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Comment by larrys | Hacker News Reader

"when there was a 3.0x UberX multiplier"

I wonder how perception would change if instead of doing multipliers they did percentage off and discounts of a higher price which covered more bases. Then they could even reverse auction (I think that is what it's called, right?)

This is not uncommon in retailing where exorbitant prices are stated and then discounted. And there are cases where some people pay the high prices and are ok with paying them.

My point is, is it better to say (using an airline flight as an example):

Regular price of $945 to fly to SFO.

Today's price is $345 (normally $945) to fly to SFO.

..and so on.

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I'm not sure that upping the base price and then discounting it is a winner for Uber. They advertise on their base price -- they want it as low as possible.

The existence of taxis as a very ready basis for comparison makes it different than airlines. Uber can (and, you know, does), say "We're 30% cheaper than taxis!" Then, sure, surprise, sometimes you see that actually they're 3x more expensive than that. But at that point you've got the app open and are seconds from doing the hailing -- that's gotta have a certain level of stickyness.

If Uber said instead, "We're twice as expensive as taxis!" significantly fewer people would even open the app to find out that actually, right now, they're way less expensive.

They'd fall afoul of some laws in the UK (probably EU too). In the UK, you can't have permanent "discount" prices without a certain period of time in between each so-called sale. This was mainly targeted at furniture sales companies who seemed to always be advertising a 50% off sale of some sort. But I imagine it could catch something like Uber if they never actually offered their real price for a significant amount of time (I think it was 3 months or so?)

It's reasonable in some cases, but not with Uber. I think that they are trying to win the margin game, Amazon-style - if nobody can undercut them on base price, then new players cannot challenge them. So, for frequent customers a "discount" may be appropriate, but it makes acquiring new customers much harder ("UberX: Cheaper than a taxi when there's a discount").

The other

Man, I wish I could fly to SFO for $345. I'm looking to go there soon, and the schedule I get is:

Round trip, SFO-PVG: $700

One way, PVG-SFO: $1300

I'd really like to get in on that PVG-SFO flight for under $700...

Couldn't you get the "Round trip, SFO-PVG: $700" ticket and then use it only one way PVG-SFO?

Can you? I was told that airline tickets get canceled if you fail to complete a leg of the itinerary.

Yes, you are correct, for many airlines the remainder of the itinerary will be canceled if you miss a leg (and don't replace it). However, in some cases, it is possible to cancel a leg in advance (paying any change/cancellation penalty), possibly resulting in a lower fare...

If you skip any segment of an itinerary, all remaining segments will be cancelled. In airline parlance, "flight coupons must be used in sequence."

Which is why you look for the flights DEPART->ARIVE->DON'T CARE and you just need make the second leg.

Don't do this often if you care about your frequent flier miles though.

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