[ben1040]

Sometimes I go to a fast food restaurant and discover that while I don't want fries, it's cheaper to buy the whole combo meal than it is to just buy a burger and drink a la carte.

If I buy the combo and throw away the fries, nobody's going to argue that I've cheated Wendy's and owe them for the difference in price.

But I'd agree they're still free to refuse me service in the future on grounds of wasting food.

[mynameisvlad]

Technically, the equivalent is telling them to "keep the fries" since airlines can then re-sell your ticket or offer it to standby customers.

[belltaco]

Isn't it pretty late to re-sell the ticket if you don't show up? It helps them with overbooking, standby customers, fuel costs and increased comfort to other passengers though.

[mynameisvlad]

In most cases, they technically already resold your ticket due to overbooking; it makes their lives easier since they don't have to boot someone from the flight, you voluntarily booted yourself. In fact, not only did you boot yourself, you forefeited however much the segment cost you, and any future segments on the ticket. That's why it's so absolutely preposterous that United is threatening to do this. They likely are making money off each person who skips segments, they just don't like it happening because it messes up their ticketing and flight operations models if this starts happening widespread.

[drak0n1c]

Not really - the vast majority of people who engage in this behavior do not notify the airline that they aren't showing up. The pool of standbys for the average flight is typically tiny or non-existent, and it's practically impossible to find a buyer for a ticket within the 15 minutes that airlines might be allowed to invalidate a paid customer's reservation and resell it.

Wasted seats on flights is a much bigger environmental problem than wasted fries.

[FireBeyond]

They do however, have a pretty sturdy belief, that despite being paid for it, you won't be showing up for the return leg (in fact, they tell you that you will be forfeiting that return leg), so they can resell it.

In fact, they also threaten the right to cancel your entire return trip, not just the segment in question.

[grimjack00]

Another fast-food scenario:

I want a Big Mac, 2 cheeseburgers, a soft drink and fries. Using prices from https://www.fastfoodmenuprices.com/mcdonalds-prices/ , I have two options: a) Big Mac meal ($5.99) + 2 cheeseburgers ($2.00) = $7.99 or b) 2 cheeseburger meal ($4.89) + Big Mac ($3.99) = $8.88

If I order option a, McDonalds "loses" $0.89. Am I committing fraud?