Originally posted by yihao:
[trimmed]
Also technically, airline ticket is a "contract" rather than a "service". This type of mentality is bizzare. Can you imagine what would happen if every merchant uses this type of logics? Consumers will have no option to give up services they don't like, just simply because they have paid for it. This logics makes me sick. Whoever invents this for airlines is a genius, a sick genius.
Okay this is pretty OMNI, but I feel I must rant.
They're not geniuses, just lawyers. And I'd get ready for more in the future. Contracts are fast becoming the way of doing business now. Check most services you buy into or many durable goods you purchase(esp. electronic goods) and you will find a contract that states in effect that you're buying a license to use the service/object not really purchasing it and that you can only use it when, where and how the corporation deems fit for you to or you'll be talking to their lawyers. These kind of business practices save the company a lot of money because they
specify exactly what your rights are WRT the service or product and what they do and don't have to do if there is a problem. It closes up a lot of traditional legal loopholes and allows corporations to eliminate just about all traditional customer service/support overhead except for the legal dept.
Get ready, like it or not, for a future where you don't really own much of what you buy, can't use it as you wish and don't have much if any choice about it.
And whether you realize it or not, you basically asked for this.
JD