Originally Posted by
fttc
Theft means A steal something from B. It has nothing to do with B gives something to A voluntarily.
Even if a bank gives you $3m by accident, it's not a theft, especially if you don't touch it. But if you steal something, even if you pay it entirely back, you are in violation of law and face penalties.
So there is a huge difference and calling this a theft is wrong.
Finally in this case, it's impossible for the airline to claim that it lost money.
So, if someone gives you something in error, and you keep it, you don't think that is stealing?
A reasonable person would NOT have thought AA purposely gave someone a flight to a foreign location 7500 miles further than the domestic one they had paid to go to?