FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - UA sues "hidden city" search site Skiplagged.com
Old Dec 30, 2014, 8:59 am
  #104  
Bear96
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Join Date: May 2000
Location: TPA for now. Hopefully LIS for retirement
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OK let's think for a minute about what will happen if the pro-hidden-city-ticketing side prevails.

Right now there is sufficient customer demand for an airline to charge $x for AAA - HUB. But it can only charge, say, 0.5x for AAA - smaller city BBB via HUB (or in other words, AAA - HUB - BBB).

What do you think is more likely if they can no longer charge that difference:

(A) The airline will drop the AAA-HUB fare to 0.5x to match the AAA-HUB-BBB fare; or

(B) The airline will stop service to BBB (with associated cost savings, which are often significantly higher on short legs on a passenger-mile basis) so it can still charge x on the much-higher-margin AAA-HUB fare?

My money would be on (B). So I would expect to see the BBBs of the world have service either reduced or eliminated, or maybe have higher fares to match AAA-HUB fares on those relatively few BBB markets where there is sufficient demand.

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