Originally Posted by
LAX UA 1K
It's not a deposit, it's an option. Options cost money. In a competitive market, options increase in price based on the time to expiry and the variance of the underlying price (fare).
+1. Not sure where someone would get any other idea about it; it's pretty clear in the description that you're paying to hold the price, not placing a deposit.
I also think the OP is either being sarcastic is or seriously misinformed with his remark about "The customer is king" here. That
might be the tenor of direct interaction with a salesperson, maybe, but from a legal standpoint, the EU is lightyears ahead of the US in terms of consumer protections. Didn't used to be that way. And as a result, a number of EU-based firms are now taking advantage of various loopholes and government incentives to sell product dirt-cheap in the US, because it's more profitable than selling in the EU. Strange world. Totally flipped upside down & inverted from not that many years ago.