

How to really hack the system and eat for free - babuskov
http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/china-eastern-airlines-passenger-uses-first-class-ticket-for-free-meals/story-e6frfq80-1226811109390

======
mapt
I was surprised to find that the Chinese norm for airline booking is
_inordinately_ more passenger-friendly than the Western norm. Flights are
regular, prices are posted and do not change much, and it is very common to
book a ticket for same-day or day-before travel. My short stint in the country
charged me less for two flights on different domestic carriers booked day-
before as _the penalty charge for the Delta flight home_ for changing my
ticket to a flight a few hours later.

I love how they end up at 'Well, there's just no way to stop him'. Cost of
doing business. Here, the man would be in prison on some invented charge or
other.

This is what the US airlines might have looked like if instead of decades of
bankruptcies, pension debacles, bailouts, and ruthless competition to lower
prices and amenities, we had simply run them as a semi-public service. Either
option lowers prices significantly over the early US carriers, one of them is
just a lot more humane.

