Taking advantage of error - smart or immoral ?

sandy_mcd · Post by **sandy_mcd** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 5:04 pm

(modified from excite news)

For several hours, US Airways was selling tickets to smaller cities for $1.86 plus fees - until the carrier fixed a glitch in its computer system. Divinity student Randy Besta, 42, of Toronto, Ontario, bought 10 first-class, round-trip tickets from Watertown to Eugene, Ore., for about $64 each.

US Airways is honoring these tickets but had no intention of selling them for $1.86. Is it acceptable to take advantage of their mistake or does this paint a poor picture of a divinity student's morals ?

sandy

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 5:11 pm

That is immoral and wicked. You don't take advantage of errors made by other people, you kindly tell them of their mistake and make sure no one tries to exploit them. This is what Christ tells us to do.

Battlehelmet · Post by **Battlehelmet** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 7:03 pm

Hmm, In agreement with Dan.

Kurieuo · Post by **Kurieuo** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 7:07 pm

If they're honouring them, then I don't see what the problem is.

Kurieuo

AttentionKMartShoppers · Wed Apr 20, 2005 9:08 pm

The girl must have known the pirce was wrong. You don't sell first class seats for under $2! She knew she was stealing, even though a computer said she wasn't until the glitch was found.

bizzt · Post by **bizzt** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 8:32 am

AttentionKMartShoppers wrote:The girl must have known the pirce was wrong. You don't sell first class seats for under $2! She knew she was stealing, even though a computer said she wasn't until the glitch was found.

Jetsgo had $1 seat sales to many Cities in Canada! (they have gone under since) Had did she know they were not legit!!!

My thoughts

sandy_mcd · Post by **sandy_mcd** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 3:48 pm

Kurieuo wrote:If they're honouring them, then I don't see what the problem is.

They are honoring them since that is better business practice than the poor publicity of not honoring them, which I assume they are legally entitled to do. I personally think it is wrong to take advantage of this since the airline said the prices were a mistake.

sandy

Kurieuo · Post by **Kurieuo** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 5:21 pm

I'm sure the good publicity they'll now receive has then been paid for by the discounted tickets.

I personally see nothing wrong unless the airline came out and said all customers must return their tickets. Is such taking advantage of the airline's mistake? No doubt. However, the airline ultimately has the final say and they're honoring the tickets mistake or not. Who knows, perhaps it was a purposeful mistake to get publicity? In the end the customers and airline both appear to get something out of this.

Kurieuo.

bizzt · Post by **bizzt** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 9:01 am

Kurieuo wrote:I'm sure the good publicity they'll now receive has then been paid for by the discounted tickets.

I personally see nothing wrong unless the airline came out and said all customers must return their tickets. Is such taking advantage of the airline's mistake? No doubt. However, the airline ultimately has the final say and they're honoring the tickets mistake or not. Who knows, perhaps it was a purposeful mistake to get publicity? In the end the customers and airline both appear to get something out of this.

Kurieuo.

YUP

Once4all · Post by **Once4all** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:46 pm

How about the broken soda machine that spits out free soft drinks at the push of a button (without putting in money)?

How is that different from a computer glitch that sells airline tickets for $1.86?

Both are wrong to take advantage of, IMO, and would reflect a dishonest spirit.

O

bizzt · Post by **bizzt** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 3:03 pm

Once4all wrote:How about the broken soda machine that spits out free soft drinks at the push of a button (without putting in money)?

How is that different from a computer glitch that sells airline tickets for $1.86?

Both are wrong to take advantage of, IMO, and would reflect a dishonest spirit.

O

Still if she went back and said look I was wrong in taking these! Would the Airline accept them back? We do not know if she deliberately did this but in the end how is it stealing when that is what the price said. It is like going shopping and the price for piece of Clothing is a 1.97 yet the actual price is 10.00. You get to the Till and were charged for 10.00. I would argue that the price says 1.97 would you? The advertised price is what it usually goes for. If Gasoline cost you 20.00 but the till inside the store is at 32.00 what is correct? The one you pumped from! Is it wrong? Not necessarily but clearly it was an error on the part of the Company and they suck it up and take the hit for their error!

Thanks
Tim

AttentionKMartShoppers · Wed Apr 27, 2005 4:30 pm

And Jesus said, love thy neighbor as thyself...and once everyone was gone, went off with the disciples to look for underpriced food and rip off the vendor....

bizzt · Post by **bizzt** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 10:11 am

AttentionKMartShoppers wrote:And Jesus said, love thy neighbor as thyself...and once everyone was gone, went off with the disciples to look for underpriced food and rip off the vendor....

Well Judas was like that... Hey but a person is right to look for bargains correct? A person could have thought this was a Bargain (considering Jetsgo in Canada had the same type of Deals!!!!!!!!) Was the person that bought the tickets asked to cough up the money because of the error? If one does not feel guilty over an error that a company made and the Company realized it made the error will honour the AGREEMENT made between the purchaser and the supplier then what is the problem? Is it that you did not see the deal first

! Seriously though! For example my wife and I went to Boston Pizza Yesterday. My order came with Stromboli type of sandwich (not what I ordered). The Manager came by and gave me the sandwich and apoligized because the cook made the wrong thing. I got that sandwich FREE and received the other Sandwich as well. Was I therefore WRONG in eating the sandwich?

Felgar · Post by **Felgar** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 12:07 pm

bizzt wrote:Was I therefore WRONG in eating the sandwich?

Possibly glutonous if you ate them both, but not wrong.

AttentionKMartShoppers · Thu Apr 28, 2005 1:14 pm

Your sandwich analogy doesn't fit here...the manager or whatever knew the cook made the wrong sandwich and offered you two sandwiches for free. The lady most likely (can't be 100% sure of course) knew that the prices weren't supposed to be that low, and was purposefully ripping the airline off. And bargain hunting is fine...