I may be misunderstanding but the article seems to be saying airlines are claiming against lost revenue from not being able to resell the seats not used by travellers who skip a leg. This makes no sense. They sell the ticket. Whether the customer uses it or not does not cause the airline to lose money.
On a related note I feel like overselling flights should be illegal. You're trying to sell the same thing to two different people, which in another industry would be considered fraud.
This is an area of light handed regulation. aircraft fitness compliance is far stronger. business practices in selling seats is an almost unregulated area, noting the warsaw concerto (sorry.. warsaw convention)
I suspect if it was regulated properly, the last ones standing would be the state subsidised actors. Nobody else is on thick margins.
There have been many submissions of this story, some with significant discussion:
Lufthansa Sues Hidden City Ticketholder
for Throwing His Ticket (cnn.com)
111 comments[0]
Lufthansa Sues Passenger Who Missed His
Flight – 'Hidden City' Trick (slashdot.org)
10 comments[1]
An airline is suing a customer who skipped
a leg of his flight to save money (vox.com)
6 comments[2]
Lufthansa sues customer for skipping flight
(godsavethepoints.com)
2 comments[3]
'Hidden city' travel: airlines are cracking
down on a discount trick (theguardian.com)
No comments[4]
Airline sues passenger for not taking a
connection (ctvnews.ca)
No comments[5]
4 comments
[ 2.1 ms ] story [ 19.1 ms ] threadOn a related note I feel like overselling flights should be illegal. You're trying to sell the same thing to two different people, which in another industry would be considered fraud.
I suspect if it was regulated properly, the last ones standing would be the state subsidised actors. Nobody else is on thick margins.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19153457
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19159914
[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19126675
[4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19182808
[5] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19156064