<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by aura:
the only time it's worth waiving is if the earlier flight is empty and the booked flight is full. then, the airline should take the money, put the pax on the earlier flight and sell the later seat to someone else. i think thadocta trumpets this strongly.</font>
Sort of.
Except at peak periods - Christmas Eve, etc. - the chances of reselling the seat at a couple of hours notice are negligible.
Where I argue - and it was our policy at the time that I worked for QF - is that it is better to have a body in the air rather than on the ground, particularly towards the end of the day.
Sure, someone showing up at 0530 for their 0900 flight should not be put on the 0600 flight just for convenience sake.
BUT towards the end of the day there is ALWAYS a chance that an aircraft will go U/S and there will be either no aircraft to replace it with OR the replacement will be smaller - Murphys Law at work.
So if someone booked on the full 2200 flight shows up in time for the less than full 2100 flight, it is in the interests of the carrier to get them out of there ASAP, since it is one less body to accommodate if you can't get them out that night.
Dave