Originally Posted by
fragment54
I think a mileage run doesn't hurt the airline much. What does hurt is the significant portion of mileage runners who are also chronic complainers (to get compensation or otherwise) and who pounce on mistake fares for themselves and 10 family members at a time. That type of customer can't be good for an airline.
I doubt the airlines have a problem with people who do one or two mileage runs a year to supplement normal travel patterns.
Chronic complainers get cut off eventually: they have systems in place to control for that.
It's also their systems that issue the alleged "mistake" fares. Strong emphasis on
alleged... If I book a fare that they issue, why is that my problem? If they make 11 seats available in a given fare bucket and I book them all, why is that a problem?
If that kind of customer isn't good for an airline, stop issuing those fares. The airlines themselves completely own and control their systems and their QA processes.
For what it's worth, I can understand how any airline's first mistake fare was an actual mistake. Subsequent "mistakes" are a conscious cost-benefit decision to undertest the applications or fail to alter known system features. That's okay, as long as they then behave honorably in the marketplace when they issue these fares.