Airline Threatens To Sue Betting Site For Taking Bets On When It Would Go Out Of Business
from the what's-illegal-about-that? dept
Apparently, a Scottish airline, Flyglobespan, has threatened to sue an online betting site because it was taking bets on what airline would be the next to go out of business, and had odds on Flyglobespan. The site did stop taking bets, but says it was due to a lack of interest, rather than the threat of a lawsuit. However, it's not clear what law it would be breaking to offer such a bet. You can understand that the company is concerned that potential passengers might think the airline is at risk, but it's not clear that's enough to stop any such bets.
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Filed Under: airlines, bets, failure, scotland
Companies: flyglobespan
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I got $5...
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I would have bet...
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Re: I would have bet...
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Golden Parachute
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I bet they lose
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Dead Pool for airlines
If you want to add another airline to the dead pool, Sun Country is circling the drain, with its owner facing fraud charges. Too bad, it was a great little airline just a few years ago.
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As far as airlines going down, I think they all need to hit the reboot button and start over. All this crap about charging for everything is something that prevents me from flying. no offense, but we already pay for fuel costs on our cars. The price for tickets should not reflect their hardships. We aren't charging airlines for our gas are we?
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Um, you're kidding, right? They're not charging you for the gas it took for the pilots, flight crew, etc., to drive to the airport. They're charging for the fuel that keeps the plane in the air. Personally, I think they ought to be able to figure the costs of such things into the price of the ticket - or rather, they ought to be REQUIRED to do so if they advertise the price anywhere, since you can't buy a ticket that doesn't come with those fees - but if that's the point you were going for, you missed the mark.
As for the ticket price not reflecting their hardships...that's how it works for pretty much everything sold in this world. If it costs more to produce/provide than before, they're going to raise the price. You can either accept that, or become a hermit.
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Erm, what? Are you saying that airlines shouldn't charge for the cost of the fuel they use to fly? Or are you saying that it shouldn't be shown on your ticket as a surcharge.
I'll guess the second, though your comment seems to be suggesting the former, which is an utterly retarded comment.
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The second thought I had was that nobody would probably have found out if they didn't try to sue? How many people would have actually happened to go to that gaming site and noticed unless it was given extra attention and reported on? Just sayin'. Spare yourself the bad press.
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There already is a 'legitimate' market for betting on a company's health
If Flyglobespan has a line of credit or a loan from anyone (bank, finance company, company commercial paper), not only can the holder of that debt take out insurance, so can anyone else. So long as some finance/insurance company is willing to take the bet, err, I mean insure the loan. In the US the CDS market is, by law, not regulated so it need not follow the normal insurance rules (minimum liquidity, capital reserve, etc...).
If Flyglobespan pays back the debt on time, you are out your 'premium' (aka: wager). However, should they default, you get the value of the insurance policy (likely the value of the original debt).
On a tangent, the CDS market along with sub primes (less of a real factor), have a lot to do with why the market is in the condition it is now. A wonderful explanation...
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=365
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Clear and present danger?
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