Exactly. It's the prerogative of any company to charge the most they think a customer will pay. It's the prerogative of a customer to pay the least they can. It's not my responsibility as a customer to save a company money. If an airline sells the same product at two different price points, it's wrong (and bad practice) to bully the customer into paying more.

I can't speak for Europe, but in the US, airports and airlines must accommodate TSA and customs workers, but they are paid for by the government, a fact that we saw play out in the recent government shutdown.

Good for you!

They sometimes fly these routes with any empty aircraft anyway because these routes are not well used, but have to fly anyway so the airline doesn't lose their slot at the airport. The cheaper fare is offered so someone will actually be motivated to purchase a ticket on the plane (which will fly regardless), but would otherwise be empty, close to empty, or only full of cargo.

All these people saying flights lose money waiting for people are literally comedians.

How many people did the mint sue?

So very true. Thanks for the laugh.

Agreed. You can't force someone to use a service they've paid for. If he'd asked for a refund, then sure. But if I pay for a service, you can't force me to use it. That's a human rights violation. If I buy a movie ticket, then don't show up for the movie, the theater can't sue me. If I pay for a gym membership then don't go, they can't sue me. If I rent a storage unit and don't use it, they can't sue me. There is no other service industry on earth where this would even sound sane. These policies exist for one reason and one reason only: airlines are brazen and shameless with pretty much all of their pricing strategies, and they want to have their cake and eat it too.

Almost always. If I rent a car for more than three days, I always rent it for the whole week because the weekly rate will be cheaper.