Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2017 8:27:55 GMT 7
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mistermember
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Not all that is gold glitters.
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Post by mistermember on Jul 19, 2017 8:58:41 GMT 7
Free article limit reached. (Didn't even know I read the Economist.) Not paying.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2017 9:02:47 GMT 7
A better way to handle the situation is not to sell more tickets than you have seats for.
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mistermember
Crazy Mango
Not all that is gold glitters.
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Post by mistermember on Jul 19, 2017 9:03:22 GMT 7
Ha! In the second between when the article momentarily appears and the paywall pops up to block it, I can select all and copy. You'll have to do better than that, Economist. Here's the article text:
United Airlines is testing a novel way to bump passengers
Flyers will be offered the chance to give up their seats days in advance
Jul 18th 2017by A.W. | WASHINGTON, D.C.
IT IS a classic traveller’s dilemma: you are waiting in the boarding area for your flight, and an airline employee asks over the loudspeaker if anyone is willing to be bumped in exchange for a voucher. You like the idea of sacrificing the unimportant meeting you were scheduled to attend in return for a few hundred dollars of travel credit. Then again you do not fancy explaining this to your colleagues, or sitting about in an airport for three hours waiting for the next flight.
Now imagine that instead of having to make this decision just before you board, you could do it do it several days in advance, in the comfort of your home. Changes the equation a bit, does it not?
United Airlines is contemplating a new scheme along these lines, called the Flex-Schedule Program. If a flight is overbooked, or looking like it might be, United will contact passengers who have signed up to the scheme up to five days ahead of departure. They will be given the option of switching to a less popular flight on the same day between the same airports, in exchange for a travel voucher worth as much as $250.
The idea is good news for flyers with flexible travel schedules who prefer to avoid the stress of a last-minute flight change. But it was born of decidedly unhappy events for United and its flyers, most infamously the incident in April in which a passenger who refused to give up his seat to accommodate off-duty airline staff was dragged from the plane and bloodied. That PR disaster, which was compounded when United’s boss initially blamed the customer for his intransigence, forced it into damage-control mode. The carrier quickly made ten policy changes, including ending the practice of bumping passengers without their consent once they have boarded the plane, and increasing the compensation available to bumped flyers to $10,000. (Congress is now working to ban involuntary bumping altogether.)
Evidently the airline has no desire to hand over $10,000 to customers, even though it likely that flyers will bite long before that figure is reached. But the new scheme is more than just a cure for involuntary bumping. It is also a way for United to boost its profits. Bloomberg spoke with Azim Barodawala, the chief executive of Volantio, which crafted the technology behind the Flex-Schedule Program. It pitched the scheme to United as a way to free up high-demand seats that could then be sold to people willing to pay more for them. According to Bloomberg, in a meeting between Mr Barodawala and United executives it was posited that the programme could increase profits by over $100m a year.
For once, what is good for an airline’s revenue does not seem to be bad for its passengers. United will remove a constraint on the seat-pricing process—namely, that once a person has bought a ticket, the price cannot be changed—and open it up to something closer to the free market. For a leisure traveller who bought a ticket two months in advance, switching to a flight a few hours later might make no difference, other than the $250 voucher they can pocket. But for a business traveller buying a last-minute ticket in order to make an important meeting, getting on that specific flight can be a necessity, well worth paying hundreds of dollars extra for. The airline will not complain if, by playing middleman, it nets the difference between the additional amount the business flyer is willing to pay and the voucher the holidaymaker receives.
If all goes as planned, United will not be the only airline to test the idea. According to Bloomberg, Australia’s Tiger Airways will unveil its own programme with Volantio next month, with Alaska Air joining in September and Qantas by October. And Mr Barodawala envisions a similar system for hotels—paying someone to move from one branch of a chain to another nearby, if the former is in high demand for a conference or other event.
Generally, the trend toward more stratification in travel has been bad for travellers. (See economy, basic.) But for once—and even if it took a disastrous few months for United to adopt the idea—this move to separate flexible budget-conscious travellers from those with more resources seems like a winner.
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Mosha
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Post by Mosha on Jul 19, 2017 9:04:29 GMT 7
Free article limit reached. (Didn't even know I read the Economist.) Not paying. Basically, if your a willing to be bumped from a flight. For a reward, instead of a spur of the moment decision, you confirm you are she booking your flight at home.
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smokie36
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Post by smokie36 on Jul 21, 2017 0:50:22 GMT 7
A better way to handle the situation is not to sell more tickets than you have seats for. A naive approach which would push ticket prices up. Almost all flights have no shows.
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me
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Post by me on Jul 21, 2017 7:56:55 GMT 7
A better way to handle the situation is not to sell more tickets than you have seats for. A naive approach which would push ticket prices up. Almost all flights have no shows. They should cancel the idea that a no show can get a refund except where airline caused.
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me
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Post by me on Jul 21, 2017 7:59:07 GMT 7
Free article limit reached. (Didn't even know I read the Economist.) Not paying. Not sure if this works with the Economist but it does with the smh. Use the incognito window in Chrome....when limit is reached close chrome and reopen and do the same.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2017 11:19:49 GMT 7
A better way to handle the situation is not to sell more tickets than you have seats for. A naive approach which would push ticket prices up. Almost all flights have no shows. I don't agree - these marginal transactions can make a big difference to airline profits. If a pre-booked voluntary scheme is goingbto come into play that rewards the passenger and benefits the other passenger that has to fly, plus the airline, then it's a win + win + win ps - go check my lottery, I've won again
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