Taking Advantage of Error Fare = Stealing ??
Jun 1, 2004, 1:13 pm
#1
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Taking Advantage of Error Fare = Stealing ??
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Last edited by Sin5Cents; Jun 1, 2004 at 1:33 pm Reason: removed text of message since this has been hashed over so many times.. i can't imagine anyone would ever want to talk about it again...
Jun 1, 2004, 1:34 pm
#3
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Originally Posted by Sin5Cents
People knew the value of the product they were receiving.
Originally Posted by Sin5Cents
People knew that the price posted was mostly likely a mistake.
Originally Posted by Sin5Cents
People knew not to and discouraged other people from notifying any >live< person at Icelandair or Cheaptickets.
But you fail to make the connect between the ethical duty of the consumer and the situation which was presented. And exactly what IS the ethical duty of the consumer, if any? Paying the least possible price for the highest quality product? If so, then we all did good jobs.
Originally Posted by Sin5Cents
Withdraw more money from an ATM that was inadvertently dispensing $20 instead of $10 (i.e. $20 bills were loaded in the $10 bill slot)?
Would I, however, withdraw from an ATM dispensing $20 in place of $10's knowing full well that was what was going to happen? No.
I happen to recall an incident where just this thing happened, and people who had withdrawn more than they were entitled to, were later contacted by the bank to repay the money! The ethics of that situation seem much more clearcut, to me.
Originally Posted by Sin5Cents
Go back and purchase more of a grocery item if they learned that the self-checkout was only charging the sales tax for the item?
Originally Posted by Sin5Cents
Pump gas at a station where you could hear the gas flowing, but the cash dials were not moving?
Last edited by anonplz; Jun 1, 2004 at 1:37 pm
Jun 1, 2004, 1:58 pm
#4
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The problem is: how do you know whether you are booking a mistake fare?
In the past, I have booked MCI-STL-MCO one-way for a $24 base fare! I have booked MCI-CVG-IND one-way for $17 base fare! One-way, no strings attached! Never mind the MCI-DCA-MCI $91 base fare round trips, MCI-DFW-SJC-ORD-MCI for $91 base fare, etc. (I know there used to be semi-frequent nine-bucks-to-Chicago fares on Vanguard, but I never flew them.) I do not know if any of these were errors - I suspect that they were not errors, but rather responses to Southwest or some other competitive pressure.
At what point does the consumer have to say "No way. These fares are too low. It is immoral for me to book them."?
Is it just when the base fare is zero?
In the past, I have booked MCI-STL-MCO one-way for a $24 base fare! I have booked MCI-CVG-IND one-way for $17 base fare! One-way, no strings attached! Never mind the MCI-DCA-MCI $91 base fare round trips, MCI-DFW-SJC-ORD-MCI for $91 base fare, etc. (I know there used to be semi-frequent nine-bucks-to-Chicago fares on Vanguard, but I never flew them.) I do not know if any of these were errors - I suspect that they were not errors, but rather responses to Southwest or some other competitive pressure.
At what point does the consumer have to say "No way. These fares are too low. It is immoral for me to book them."?
Is it just when the base fare is zero?
Jun 1, 2004, 2:39 pm
#5
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Originally Posted by pinniped
At what point does the consumer have to say "No way. These fares are too low. It is immoral for me to book them."? Is it just when the base fare is zero?
Is it just when the base fare is zero?
Jun 1, 2004, 7:00 pm
#6
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Originally Posted by WillTravel
Clearly not, since Ryanair has had some (effectively) negative base fares in a few promotions.
Given that that is true, then buying a zero-dollar base fare cannot be considered unethical. If zero-dollar base fares are a legitimate part of an airline's pricing strategy, how are we to determine which ones are mistakes and which ones aren't?
If the airlines can come back after purchase and say "That particular zero dollar fare is a mistake; you can't have it after all", what's stopping them from saying "That $91 R/T MCI-DCA you bought last week is a mistake. We really meant $910"?
Jun 1, 2004, 7:16 pm
#7
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Big discussion recently in mileage runs.
I won't go into it all, but I don't believe there is such a thing as error fares, I believe it's their way of doing market research on the cheap.
It would take any dimwitted programmer minutes to put in traps for fares being too low or too high, that type of thing is common in just about every other computer system, so there isn't any excuse for them.
I won't go into it all, but I don't believe there is such a thing as error fares, I believe it's their way of doing market research on the cheap.
It would take any dimwitted programmer minutes to put in traps for fares being too low or too high, that type of thing is common in just about every other computer system, so there isn't any excuse for them.
Jun 2, 2004, 10:04 am
#8
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Originally Posted by WillTravel
Clearly not, since Ryanair has had some (effectively) negative base fares in a few promotions.
If that's the way the world's going you're surely entitled to assume that any fare no matter how low is legitimate for the customer? Who am I to judge the airline's business model? (Provided I've got my travel insurance in place.
)
Jun 2, 2004, 12:59 pm
#10
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Originally Posted by cordelli
Big discussion recently in mileage runs.
I won't go into it all, but I don't believe there is such a thing as error fares, I believe it's their way of doing market research on the cheap.
It would take any dimwitted programmer minutes to put in traps for fares being too low or too high, that type of thing is common in just about every other computer system, so there isn't any excuse for them.
I won't go into it all, but I don't believe there is such a thing as error fares, I believe it's their way of doing market research on the cheap.
It would take any dimwitted programmer minutes to put in traps for fares being too low or too high, that type of thing is common in just about every other computer system, so there isn't any excuse for them.
Jun 2, 2004, 1:11 pm
#11
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Here's an example of a free-seat offer from EasyJet:
http://www.easyjet.com/en/news/20040601_01.html
In some instances, Ryanair was offering to pay approximately 1 pound of the taxes, in addition to not charging for the base fare. That's what I meant by an effectively negative base fare, although I don't know how it was written up in the fare rules.
http://www.easyjet.com/en/news/20040601_01.html
In some instances, Ryanair was offering to pay approximately 1 pound of the taxes, in addition to not charging for the base fare. That's what I meant by an effectively negative base fare, although I don't know how it was written up in the fare rules.
Jun 2, 2004, 1:15 pm
#12
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Not to stray too far off-topic, but what exactly is the thinking behind giving away free seats? Do they think those free customers are going to love the service so much that they turn into future high-yield customers?
Jun 2, 2004, 1:24 pm
#13
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Originally Posted by pinniped
Not to stray too far off-topic, but what exactly is the thinking behind giving away free seats? Do they think those free customers are going to love the service so much that they turn into future high-yield customers?
Jun 3, 2004, 7:01 am
#14
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In Quebec, Canada, if an item in the store has a shelf price that is higher then the one that is scanned at the register, the store has to give it to you for free if it is under 10$ or has to give a rebate of 10$ on the lowest price.
If the scanned price is lower then the price indicated, the customer gets the lowest price.
Most big surface store (Loblaws, Super C, et al) have often problems with the pricing and I won't refuse any rebate that comes my way because of their incompetence.
For me, the same applies to any purchase I make. If the company can't get it's pricing act together, then I shouldn't be the one paying for it.
If the scanned price is lower then the price indicated, the customer gets the lowest price.
Most big surface store (Loblaws, Super C, et al) have often problems with the pricing and I won't refuse any rebate that comes my way because of their incompetence.
For me, the same applies to any purchase I make. If the company can't get it's pricing act together, then I shouldn't be the one paying for it.
Jun 3, 2004, 11:49 am
#15
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Originally Posted by pinniped
Not to stray too far off-topic, but what exactly is the thinking behind giving away free seats? Do they think those free customers are going to love the service so much that they turn into future high-yield customers?