Originally Posted by
Deltahater
Two mistakes in your logic:
The DOT rule states "scheduled air transportation within, to or from the United States..." A ticket that routes ZRH-JFK-YUL, clearly is TO the USA, yet the DOT decided to read it differently. So the DOT could have acted, but chose not to.
Secondly, a first class ticket CMB-DFW today can be had for $5700
Naturally, it does not cost EY even close to that to transport an additional passenger.
The actual cost for EY to transport you or me is less than $1K.
So unless there were 400+ tickets issued and EY can be sure that won't get hit by a DOT fine, they are better off honoring the tickets. Your 16 ticket calculation is incorrect.
Why do you choose to completely ignore LX's actual decision to fight this and further ignore the possibility that EY may choose to do the same?
The LX fares were NOT "TO" the USA. They were FROM Yangon TO Montreal, via, say, Tokyo, Zurich, and New York. DOT could have interpreted this fare to be within their scope but they chose not to.
With the EY fare, it is clear. This falls within the bounds.
LX fought because DOT decided it was outside your scope. Unless you can prove to me that there is language that would make this outside of DOT's scope, your entire argument is absolutely moot.