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by catapart 754 days ago
Understood, but trusting Google to do something (in perpetuity) that it is not legally obligated to do is a hard sell to shareholders wondering why you would let your prices be misrepresented (in relation to other airline tickets) in that way.
1 comments
lotsofpulp 754 days ago
What was the misrepresentation? The lowest price offered by Southwest is still the same.

Southwest having a different pricing strategy does not make it misrepresentation.

Edit to respond to fragmede below:

If a customer selects 0 or 1 checked bags, would it be better for the customer if Google flights did not show Southwest as an option at all?

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fragmede 754 days ago
The UI displaying the SW price for two checked bags next to the Delta price for zero checked bags is the issue. it's like comparing "the cheapest Mac laptop vs the cheapest windows laptop" vs "the cheapest Mac laptop vs equivalently spec'd windows laptop", and not trusting consumers or the price comparison UI to know the difference.
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catapart 754 days ago
I certainly appreciate the effort as valiant, but the commenter responded to a generalized summary of the issue with anecdotal tunnel-vision about their pet issue, completely ignoring the context (an entire US law was passed - no small feat - to fix an issue ne is insisting doesn't actually exist) and the other types of issues that contribute to the misrepresentation of prices (checked bags aren't the only 'hidden fee').

In response to "you can see how THIS is a misrepresentation, right?" they said "actually, I've never had that problem, so..."

At some point, you have to recognize who and what you are dealing with and cut bait. But, hey, YMMV! Godspeed, if you're willing, I suppose!

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catapart 754 days ago
If I look up a price for Delta compared against a price for Southwest and the Delta price is cheaper, that is a "representation".

If I go to Delta to buy the ticket, but cannot actually purchase the ticket for the price quoted (which was the problem), then there has been a misrepresentation of the actual cost of a Delta ticket.

Compounding that, if the actual price I pay for a Delta ticket is more than the comparison price for a Southwest ticket that would have allowed me to get the same fare, then the comparison is a misrepresentation. The comparison is no longer apples to apples. That's not a problem with Southwest having an issue with pricing model, that's a problem with the comparison sites not being forced to show comparisons between like products. That comparison, between unlike products, is a misrepresentation, if a reasonable person could believe that they were looking at a comparison of like products.

I'm not going to belabor the point further; the law was changed for exactly this type of nonsense. It's a misrepresentation.

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lotsofpulp 754 days ago
>If I go to Delta to buy the ticket, but cannot actually purchase the ticket for the price quoted (which was the problem), then there has been a misrepresentation of the actual cost of a Delta ticket.

The price I see on Google flights has always been the price I pay on Delta.com

If I pick 2 checked bags on Google flights, then Google flights shows me the price for 2 checked bags with Delta.

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