Posted on 09/16/2007 6:11:32 PM PDT by MotleyGirl70
“And the lady stops and says, ‘Sir, you need to have another ticket.’ And I said what for and she said, ‘because of your size.' I hate to admit it but I was in tears.”
“In that case, since he bought the ticket (at the gate no less) that would have gone unsold, ....”
Until the plane departs you really don’t know that the ticket is unsold since someone could come up at the last minute and buy one, at top price no less. Would you bet that he did not go up first as one of the people who “might have trouble boarding” ?
Buying the ticket in advance lets the airline know that they have another seat being used, so they will not attempt to sell it, AND would give him the advance discounted price should he have to pay for it.
I’m certain a normal person could do the same thing if they wanted to insure they had an empty seat next to them. Buy the extra ticket and refund it if the plane is not sold out.
who gives a sh—!
I flew Southwest Tuesday morning from Baltimore to West Palm Beach. I doubt if there were 30 PAX. Anyone who wanted a whole row to themselves had it. Beautiful flight.
In keeping with their policy, it looks like he will get his money back, so he is fine.
I was more or less concerned about the airline using a "added value" excuse in the future to peanlize customers for unsold tickets.
The only reason this popped up to me was during a recent flight when the stewerdess and me were joking about how I had only one ticket, but the row was vacant, so I had 3 seats and one day the airline would find a way to make me pay.
“so I had 3 seats and one day the airline would find a way to make me pay.”
My point is that you and me and every other passenger is already paying for them. Once the plane is in the air they are worthless - allthough it would be nice to pay $20 or so and get upgraded in the air if First Class were not full :-)
( Maybe they could have an onboard auction ? )
“who gives a sh—!”
If you are referring to my ‘perfect body’ comment, please refer to post #2 (that preceded my response).
Funny you should mention onboard auction, that was part of my joke with the stewerdess.
That said, when she got (somewhat) serious, her guess was that in the future, they would simply relocate passengers so they would not have entire rows, or empty seats next to them, thus putting in place a one ticket, one seat policy in reality.
Either that or making the actual ticket variable, so you may pay more if you get "added value".
Considering some ideas that airlines have considered (including one by the late Milton Friedman), I not only would not put it pass them, I almost expect them to eventually act on it.
FWIW, some airline, if they are overbooked, but have empty seats in first class, will still bump you instead of upgrading you (though some of those airlines, do at least offer the oppurtunity of an upgrade for a price.....which comes across as extortion).
That, more then some fat guy who could walk around in high heels and strike oil, is what concerns me.
Concentrating passengers makes no sense from weight balence aspect.
Variable ticket price makes no sense - nooone would buy a ticket without knowing the price.
BUT flying standby used to get you big discounts since they got to sell seats that might have flown empty. Surprised they haven’t restarted that, except that they don’t want people without tickets hanging at the airport.
I’ve benn bumped up a few times - even on a trans-pacific flight ... SWEET ...
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