the airport kiosk, which is where they made me the offer.
  - BurningFrog 4y ago
    OK, I can't defend that...
richwater 4y ago
Haha you didn't get scammed out of anything. You knew the service, the possibilities and everything else. Stop complaining.
dataflow 4y ago
What do you expect them to do when they find out the flight is 1/3 full after you've already booked your ticket?
- actually_a_dog 4y ago
  I expect them not to make me an offer at the airport check-in kiosk that they know I'll get no value out of.
  - ceejayoz 4y ago
    You wanted to board before the other passengers, you got to board before the other passengers. You got what you paid for, and it was entirely optional. That's nothing like the mandatory fees from the article.
    - actually_a_dog 4y ago
      No, in fact, I did not truly get what I wanted. I got bumped into the next higher group, which had literally no effect on anything. To put a finer point on it, I wanted to get some value out of my $29. I got none. If I said "Hey, give me $29. I'm not gonna give you anything, I just want $29," would you give it to me? Transactions in capitalism are supposed to be voluntary, mutually beneficial exchanges. What benefit did I get? AA exploited an information asymmetry to scam me out of $29.
      - NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
        >I wanted to get some value out of my $29. I got none. It's not for sellers to make value calculations for buyers. Caveat emptor.
        actually_a_dog 4y ago
        Bullshit. If the flight were full, as per usual, then yes, I would agree. Under normal circumstances, I could evaluate this offer and decide that yes, it was worthwhile. But, here, they clearly exploited an information asymmetry to make me a zero value offer, knowing there was some probability I'd accept. Caveat emptor only applies when you have some way to evaluate or vet the offer in advance. With the hidden information that was kept from me, I was robbed of such opportunity.
MattGaiser 4y ago
Not sure how you were scammed. You still got to go first, which is the service you purchased, didn’t you?
chucksmash 4y ago
The a la carte add-ons American offers are never worth it IMO. There are nine boarding groups and buying the priority boarding doesn't put you in group one, it puts you in (iirc) group four, which means while you will definitely find a place for overhead luggage, you also still need to stand around while everyone starts crowding the main boarding lane as groups 1-3 are called to board and play the "excuse me, are you group X? excuse me, are you group X?" sorting game. The upgrades to first class, main cabin extra, and preferred seating never really become better priced either, even if the flight is empty. Especially do not do the "$80 for 800 more AAdvantage miles" options they give you, which (again, iirc) over-value the miles by 5-10x. If you fly American a lot, the branded credit card is the way to go. Not sure if the same is true for the other carriers, but I'd suspect it is. Even with the most basic economy ticket you get most of these optional add-ons (one checked bag, better boarding position, select your seats) as a cardholder. Credit card spend also counts towards status qualification for AA now, so CC spend can get you across the line to gold status if you might not have made it otherwise, and at that point you'll start to get upgrades to business/first on flights where everybody on the plane doesn't also have status. That will put you in boarding group 1, which, hey, mission accomplished and you didn't even need to spend $29 at the kiosk :).
kofejnik 4y ago
Why do you want to spend MORE time crammed inside a plane? As a person who always goes in the very last second, I don’t get it

ceejayoz 4y ago

The fees described in the article aren't optional; resort fees, ticketing fees, etc. tend to be mandatory. They're fundamentally part of the price, but not part of the price shown. An optional fee for priority boarding is very different. (I don't understand the folks who want to rush onto the plane to sit in a less comfortable seat, but that's a different issue entirely.)

pxx 4y ago
Priority boarding offers a slight bit of insurance against the possibility of the plane running out of overhead compartment space. The post you're responding to is essentially a complaint that they purchased insurance (at a known negative expected value) and didn't see a payout. Which on its face is ridiculous.
kayodelycaon 4y ago
Priority boarding is useful if you want to avoid having your bag checked and being separated from it. (Pretty much guaranteed to happen if the flight is nearly full.) It doesn’t happen often but checked bags can get lost. Also, waiting 10~15 minutes to pick up your bag can be annoying after a long flight.

BurningFrog 4y ago

When they sold you the ticket, AA didn't know how full the plane was going to be.

HarryHirsch 4y ago
Given that they have statistics going back decades, that's just not true.
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  Sure it is. They get these stats wrong all the time; it's why they have to pay $600 for a couple volunteers to take a later flight because they've overbooked and got the estimation wrong. Stats don't lend themselves to perfect predictions.
  - Zak 4y ago
    I doubt that's a case of getting it wrong so much as calculating the acceptable rate of compensation paid in order to maximize profits. Most of the time, there's somebody who's happy to have the free travel. I've done it and the compensation was approximately one free transatlantic round trip in exchange for spending the night in an airport hotel. The cost to the airline is, of course not the face value of the voucher.
actually_a_dog 4y ago
They did when I checked in at the airport kiosk, which is where they made me the offer.
- BurningFrog 4y ago
  OK, I can't defend that...

richwater 4y ago

Haha you didn't get scammed out of anything. You knew the service, the possibilities and everything else. Stop complaining.

dataflow 4y ago

What do you expect them to do when they find out the flight is 1/3 full after you've already booked your ticket?

actually_a_dog 4y ago
I expect them not to make me an offer at the airport check-in kiosk that they know I'll get no value out of.
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  You wanted to board before the other passengers, you got to board before the other passengers. You got what you paid for, and it was entirely optional. That's nothing like the mandatory fees from the article.
  - actually_a_dog 4y ago
    No, in fact, I did not truly get what I wanted. I got bumped into the next higher group, which had literally no effect on anything. To put a finer point on it, I wanted to get some value out of my $29. I got none. If I said "Hey, give me $29. I'm not gonna give you anything, I just want $29," would you give it to me? Transactions in capitalism are supposed to be voluntary, mutually beneficial exchanges. What benefit did I get? AA exploited an information asymmetry to scam me out of $29.
    - NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
      >I wanted to get some value out of my $29. I got none. It's not for sellers to make value calculations for buyers. Caveat emptor.
      - actually_a_dog 4y ago
        Bullshit. If the flight were full, as per usual, then yes, I would agree. Under normal circumstances, I could evaluate this offer and decide that yes, it was worthwhile. But, here, they clearly exploited an information asymmetry to make me a zero value offer, knowing there was some probability I'd accept. Caveat emptor only applies when you have some way to evaluate or vet the offer in advance. With the hidden information that was kept from me, I was robbed of such opportunity.

MattGaiser 4y ago

Not sure how you were scammed. You still got to go first, which is the service you purchased, didn’t you?

chucksmash 4y ago

The a la carte add-ons American offers are never worth it IMO. There are nine boarding groups and buying the priority boarding doesn't put you in group one, it puts you in (iirc) group four, which means while you will definitely find a place for overhead luggage, you also still need to stand around while everyone starts crowding the main boarding lane as groups 1-3 are called to board and play the "excuse me, are you group X? excuse me, are you group X?" sorting game. The upgrades to first class, main cabin extra, and preferred seating never really become better priced either, even if the flight is empty. Especially do not do the "$80 for 800 more AAdvantage miles" options they give you, which (again, iirc) over-value the miles by 5-10x. If you fly American a lot, the branded credit card is the way to go. Not sure if the same is true for the other carriers, but I'd suspect it is. Even with the most basic economy ticket you get most of these optional add-ons (one checked bag, better boarding position, select your seats) as a cardholder. Credit card spend also counts towards status qualification for AA now, so CC spend can get you across the line to gold status if you might not have made it otherwise, and at that point you'll start to get upgrades to business/first on flights where everybody on the plane doesn't also have status. That will put you in boarding group 1, which, hey, mission accomplished and you didn't even need to spend $29 at the kiosk :).

kofejnik 4y ago

Why do you want to spend MORE time crammed inside a plane? As a person who always goes in the very last second, I don’t get it