Originally Posted by
Kevin AA
It may be low, but it's not zero. That is what devaluation means. The higher the probability that someone gets shooed away from an otherwise empty seat, the greater the devaluation. The only way for EBCI to not be devalued at all by seat-savers is for the probability of getting shooed away being ZERO, and we know that is not the case. If it were zero, then there would be zero complaints and zero threads on the matter. That would work if the load factor is something like 60%. You have to have a sea of empty seats in order for people to claim multiple seats when they board and not irritate people boarding after them.
It doesn't have to be zero and that's not what devaluation means. The probability of someone getting shooed away and any EBCI devaluation aren't related. At least not directly. You are making an assumption that everyone values EBCI the same way you do AND that it is valued the same each and every time. Even currency, which is where you normally use the word "devaluation" doesn't have the same value to everyone all the time.
Go back and reread what I wrote. Your argument is a logical fallacy, a faulty generalization, to try to prove your point. It only takes one person, one time, to buy EBCI and get the seat they want while someone else saves a seat for your claim to be false. That's it. One time. There are millions of people who buy EBCI each year. And there are thousands, if not millions who save a seat. Your argument is that over thousands of flights and millions of enplanements there is not ONE SINGLE PERSON who bought EBCI and thought to themselves "I got what I paid for". We know there are seat savers and you claim that "The only way for
EBCI to not be devalued at all by seat-savers is for the probability of getting shooed away being ZERO, and we know that is not the case." So if it's not the case then your conclusion is that EBCI is devalued. Meaning that Each. And. Every. Person. Buying. EBCI. Didn't. Get. Full. Value. For. Their. Purchase. EVER, EVER, EVER.
And you think the odds of the first person boarding with EBCI wanting a seat that isn't saved to be MORE unlikely???? Do you not see how ridiculous that sounds?