Originally Posted by
Kevin AA
Apparently some people need to understand probability theory.
If the probability that a saved seat results in n passengers being shooed away, out of m passengers who board after you but before your companion, then the probability that any one passenger gets screwed over by your selfish actions is n/m. The only way that can have NO effect is for n is be zero. The only way to do that is to imagine that you save the seat but take no actions on it, like putting a bag on the seat, or telling people that the seat is saved. Even if n=1 and m=50, that is still a negative impact.
We know that n>=0, and we know that m>0 (if m=0 it means your companion boards with you and then this seat-saving nonsense is not applicable). It is mathematically impossible for n/m to be less than 0 (that would be a net positive for other passengers). There is absolutely no doubt that seat saving has a negative effect on other passengers, except in the unlikely event that n=0. But you don't know that n will be 0 until your companion boards. If you would just stfu and let your companion board and let other people in front of your companion sit where they want, then fine, that's not seat saving. n/m=0. Zero effect.
You've done a marvelous job of describing how to calculate a percentage. That's not probability theory. You could turn this into a probability problem but the sample size isn't really large enough. And even then, what you would end up with is a probability number that someone wants a seat that someone is saving. What you won't have is whether they are affected by it or not. Your explanation has a built in bias that everyone dislikes seat saving and that they care about it. You have no way of knowing that. So congrats if you can figure out the true probability of someone wanting a seat that is saved. That number, somewhere between 0 and 1, and $0.99 will get you a big gulp at Circle K.
Originally Posted by
Proudelitist
What variables?
If I am A30 with 25 dollars given for EBCI, and A20 holds a seat for C30, I lose out on at least one option. That chips away at the value of EBCI and functionally gives it to C30, who by proxy boards ahead of me.
What variables?? Oh you know, those funny looking things that are big bags of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. Or more commonly known as people. Not everyone cares that some seats are saved. So each flight is going to generally be different in terms of how many people are truly affected by any seat saving. The people are the variables. As I said, to say unequivocally that a saved seat causes everyone behind to suffer a devaluation has too many variables to be true. Some people may suffer a devaluation but some may not.
Simple example: A15 boards, sits in a window, and put his jacket on the middle seat. A16 boards and hopes that his companion at B3, who bought EBCI, is able to sit with him but wouldn't dream of saving a seat. A17 through B2 boards and for whatever weird reason a couple of them ask to sit next to A15 (oh I forgot, A15 is Mr. GQ so that's why people want to sit next to him, but I digress). Anyway, A15 says he's saving the middle for his Victoria's Secret model companion. Some of them care, some don't but they find other seats. None of them ask A16 if they can sit next to him. He now has an inferiority complex but with the money he saved by not paying for EBCI on previous flights he can afford another therapy session. Anywho, at this point (oh and he has some drink coupons so he can drown his sorrows) at this point his companion boards at B3 and sits next to him.
So B3 wasn't affected in any way, shape, or form, by A15 who saved a seat.
The moral of the story is don't wear your Victoria's Secret underwear unless you have a drink coupon and a therapist on speed dial. No, wait. That was a different story. Moral of this story is that not everyone is affected by seat saving. Some people just don't give a rat's a$$ about it.