alt Hacker NewsI too was initially wondering what the problem was with price discrimination---it seems like it's just offering a worse product for less money, so everyone gets to choose.
But from what I understand, the article is saying that the problem is that the worse product is _artificially_ worse, in a way that is not commensurate with quid pro quo consumption like we're used to.
If I pay less for a Macbook with worse specs, that's "good" price discrimination, because Apple gets to give me something of intrinsically lower value that it cost them less to produce, and I give them something of lower value (less money) that it cost me less to acquire.
But an airline _creating_ a bunch of hoops for you to jump through (the article lists "no advance seat assignment, no ticket changes, last boarding group, baggage restrictions") in an effort to cause people whom they can juice for a little more cash to identify themselves, is scammy and scummy behavior. I don't want to see companies purposefully making my life worse in order to juice me for as much as they can.
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I think this is true in a general sense - buyers are always very susceptible to an upsell.
But also in general people are very astute at booking flights. Maybe the first time someone flies Spirit Airlines they feel like they've been conned. But I think most buyers now are just very particular about their features (Google Flights and Kayak both make these restrictions very prominent during the booking process)
Yes it seems to be artificially worse part. When you try to book the no frills basic, some airlines have scare messages like "you will be randomly assigned a seat". I know someone who feels they might be more likely to get bumped if they don't tag a particular seat. I think there are rules to prevent such extreme enshittification?
I’m not sure I buy the “artificially” as it implies that they have made things worse for Basic Economy in a way that doesn’t relate to distributing a scarce resource. Boarding priority and such are scarce and it makes some sense there’s a market price for them.
I am however concerned about the “everything is for sale” mentality this has brought. It used to be that some things couldn’t be bought with money, you had to wait in line like everyone else. More and more I see “pay to cut the line” and I think that drives class divisions and further damages a feeling of community and egalitarianism.