4 ms·

They are turning the international air travel treaty on it's head. This is the country's regulators fault not the carriers fault. Australia bans carriers from

They are turning the international air travel treaty on it's head. This is the country's regulators fault not the carriers fault. Australia bans carriers from flying domestic flights to protect their local carriers, but international carriers are allowed to make one connecting flight by treaty all over the world. Presumably the flights are profitable or they wouldn't run them, but it's Australia's fault that you can't buy a ticket not the airline's fault.

demondemidi 3y ago
Loopholes are both parties’ fault. The regulators for forgetting or lacking foresight. And the perp’s for being slimy. Unfortunately being slimy isn’t illegal.
- mattmaroon 3y ago
  I don’t think optimizing revenues legally is slimy. If flying from wherever to Adelaide with a stop in Melbourne where most people deplane is both legal and profitable I’d hardly consider them slimy for doing it. Stupid regulations like the one necessitating this drive costs up for passengers.
  - demondemidi 3y ago
    We have different ethics.
- fallingknife 3y ago
  This practice is not slimy by the airline because everyone is getting exactly what they paid for. The passengers to Melbourne are getting a flight to Melbourne. The passengers to Adelaide are getting a flight to Adelaide. The government is getting the industry protection from international competition that it wanted by banning the airlines from selling flights from Melbourne to Adelaide to fill the seats. The airline wants to minimize empty seats and the government wants to allow domestic airlines to extract excess profit by protecting domestic airlines from competition but DGAF about empty seats. Therefore it is the governments fault that there are empty seats.
mattmaroon 3y ago
Only part I don't understand is why not sell tickets if you're making that flight anyway? There are several direct flights between those two cities every day so there's at least some demand. Some people are flying that leg so you're still doing all the stuff you do when you do a commercial flight. Surely a little extra boarding/deplaning time is worth the fares you'd get. Why not pack the plane and get the sales? I am sure there's a reason (it's too obvious to not have occurred to an airline to sell tickets on a flight) why they think it's not worth it, I am just curious what it is.
- tennis_80 3y ago
  The article says a few passengers continue on to the final destination, so they’re not saving much in terms of crew / logistics. Maybe it’s an attempt to avoid drawing too much attention from the regulator? If they started offering internal flights in Australia they’d be stepping even more on Qantas toes.
- laverya 3y ago
  You can't legally sell domestic flights in a foreign country. (for these purposes, the EU is one country) This is true for Australia, for India, for the USA, for the EU - an airline like Delta can fly to Sydney from LA but not sell domestic flights from Sydney to Melbourne. (Or, for that matter, international flights between Sydney and Singapore) However, there is a catch! Airliners did not used to have quite the range they do today, and so the treaties allow things like refueling stops. And they (sometimes!) allow passengers to embark/disembark at those stops - but those passengers still have to be flying the international leg, or else it would be a domestic flight. There's a Wendover video from years ago that's relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thqbjA2DC-E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thqbjA2DC-E
  - mattmaroon 3y ago
    Oh I see. So the few people on that last leg are just ones who booked a flight to Adelaide and they’re not allowed to sell more. I did not understand what parent meant about that but thanks that makes sense.
  - 3y ago

demondemidi 3y ago

Loopholes are both parties’ fault. The regulators for forgetting or lacking foresight. And the perp’s for being slimy. Unfortunately being slimy isn’t illegal.

mattmaroon 3y ago
I don’t think optimizing revenues legally is slimy. If flying from wherever to Adelaide with a stop in Melbourne where most people deplane is both legal and profitable I’d hardly consider them slimy for doing it. Stupid regulations like the one necessitating this drive costs up for passengers.
- demondemidi 3y ago
  We have different ethics.
fallingknife 3y ago
This practice is not slimy by the airline because everyone is getting exactly what they paid for. The passengers to Melbourne are getting a flight to Melbourne. The passengers to Adelaide are getting a flight to Adelaide. The government is getting the industry protection from international competition that it wanted by banning the airlines from selling flights from Melbourne to Adelaide to fill the seats. The airline wants to minimize empty seats and the government wants to allow domestic airlines to extract excess profit by protecting domestic airlines from competition but DGAF about empty seats. Therefore it is the governments fault that there are empty seats.

mattmaroon 3y ago

Only part I don't understand is why not sell tickets if you're making that flight anyway? There are several direct flights between those two cities every day so there's at least some demand. Some people are flying that leg so you're still doing all the stuff you do when you do a commercial flight. Surely a little extra boarding/deplaning time is worth the fares you'd get. Why not pack the plane and get the sales? I am sure there's a reason (it's too obvious to not have occurred to an airline to sell tickets on a flight) why they think it's not worth it, I am just curious what it is.

tennis_80 3y ago
The article says a few passengers continue on to the final destination, so they’re not saving much in terms of crew / logistics. Maybe it’s an attempt to avoid drawing too much attention from the regulator? If they started offering internal flights in Australia they’d be stepping even more on Qantas toes.
laverya 3y ago
You can't legally sell domestic flights in a foreign country. (for these purposes, the EU is one country) This is true for Australia, for India, for the USA, for the EU - an airline like Delta can fly to Sydney from LA but not sell domestic flights from Sydney to Melbourne. (Or, for that matter, international flights between Sydney and Singapore) However, there is a catch! Airliners did not used to have quite the range they do today, and so the treaties allow things like refueling stops. And they (sometimes!) allow passengers to embark/disembark at those stops - but those passengers still have to be flying the international leg, or else it would be a domestic flight. There's a Wendover video from years ago that's relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thqbjA2DC-E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thqbjA2DC-E
- mattmaroon 3y ago
  Oh I see. So the few people on that last leg are just ones who booked a flight to Adelaide and they’re not allowed to sell more. I did not understand what parent meant about that but thanks that makes sense.
- 3y ago