
Helping Fliers Avoid Change Fees for a Modest Fee - e15ctr0n
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/28/business/helping-fliers-avoid-change-fees-for-a-modest-fee.html
======
CaptainZapp

      Your plans suddenly change, and a flight must be switched. Soon you are paying a flight-change fee of $200 or so.
    

(I really hate being a defender of the airline industry, but here we go
anyway)

If you're not sure about your plans you have three options:

You can wait until you're sure to buy a ticket

You can buy a ticket at a higher priced, refundable fare

You buy a cheap _non-refundable_ ticket and risk losing on it if you can't
take the flight, or need to change it

Flying, overall, got so incredible cheap. I read (meaning I can't give you a
source, but it sounds realistic) that taking a flight from Europe to Australia
40 years ago required 8 average monthly salaries. Today it's less than half an
average monthly salary.

Sure the perks got less and less and while flying may have been a glamourous,
champagne drenched affair then those times are certainly gone; at least in
cattle class.

I'm always bugged by whiners complaining that they bought a return flight from
New York to London for 399$ and then complain that they can't change it,
because they just don't seem to grasp the concept of _non-refundable_. If you
want refundable, that can be had. For 4x the price.

There are a lot of valid gripes about the industry. From penny pinching, to
ridiculous fees (like 10EUR to have your boarding pass printed) to rotten
"customer service", etc.

But if you buy a cheap ticket, which is sold with restrictions that are
communicated up-front then stop whining.

~~~
mathgeek
"I'm always bugged by whiners complaining that they bought a return flight
from New York to London for 399$ and then complain that they can't change it,
because they just don't seem to grasp the concept of non-refundable. If you
want refundable, that can be had. For 4x the price."

What are your thoughts on a system that allows for resale of unwanted tickets
through a vetted third party (assuming that third party has the proper tools
in place to vet purchasers through the normal security checks when buying a
flight)?

~~~
CaptainZapp
In principle I think it would be a good idea, but it will never fly (sorry),
since it would not only cut into the airlines' baseline, but totally sabotage
the concept of yield management (or price discrimantion, if you prefer), which
is totally essential to the business model of an airline (or hotel, or car
rental company).

([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yield_management](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yield_management))

While this may seem frustrating I can - to some degree - understand their
position, since there would be a business model in that.

A cabin is divided into a number of classes. That's not just first -, business
- and economy -, but economy class as such is divided into a number of sub
classes, which are sold under different conditions for different fares.

For example: Swiss offers the following fare classes in economy (I assume this
goes for the whole Lufthansa group, but didn't check). From most expensive to
cheapest:

    
    
      B, Y
      G, H, M, U
      Q, S, V, W
      E, K, L, T
    

Now they have a certain amount of seats available in, say, fare class K. Once
they are sold out you can only book seats in classes S, H or even Y. It
fluctuates, though. They may add more seats to cheaper classes if the flight
is in danger of not selling out.

Let's assume that I buy K class tickets for a flight, from which I assume that
it sells out well in advance. Two weeks before the fllight is scheduled and
only (much) more expensive tickets in B and M class are available I offer my
tickets for sale and share the savings with the buyer, who, in theory would
have been willing to pay a much higher price.

So in essence it's the ability of the airlines to price discriminate, which
would be endangered if tickets are resellable.

You can argue that this is not right and unfair. Then again it's price
discrimination, which enables very cheap flights. Provided you book in a
timely manner and accept limited or no flexibility.

------
tamana
Nice submarine PR for these new travel insurance companies, selling an old
product with a new face.

------
hchenji
Why doesn't the article mention Southwest Airlines??

~~~
sardonicbryan
It does: "Only Southwest Airlines, which distinguishes itself among major
airlines by largely shunning fees, does not charge to switch flights."

