Delta price drops

[Globaliser]

If you are buying a product or service you are not gambling.

If you are choosing to buy a product or service at a particular price being offered now, not knowing whether the future price of that product or service will go up or down, but hoping that you are securing now the advantage of a lower price to buy off the risk that the price might be higher in the future, and simultaneously accepting the risk that the price will actually be lower in the future - then you are gambling.

 

gam·ble

intransitive verb

...

2. to take a risk in order to gain some advantage

[fbgd]

When you purchase a airline ticket you are purchasing a service. How anyone can view that as something that even remotely resembles gambling is beyond me.

 

 

I can't believe you cannot understand this mightily simple concept.

 

In gambling, horse racing/lottery/slots etc. your sole purpose of participating in the activity is to win money. With the airline ticket your sole purpose is to travel from point A to point B BUT completely separate and unrelated to that service is the price of the airline ticket and how much you pay. As this is dynamic you are taking a gamble with the price of it, the ticket could drop 30% from what you paid or increase 300%, you are taking a risk, or a gamble (yes, I said that word) when you buy that one of these situations might occur.

 

I think Flyertalker's offer to write a post would be a useful one, I just think it might need to be written with single digit IQs in mind!

[Shorex]

 

 

A picture is worth a thousand words. Some days are like that. ;)

[Cuizer2]

You are with airline tickets. You can purchase at the rate they are displaying at your current request. Decide to wait a minute, hour, day or week and take what is displaying then. There are only so many seats on a plane and depending on the amount of PAX the price will go up or down.

 

Basic supply and demand rules apply.

 

The fact that the price of the ticket goes up or down after you purchase it does not mean that the purchase of the ticket is a gamble. If the price goes up the airline will not charge you more. If the price goes down, you still receive the service you paid for. The airline is not going to stop at an airport between the departure and arrival airports and force the people who paid less to get off.

 

Once you purchase the ticket, whatever happens to the price of future tickets is moot. You will get the service you paid for, just like everyone else. Basic supply and demand rules have absolutely nothing to do with gambling.

[Cuizer2]

If you are choosing to buy a product or service at a particular price being offered now, not knowing whether the future price of that product or service will go up or down, but hoping that you are securing now the advantage of a lower price to buy off the risk that the price might be higher in the future, and simultaneously accepting the risk that the price will actually be lower in the future - then you are gambling.

 

gam·ble

intransitive verb

...

2. to take a risk in order to gain some advantage

 

You are confusing two different concepts. The decision as to when to purchase and the actual purchase. Once you make the purchase, the price of your ticket is fixed. It cannot go up or down. In other words, once you purchase the ticket, you have no chance to win or lose. In gambling, you must make the purchase in order to have the chance to win or lose.

 

After the purchase, if the price goes up, the airline will not charge you more. If the price goes down you don't get a refund. The airline does not stop at an airport between the departure and arrival airport to drop people off who paid less. You have purchased a service and you will receive that service. That is NOT gambling.

[Cuizer2]

 

I can't believe you cannot understand this mightily simple concept.

 

In gambling, horse racing/lottery/slots etc. your sole purpose of participating in the activity is to win money. With the airline ticket your sole purpose is to travel from point A to point B BUT completely separate and unrelated to that service is the price of the airline ticket and how much you pay. As this is dynamic you are taking a gamble with the price of it, the ticket could drop 30% from what you paid or increase 300%, you are taking a risk, or a gamble (yes, I said that word) when you buy that one of these situations might occur.

 

I think Flyertalker's offer to write a post would be a useful one, I just think it might need to be written with single digit IQs in mind!

You may wish to purchase the ticket at the lowest price possible. However, once you purchase the ticket, that is it. The price of your ticket cannot change. Thus, it is not a gamble. In gambling you must make the purchase to have a change to win or lose. Once you purchase your ticket, you have no chance to win or lose. You bought a service for a fixed price and that is it.

 

Again, if purchasing an airline ticket was gambling, it would be illegal to purchase airline tickets in Hawaii.

[jetexpress]

Yep, the OP is getting a product or service. A big shiny plane is going to take them to where they want to go. How much they paid for that is where my gambling analogy comes in.

 

I would not expect a big shiny plane if flying delta ;)

[FlyerTalker]

I would not expect a big shiny plane if flying delta ;)

 

True...they are painted white.

 

For shiny, try AA....at least the ones made from aluminum. Or the old EA "hockey stick" livery.

 

 

As for the second picture posted by fbgd: Good thing I wasn't drinking milk or coffee when I scrolled to that post.

[billyjeff]

You may wish to purchase the ticket at the lowest price possible. However, once you purchase the ticket, that is it. The price of your ticket cannot change. Thus, it is not a gamble. In gambling you must make the purchase to have a change to win or lose. Once you purchase your ticket, you have no chance to win or lose. You bought a service for a fixed price and that is it.

 

Again, if purchasing an airline ticket was gambling, it would be illegal to purchase airline tickets in Hawaii.

 

Exactly. You pay a price acceptable to you at the time. You have locked in your price against future price variations up or down. You have removed any risk. Indeed, that is the antithesis of gambling.

[Globaliser]

In gambling, you must make the purchase in order to have the chance to win or lose.

I am not going to argue semantics with you. The word has more than one meaning, and you are choosing to look only at one.

[skf]

All I wish to ask OP is that if you were willing two days ago to pay the fare you agreed to pay, how are you losing money today?

 

As to gambling, I like horse racing & made $120 Friday, but if I had lost $120 I would not look for a refund.

 

Steve