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Airlines Face Crack Down on Use of 'Exploitative' Algorithm That Splits Up Families on Flights (independent.co.uk)
Algorithms used by airlines to split up those travelling together unless they pay more to sit next to each other have been called "exploitative" by a government minister. From a report: Speaking to a parliamentary communications committee, Digital Minister Margot James described the software as "a very cynical, exploitative means... to hoodwink the general public." She added: "Some airlines have set an algorithm to identify passengers of the same surname travelling together. They've had the temerity to split the passengers up, and when the family want to travel together they are charged more." It's an issue that will be looked at by the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, launched by the government this week to identify and address areas where clearer guidelines and regulation are needed in how data is used. Passengers first started noticing they were being split up from their party if they didn't pay more for allocated seating in June 2017, with Ryanair most commonly associated with the practice.
Things have been changing over the last few years; in general, the trend has been to find ways to offer a lower level of service for less money than what we used to think of as the basic Economy Class fare. This manifests in what some airlines sometimes call "Basic Economy," which has more restrictions and limitations on it than what you think of as Economy. Typically, the two things you lose in Basic Economy are A) The ability to bring on a full-sized carry-on (so everything you bring onboard has to fit under the seat in front of you) and B) Assigned seating.
That would make it worse. People would leave 1 seat gaps between them and the next person, and then when families and couples come along later they would have to ask them to move or be split up.
Particularly for families with children being together is quite important, and benefits the other passengers as well.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
What's the problem?
The problem is that left unchecked, corporations will always resort to underhanded tactics to defraud people from their money, which is why government regulation is always required to give a minimum bar of standards. Although I guess that is only a problem if you're a Libertarian with the obligatory reality bypass.
While I generally agree, if you have kids, it's not necessarily anyone else's duty to make special concessions for you (it IS a CHOICE after all). This I think, crosses the line pretty obviously. It is not that it just so happen that families got split up, which I would totally expect as the larger your party gets, the harder it is to get contiguous seating. However, the claim is that families were specifically targeted and split up to exploit their known desire to sit together. It's quite obviously a predatory practice.
Of course this would be Ryanair, the subway of air travel. I can't wait until they actually book standing room only and have people pushing in backwards so the doors can close.
It's not just a matter of convenience, "togetherness", and personal desire to keep parents near their children aboard an aircraft. There's a safety issue in letting kids sit next to their parents. If something bad happens aboard the aircraft, a child will instinctively seek out his or her parent for assistance. Having a bunch of panicked kids running around the plane looking for Mom or Dad, or a bunch of panicked adults looking for their children, can screw up attempts to deal with the situation and/or to evacuate the aircraft.
If nothing else, the closer a parent is to their child, the quicker they can take appropriate action if a child starts acting frightened, bored, noisy, or rambunctious in a way that's likely to cause distress to other passengers.
Corporations don't have to be moral. Too bad for everyone.
Corporations don't have to exist either. They are a legal fiction, not a guaranteed right.
Yeah, that's why I never let pregnant women sit in the bus. It was their choice after all.
Not necessarily. :(
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