LeeAnne

I just saw you added this. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw the "IT'S JUST BUSINESS" line. Isn't that what Tom Hagen says to Tessio right before they are going to ice him?

Anyway, of course I agree completely. As I said above, all I've done is potentially find a way to save money on a flight by not using the whole thing. I saw another analogy somewhere in another thread...it went something like this:

A guy walks into a bakery and wants to buy a donut. The price for the donut is $3. But they also have a buy-3-for-$1 special going on. So the guy buys three donuts, eats one, and attempts to throw away the rest. The baker shouts at him, "You can't throw those donuts away! You have to eat them!" The guy says, "but I don't want anymore, I'm full." The baker says "Then you have to pay the difference of $2 dollars! See? It's in the contract, which is printed on your receipt, which you agreed to when you bought the donuts!"

Pretty much the same thing going on here.

I can just picture some of the people in this thread either forcing themselves to cram two donuts into their already-full gullets, or whipping out their wallets to sheepishly hand the baker $2. These are probably also the people who think the TSA is "keeping us safe from the terrorists", and happily allow them to paw their genitalia because, hey, the TSA guys wear blue uniforms and badges so they must be the people in AUTHORITY and garsh, we wouldn't question anyone in authority, right? LOL!

Delta Hog

You sound like a good woman, Leann.

And for those who want to get technical, here would be my legal argument. Until passengers have the right to line-edit these "contracts" we supposedly sign for the right to buy a ticket...or until we have the right to bring our OWN contracts and have the airline sign on the dotted line when selling us a ticket...until either of those happen, these are one-sided, boilerplate, take-it-or-leave-it "contracts" that, at a minimum, have to be reasonable.

And saying, "you have to use all legs you purchase, even when you don't need them", isn't reasonable.

cbn42

Here's another analogy:

A gallon of milk is normally $5 and a quart is $2. However, there is currently a special on gallons, and they are $1.50. I don't want a gallon, I just want a quart. So I take a quart, pay $1.50, and leave. I took LESS than what I paid for, so is that acceptable?

The issue here is that you consider the SJO-PHX flight to be a part of the SJO-PHX-LAX flight, just like one donut is part of the package of three. The airline, however, considers them to be entirely separate products, just like the quart of milk is not part of the gallon, but rather an entirely different item with a different price.

LeeAnne

Garsh, thanks! And of course I agree with you about the reasonableness of airline contracts.

I was telling my Mom about this whole thread, and she came over here to read it. (Hi Mom! ) She just called me and told me she thought the whole thing was hilarious! And this is a woman who probably can't remember the last time she broke a rule. This is also a woman who raised three kids as a young widow surviving on veteran's benefits, who knew how to cut corners, find a deal, clip coupons, and stretch a dollar. She sees this as nothing more than smart consumerism...using the arcane pricing structure of the airlines to our benefit. Go Mom!

LeeAnne

Um...your analogy doesn't work. The store wouldn't SELL me the quart for only $1.50, would they? If I bought a quart, they would charge me $2, because that's the price. How'd you get away with only paying $1.50 for it? Did you steal it? Did you hand them the money and dash? That, my friend, would be robbery!

On the other hand, I certainly have the option of buying the whole gallon, paying the $5, drinking the quart right there in the store, and tossing out the rest, don't I?

Think about it. I know it's hard, but just think about it.

Same thing with the airline. I bought the whole gallon. But now I only want to drink 3/4 of it. And that's all I'm gonna drink. And they can't make me drink the rest, or charge me for not drinking it. (If you're having difficulty with this, replace "gallon" with "flight" and "drink" with "use".)

And you can't call me unethical for not drinking it either. (Well, you can, but it's not true and makes you look kinda silly!)

Amending to add: This one is so off the mark that it's hilarious! THANK YOU! Mom and I are laughing like crazy on the phone. We're also wondering how you think we could walk into a store, pick up a quart of milk that is marked at $2, and somehow walk out of the store paying $1.50 without getting arrested for shoplifting. Hmmm...could it be...the FORCE? "This is not the droid you're looking for. And this milk only costs a buck fifty. Pay no attention to the price tag around the corner."

HAHAHAHA!!! I'm dying here...thank you so much for the entertainment!

Delta Hog

The airlines can engage in all the wordplay and economic trickeration they want, but it's the same flight from Phoenix to Costa Rica on the same airplane. It's the same product.

A better analogy would be buying the gallon, and when you got to Phoenix, deciding you didn't want the rest of it and throwing it away, THEN the store wants to try to go back and charge you the quart price.

(Of course, that assumes getting a gallon of milk past TSA, which ain't happening).

cbn42

The difference here is that the store has a way of enforcing the policy but the airline doesn't. However, ethics is independent of enforcement. Whether breaking a policy is ethical or not has no bearing on how well the policy is being enforced. You could say it's an unattended roadside booth instead of a store. Same thing.

You consider it the same product, and I can see where you are coming from. But the airline considers it a different product, and they are the ones selling it and setting the price, so they are the ones that get to decide.

LeeAnne

Me: These are not the droids you're looking for.
TSA: These are not the droids I'm looking for.
Me: This is not milk.
TSA: This is not milk.
Me: We can go about our business.
TSA: You can go about your business.
Me: Move along now.
TSA: Move along now.

LeeAnne

Once again you're wrong. I bought the whole ticket. Received it. I've got it. Whether I use it or not is up to me. If you want to use a roadside stand analogy...I took the whole gallon, dude. Brought it home with me and put it in the fridge. I'm just not going to drink the whole thing.

Wanna try again? Perhaps you should quit while you're behind?

They get to decide how they want to sell it. I get to decide if I want to buy it. But once I do, they don't get to decide whether or not I USE it, do they? Just like the grocer doesn't get to decide whether or not I'm going to drink the whole gallon. Or the baker doesn't get to decide whether or not I'm going to cram two unwanted donuts down my throat.

But keep on trying. We're having a blast here!

cbn42

Finding humor in your actions is a common defense mechanism that people use to justify their actions. Not trying to draw an analogy here, but many bank robbers and rapists, when you interview them in jail, find their actions to be very funny. So the fact that you are amused by this indicates that you know it's not quite right, and are laughing it off in order to cover up your guilt. But you probably won't admit to that, so don't bother responding.

LeeAnne

BAHAHAHA!!!! So now I'm equivalent to a bank robber and rapist? OMG, this is too funny for words.

I know you will not want to accept this, but I am not lying when I tell you that I'm not laughing at me - I find nothing humorous at all about the rather boring act of trying to save money on airline tickets - I'M LAUGHING AT YOU! And trust me, I'm not the only one. I sent several other people to read this thread as well, and they are all having a good laugh at your expense.

In fact they are laughing so hard, the prison guard had to tell them to quiet down, it was disturbing the warden.

Delta Hog

I could just as easily say that I'm the one buying the product, so I get to decide.

True contracts are supposed to be meetings of the minds. But that's not what we have here, is it?

LeeAnne

I couldn't let this one go...if for nothing other than the entertainment value of how your mind works.

So there's this plane. It picks up passengers at gate 8 in PHX at 8:00 am on October 2, and drops them off at gate 10 in SJO. It's called "Flight 34". I've got a ticket on Flight 34. I paid, say, $300 for it.

Another dude has got a ticket for "Flight 34". It's a plane. It picks up passengers at gate 8 in PHX at 8:00 am on October 2, and drops them off at gate 10 in SJO. He paid $400 for it.

We're on the same flight. We may have paid different prices for the ticket, but it's the same plane. Seat 17F is seat 17F regardless of what you paid for it, where you bought it, how you bought it, what class of service it is, what anybody "thinks" it is, or what a contract might "say" it is, or even what flights you take before or after it.

It's the same seat on the same flight. Same product. Spin it any way you want...you can't change that basic FACT.

As we like to say in political debates: you are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts. I bought this flight...all four legs of it. I'm going to use the ones I want to use. And there is nothing, not a single thing, "unethical" about using any portion of it...or not using any portion of it. End of story.

But do keep on posting your twisted analyses, because at this point you've got a whole audience of fans who are enjoying the show!

LeeAnne

Another one I couldn't let go...note the bolded text above. Interesting...you say "I'm not trying to draw an analogy here..." and then...wait for it...

...proceed to draw an analogy!

That's like saying "I'm not trying to type the word BLOVIATE, but...BLOVIATE". ROFL!

Bottom line here is...you compared my behavior with the behavior of bank robbers and rapists. Because...um...I guess because we both LAUGH? Wow. What a stretch.

And I hate to point out the obvious, but you just DREW AN ANALOGY.

cbn42

Believe me, LeeAnne, I am laughing at you just as much as you are laughing at me, if not more.

When you go to the US Airways counter in PHX and tell them that your mom will not be proceeding onto the flight at LAX (as you stated you would do), please discretely record the conversation and post it on here. We would love to hear it.