Deceptive pricing on connecting itineraries {workaround to married segment pricing}
Feb 8, 2014, 3:23 pm
#76
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 8,634
You may very well be correct in that Hanlon’s Razor could explain it. I submit however, that in 2014, with our intensely competitive and cutthroat version of capitalism, the inverse could just as easily also be true:
Never attribute to incompetence (mistakes) that which can easily be explained by malice (greed).
Never attribute to incompetence (mistakes) that which can easily be explained by malice (greed).
If I have time, I'll dig up old discussion. The keywords are "married segments" and "bug." I've been involved in several discussions about it over the last year.
Feb 8, 2014, 3:32 pm
#77
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: LAX and LHR. UA lifetime Gold 1.9MM 1K , DL Gold Medallion, HHonors Gold, Marriott Gold, Avis President's Club
Posts: 3,592
It's not a bug. It's not a feature. It has been a fact of life for many years with UA, as I and others have testified. I put it down to UA's incompetent IT programming. As I stated above, my impression is that, curiously, since we moved to the programming hell of the SHARES dinosaur this fact of life does not actually work as well as it used to.
The reason I was irritated by sbm12 is that here is a guy who has been around on this forum almost as long as I have, who has a huge number of posts and is a FlyerTalk Legend, and yet he does not know this simple longstanding fact of life about searching/pricing flights on UA. He starts to trumpet it as if it were something new and disgraceful, when actually some of us have lived with it for years and have learned to exploit it. Where has he been all this time?
The reason I was irritated by sbm12 is that here is a guy who has been around on this forum almost as long as I have, who has a huge number of posts and is a FlyerTalk Legend, and yet he does not know this simple longstanding fact of life about searching/pricing flights on UA. He starts to trumpet it as if it were something new and disgraceful, when actually some of us have lived with it for years and have learned to exploit it. Where has he been all this time?
Feb 8, 2014, 3:34 pm
#78
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 8,634
It's not a bug. It's not a feature. It has been a fact of life for many years with UA, as I and others have testified. I put it down to UA's incompetent IT programming. As I stated above, my impression is that, curiously, since we moved to the programming hell of the SHARES dinosaur this fact of life does not actually work as well as it used to.
The reason I was irritated by sbm12 is that here is a guy who has been around on this forum almost as long as I have, who has a huge number of posts and is a FlyerTalk Legend, and yet he does not know this simple longstanding fact of life about searching/pricing flights on UA. He starts to trumpet it as if it were something new and disgraceful, when actually some of us have lived with it for years and have learned to exploit it. Where has he been all this time?
The reason I was irritated by sbm12 is that here is a guy who has been around on this forum almost as long as I have, who has a huge number of posts and is a FlyerTalk Legend, and yet he does not know this simple longstanding fact of life about searching/pricing flights on UA. He starts to trumpet it as if it were something new and disgraceful, when actually some of us have lived with it for years and have learned to exploit it. Where has he been all this time?
Could not agree more.
Feb 8, 2014, 3:39 pm
#79
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: AADULtArer
Posts: 5,683
Thank you very much. As I wrote, Google searches did not reveal that (now merged) thread.
MODS: If possible, please merge the threads. (Although, with all due respect to Seth, my title is much better!
)
Edit: I see it was already done, that was fast, thank you. (Still think my title is better!
)
Thank you again Seth.
MODS: If possible, please merge the threads. (Although, with all due respect to Seth, my title is much better!
) Edit: I see it was already done, that was fast, thank you. (Still think my title is better!
)Thank you again Seth.
Old, old, issue
Feb 8, 2014, 4:20 pm
#80
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: NYC suburbs
Programs: UA LT Gold (BIS), AA LT Plat (CC SUBs & BD), Hilton Dia (CC), Hyatt Glob (BIB), et. al.
Posts: 3,290
There's nothing unsavory going on here except a pro-consumer bug.
… Seems to me that somebody is a little too interested in protecting his own private loophole. Maybe that's why this forum doesn't have a wiki on married segment logic? 
Those that have known about it, and STATE they have written about it for years, are simply annoyed that others are now learning of it. Perhaps they are fortunate enough to never have been a victim of sleazy marketing. Undoubtedly they’re the same people who want to eliminate newbies from the MS thread and who never want to see something which is beneficial to us exposed for fear of shutdown. Presumably their idea of sharing here is reading about other methods to accumulate points and miles while never writing their own techniques for fear of shutdown. It’s heartening to see that the “I’ve got mine, you’re on your own” attitude is NOT the most prevalent attitude here.
Thanks again to Seth for exposing this shady practice to those of us who were unaware (and who “trusted” UA). It’s reassuring that some people understand the spirit of FT.
Feb 8, 2014, 4:27 pm
#81
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 8,634
I, and several others here, have stated that this information is new to us, which makes hobo13’s comment spot on. It’s clearly anti-consumer, it’s essentially a bait and switch tactic. Like advertising an inexpensive price, putting more expensive items in the front of the store and burying the advertised less expensive items in the back behind the stacks of thingamajigs and making them available only on alternate Mondays and Thursdays.
Those that have known about it, and STATE they have written about it for years, are simply annoyed that others are now learning of it. Perhaps they are fortunate enough to never have been a victim of sleazy marketing. Undoubtedly they’re the same people who want to eliminate newbies from the MS thread and who never want to see something which is beneficial to us exposed for fear of shutdown. Presumably their idea of sharing here is reading about other methods to accumulate points and miles while never writing their own techniques for fear of shutdown. It’s heartening to see that the “I’ve got mine, you’re on your own” attitude is NOT the most prevalent attitude here.
Thanks again to Seth for exposing this shady practice to those of us who were unaware (and who “trusted” UA). It’s reassuring that some people understand the spirit of FT.
Those that have known about it, and STATE they have written about it for years, are simply annoyed that others are now learning of it. Perhaps they are fortunate enough to never have been a victim of sleazy marketing. Undoubtedly they’re the same people who want to eliminate newbies from the MS thread and who never want to see something which is beneficial to us exposed for fear of shutdown. Presumably their idea of sharing here is reading about other methods to accumulate points and miles while never writing their own techniques for fear of shutdown. It’s heartening to see that the “I’ve got mine, you’re on your own” attitude is NOT the most prevalent attitude here.
Thanks again to Seth for exposing this shady practice to those of us who were unaware (and who “trusted” UA). It’s reassuring that some people understand the spirit of FT.
Feb 8, 2014, 4:32 pm
#82
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,854
Airlines have priced tickets based on O/D for years. (And there are similar practices in other industries / markets.) The prices that many times not been the the sum of the segments. Hidden city pricing is just another example of this. You can call it deceptive / sleazy if you wish but it is a common airline (not just UA) practice for a long time. In the case we are discussing here, the attempt to enforce O/D pricing can be circumvented by use of multi-destination searches. In a "correctly" (from UA's perspective) functioning IT system UA would catch this (and likely will in the future) but presently does not.
Is O/D pricing deceptive / sleazy? personal judgement call, but knowing it is a common industry practice is an useful understanding for the FF.
Is this useful knowledge that UA's system fails to enforce its O/D pricing in some cases, yeap.
Is O/D pricing deceptive / sleazy? personal judgement call, but knowing it is a common industry practice is an useful understanding for the FF.
Is this useful knowledge that UA's system fails to enforce its O/D pricing in some cases, yeap.
Feb 8, 2014, 5:23 pm
#83
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Join Date: Apr 2004
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Feb 8, 2014, 5:41 pm
#84
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Charlotte
Programs: Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum Elite, AA Platinum Pro, Hertz Presidents
Posts: 1,214
Wow. Not surprising at all, but still wow. Double WOW.
Indeed - what happens if you have IROPS? If you want to go A-C but you buy a multi-segment A-B, and B-C. Let's say A-B is late (or worse even, A-B is cancelled and UA re-routed you A-D-B, arriving at B much later), what's UA's obligation to get you to C? Are you effectively a no-show for B-C because you booked multi-segment?
UA is not intending to offer the cheaper fares. It's a bug. How people think this is a "dirty trick" is completely beyond me. Thanks to recent attention (from people who I am completely shocked to learn didn't already know about the big, frankly), it will probably be fixed soon.
What silliness.
What silliness.
I honestly would like to hear this discourse.
i, and several others here, have stated that this information is new to us, which makes hobo13’s comment spot on. It’s clearly anti-consumer, it’s essentially a bait and switch tactic. Like advertising an inexpensive price, putting more expensive items in the front of the store and burying the advertised less expensive items in the back behind the stacks of thingamajigs and making them available only on alternate mondays and thursdays.
Those that have known about it, and state they have written about it for years, are simply annoyed that others are now learning of it. Perhaps they are fortunate enough to never have been a victim of sleazy marketing. Undoubtedly they’re the same people who want to eliminate newbies from the ms thread and who never want to see something which is beneficial to us exposed for fear of shutdown. Presumably their idea of sharing here is reading about other methods to accumulate points and miles while never writing their own techniques for fear of shutdown. It’s heartening to see that the “i’ve got mine, you’re on your own” attitude is not the most prevalent attitude here.
Thanks again to seth for exposing this shady practice to those of us who were unaware (and who “trusted” ua). It’s reassuring that some people understand the spirit of ft.
Those that have known about it, and state they have written about it for years, are simply annoyed that others are now learning of it. Perhaps they are fortunate enough to never have been a victim of sleazy marketing. Undoubtedly they’re the same people who want to eliminate newbies from the ms thread and who never want to see something which is beneficial to us exposed for fear of shutdown. Presumably their idea of sharing here is reading about other methods to accumulate points and miles while never writing their own techniques for fear of shutdown. It’s heartening to see that the “i’ve got mine, you’re on your own” attitude is not the most prevalent attitude here.
Thanks again to seth for exposing this shady practice to those of us who were unaware (and who “trusted” ua). It’s reassuring that some people understand the spirit of ft.
Last edited by iluv2fly; Feb 8, 2014 at 10:34 pm Reason: merge
Feb 8, 2014, 6:05 pm
#85
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 8,634
UA is not intending to sell these tickets for that price. It's a website error. The two options are to get the ticket at the price UA means to sell it at, or to have the option of that price or an error price. How you could possibly understand the latter situation (the current situation) as bad for consumers, or deceptive, or a scam, is completely beyond me.
It's a mislabeled price on an item in a store. That's all it is. If you think the analogy is inapt, that's because you misunderstand the situation.
Feb 8, 2014, 8:40 pm
#86
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: EWR
Programs: UA Gold, UA MM, Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,329
It's not a bug. It's not a feature. It has been a fact of life for many years with UA, as I and others have testified. I put it down to UA's incompetent IT programming. As I stated above, my impression is that, curiously, since we moved to the programming hell of the SHARES dinosaur this fact of life does not actually work as well as it used to.
The reason I was irritated by sbm12 is that here is a guy who has been around on this forum almost as long as I have, who has a huge number of posts and is a FlyerTalk Legend, and yet he does not know this simple longstanding fact of life about searching/pricing flights on UA. He starts to trumpet it as if it were something new and disgraceful, when actually some of us have lived with it for years and have learned to exploit it. Where has he been all this time?
The reason I was irritated by sbm12 is that here is a guy who has been around on this forum almost as long as I have, who has a huge number of posts and is a FlyerTalk Legend, and yet he does not know this simple longstanding fact of life about searching/pricing flights on UA. He starts to trumpet it as if it were something new and disgraceful, when actually some of us have lived with it for years and have learned to exploit it. Where has he been all this time?
Feb 8, 2014, 8:47 pm
#87
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 8,634
But it's not getting screwed, it's just getting the price that UA intends... why is this so hard for people to understand? If us fixes this, it won't help anyone.
Feb 8, 2014, 8:54 pm
#88
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: EWR
Programs: UA Gold, UA MM, Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,329
Why are you so upset that Seth informed everyone? Because UA will fix the so called bug.?? Why is it that 1P was upset that it is being explained to the masses? Oh that's right......because if this loophole gets closed he will no longer be able to exploit it while others are paying the "right" price. Right?
Feb 8, 2014, 9:17 pm
#89
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 8,634
Why are you so upset that Seth informed everyone? Because UA will fix the so called bug.?? Why is it that 1P was upset that it is being explained to the masses? Oh that's right......because if this loophole gets closed he will no longer be able to exploit it while others are paying the "right" price. Right?
My only point about them fixing the problem is that the current situation is BETTER, so making it out as some anti-consumer evil thing that needs to be fixed is exactly the opposite of reality.
Feb 8, 2014, 9:23 pm
#90
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: EWR
Programs: UA Gold, UA MM, Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,329
It is BETTER for everyone as long as EVERYONE means me myself and maybe a few others, when EVERYONE really means EVERYONE well then I'm just kidding, my bad.