12 ms·

Stanford grad's site nets Southwest 'cease and desist'

33 points by cb33 14y ago

salem 14y ago
I guess this is ruining the airlines margins when you miss a flight and they cancel your return flight while they are at it, and pocket all the fares.
- positr0n 14y ago
  What? That's not what this was doing at all. Not checking in won't cause you to miss your flight, just get a worse seat.
- telecuda 14y ago
  If you miss your flight on Southwest they credit 100% of your money back - even if it's your own fault for sleeping in.
  - famousactress 14y ago
    Is that true? My experience is that you're both wrong. You retain what you spent on the flight as credit w/ Southwest for future travel.
    - telecuda 14y ago
      What I meant by "100% credit" is 100% credited back into your SWA account - not cash back - but that's still amazing by industry standards.
      - NoPiece 14y ago
        If you pay full fare on southwest ("anytime" fare) - they are refundable for any reason. If you have a discount fare, they are 100% creditable. Southwest is really great in the regard.
telecuda 14y ago
I agree with taking him down in this case. A quick Google search would reveal that it's been done before and taken down before. Southwest goes above and beyond the industry norm for making air travel painless (I fly them every week) and they have the right to keeping people from gaming the system. The best solution I've found is to set your calendar reminder for 24hrs before your flight, with the confirmation number in the "Where" field, then quick copy/paste into their smartphone app. Takes two seconds and always gets you on the A-List. If that's too much work for you, pay them $10 for Early Bird. This guy will make it more painful for the rest of us when they add CAPTCHAs.
- bo1024 14y ago
  > I agree with taking him down in this case. A quick Google search would reveal that it's been done before and taken down before. Only for commercial sites, right? Anyway, if he just distributed the source code, there'd be nothing to stop people from running this on their own computers, I'd think.
  - telecuda 14y ago
    I agree. And I don't think it poses a real problem if a very small percentage do this. The problem is when instead of paying Southwest $10 for Early Bird a large group uses this guy. I find it wonderful that I don't need to pay a premium for an exit row or aisle seat, unlike other airlines. I'm openly biased toward Southwest, but only because they've earned it.
    - dangoldin 14y ago
      And if too large of a group uses it then some will start paying the $10.
- qq66 14y ago
  Your second paragraph seems as though you're arguing that Southwest's high level of customer service somehow affects the ethics of making a site like this.
benmanns 14y ago
Previous discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4619059 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4619059
bonzoesc 14y ago
Welcome to the real world, kid. Mommy's not going to check you in anymore, and if you've got a clever way to take advantage of a big company's systems in spite of their policies, keep it on the down low.
droithomme 14y ago
Companies only show their incompetence by sending these letters. You know what we do when spammers get through our filters, or people make posts on our company discussion forum that contravenes our TOS? We hire dozens of lawyers, file multiple lawsuits against them, and fight it in the courts to the bitter end!! No, that's not what we do. We improve our spam filters. When people find away around 'the system', we can either fix 'the system', or change the expectations of what people will use 'the system' for. ('The system' can be anything, it doesn't even have to be internet or contract related.) Suing people and hiring lawyers is what clueless people with technical and social incompetence do because they are bullies.
- michaelhoffman 14y ago
  In this case, the letter seemed to achieve the desired aim just fine.
nhangen 14y ago
This is why I don't fly Southwest...I hate their first come first serve policy. Essentially what this does is play smart and check you in early so you get a good seat. I don't see how it's any different than setting an alert to remind you to sign in and do it manually. God forbid they lose the ridiculous $10 'upgrade' fee.
- jblock 14y ago
  Except that it makes getting on the plane and seating yourself extremely efficient, which saves Southwest money, which saves you money.
  - nhangen 14y ago
    It's actually not nearly as efficient as being able to select your seat when you purchase your ticket.
    - jblock 14y ago
      http://www.quora.com/Air-Travel/Why-is-airplane-boarding-always-a-mob-scene/answer/Michele-Walk http://www.quora.com/Air-Travel/Why-is-airplane-boarding-alw... Disagree. That's outwardly more efficient, but it turns out that when we're tasked with sorting and arranging ourselves, we do this whole boarding a plane thing pretty efficiently (especially when we have a vague sense of our chances of finding a convenient spot for our bags or a good seat).
ari_ 14y ago
Here's a question. What if you build an app or site that is a wrap around for cURL but that is used locally.. I.e. it's your machine or iPhone or Android that actually makes the necessary URL calls to check in at exactly 24 hours before check in? Does that violate ToS? Where do we draw the line?

33 points by cb33 14y ago

salem 14y ago

I guess this is ruining the airlines margins when you miss a flight and they cancel your return flight while they are at it, and pocket all the fares.

positr0n 14y ago
What? That's not what this was doing at all. Not checking in won't cause you to miss your flight, just get a worse seat.
telecuda 14y ago
If you miss your flight on Southwest they credit 100% of your money back - even if it's your own fault for sleeping in.
- famousactress 14y ago
  Is that true? My experience is that you're both wrong. You retain what you spent on the flight as credit w/ Southwest for future travel.
  - telecuda 14y ago
    What I meant by "100% credit" is 100% credited back into your SWA account - not cash back - but that's still amazing by industry standards.
    - NoPiece 14y ago
      If you pay full fare on southwest ("anytime" fare) - they are refundable for any reason. If you have a discount fare, they are 100% creditable. Southwest is really great in the regard.

telecuda 14y ago

I agree with taking him down in this case. A quick Google search would reveal that it's been done before and taken down before. Southwest goes above and beyond the industry norm for making air travel painless (I fly them every week) and they have the right to keeping people from gaming the system. The best solution I've found is to set your calendar reminder for 24hrs before your flight, with the confirmation number in the "Where" field, then quick copy/paste into their smartphone app. Takes two seconds and always gets you on the A-List. If that's too much work for you, pay them $10 for Early Bird. This guy will make it more painful for the rest of us when they add CAPTCHAs.

bo1024 14y ago
> I agree with taking him down in this case. A quick Google search would reveal that it's been done before and taken down before. Only for commercial sites, right? Anyway, if he just distributed the source code, there'd be nothing to stop people from running this on their own computers, I'd think.
- telecuda 14y ago
  I agree. And I don't think it poses a real problem if a very small percentage do this. The problem is when instead of paying Southwest $10 for Early Bird a large group uses this guy. I find it wonderful that I don't need to pay a premium for an exit row or aisle seat, unlike other airlines. I'm openly biased toward Southwest, but only because they've earned it.
  - dangoldin 14y ago
    And if too large of a group uses it then some will start paying the $10.
qq66 14y ago
Your second paragraph seems as though you're arguing that Southwest's high level of customer service somehow affects the ethics of making a site like this.

benmanns 14y ago

Previous discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4619059 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4619059

bonzoesc 14y ago

Welcome to the real world, kid. Mommy's not going to check you in anymore, and if you've got a clever way to take advantage of a big company's systems in spite of their policies, keep it on the down low.

droithomme 14y ago

Companies only show their incompetence by sending these letters. You know what we do when spammers get through our filters, or people make posts on our company discussion forum that contravenes our TOS? We hire dozens of lawyers, file multiple lawsuits against them, and fight it in the courts to the bitter end!! No, that's not what we do. We improve our spam filters. When people find away around 'the system', we can either fix 'the system', or change the expectations of what people will use 'the system' for. ('The system' can be anything, it doesn't even have to be internet or contract related.) Suing people and hiring lawyers is what clueless people with technical and social incompetence do because they are bullies.

michaelhoffman 14y ago
In this case, the letter seemed to achieve the desired aim just fine.

nhangen 14y ago

This is why I don't fly Southwest...I hate their first come first serve policy. Essentially what this does is play smart and check you in early so you get a good seat. I don't see how it's any different than setting an alert to remind you to sign in and do it manually. God forbid they lose the ridiculous $10 'upgrade' fee.

jblock 14y ago
Except that it makes getting on the plane and seating yourself extremely efficient, which saves Southwest money, which saves you money.
- nhangen 14y ago
  It's actually not nearly as efficient as being able to select your seat when you purchase your ticket.
  - jblock 14y ago
    http://www.quora.com/Air-Travel/Why-is-airplane-boarding-always-a-mob-scene/answer/Michele-Walk http://www.quora.com/Air-Travel/Why-is-airplane-boarding-alw... Disagree. That's outwardly more efficient, but it turns out that when we're tasked with sorting and arranging ourselves, we do this whole boarding a plane thing pretty efficiently (especially when we have a vague sense of our chances of finding a convenient spot for our bags or a good seat).

ari_ 14y ago

Here's a question. What if you build an app or site that is a wrap around for cURL but that is used locally.. I.e. it's your machine or iPhone or Android that actually makes the necessary URL calls to check in at exactly 24 hours before check in? Does that violate ToS? Where do we draw the line?