First, I'm very surprised that you were not aware of the policy that if you don't take the first part of an itinerary, you won't be able to catch up half-way. I guess it's something everyone learns very quickly.
Second, your proposal that United should fix their prices is disingenuous. They would if it didn't mean bankruptcy for them. The reason they do that is that most of their income comes from business travelers who can expense expensive tickets in economy class. The way to detect a business traveler versus a tourist is whether they spend the Saturday at their destination. The business traveler flys on a Tuesday and return the next day or so, never stays over. So they get charged 3X more.
If United just "fixed" their prices, it would be a complete collapse. A handful of airlines have chosen the "per-segment" price approach (Southwest, JetBlue, Virgin).
So recognize the cool hack for what it is: Saturday night stay equals deep discount.
He didn't mean fix as in "Every person on this plane paid exactly $300". He meant fix as in "If your prices are gameable, either fix the pricing algorithm so that they're not gameable or deal with the occasional person who games it (airline's choice--whichever costs them less). Don't implement a policy that traps tons of your loyal, well-meaning customers in the crossfire"
> First, I'm very surprised that you were not aware of the policy that if you don't take the first part of an itinerary, you won't be able to catch up half-way.
Why are you surprised at this? The airline itself specifically told him he could do this: he got the early-check-in email saying his flight was okay. It seems reasonable for him to believe that his flight was okay.
First, I'm very surprised that you were not aware of the policy that if you don't take the first part of an itinerary, you won't be able to catch up half-way. I guess it's something everyone learns very quickly.
Second, your proposal that United should fix their prices is disingenuous. They would if it didn't mean bankruptcy for them. The reason they do that is that most of their income comes from business travelers who can expense expensive tickets in economy class. The way to detect a business traveler versus a tourist is whether they spend the Saturday at their destination. The business traveler flys on a Tuesday and return the next day or so, never stays over. So they get charged 3X more.
If United just "fixed" their prices, it would be a complete collapse. A handful of airlines have chosen the "per-segment" price approach (Southwest, JetBlue, Virgin).
So recognize the cool hack for what it is: Saturday night stay equals deep discount.