Page 8 - IAV Digital Magazine #468

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Lufthansa Sues Passenger Who Skipped His Flight
Unopened Super
Mario Bros. Copy From
1985 Sells For $100G
Loved playing Super Mario Bros. on your Nintendo Entertainment System back in the day? How much would you pay for an ultra-rare, unopened copy of the game from 1985, the year it was released? For one group of col- lectors, the answer to that question was $100,150.
For that record- breaking price, they'll receive one of the original "sticker sealed" copies of the game, which were only sold in New York and Los Angeles, according to a Thursday news release from Dallas-
based Heritage Auctions. The copy was certified by video game grad- ing service Wata Games with a "near mint" grade of 9.4 and a "seal rating" of A++.
"Beyond the artistic and historical sig- nificance of this game is its supreme state of preservation," Wata Games Co- Founder and Chief Grader Kenneth Thrower said in a statement. "Not only are all of NES
sticker sealed games extremely rare, but by their nature of not being sealed in shrink wrap they usually exhibit significant wear after more than 30 years. This game may be the condition census of all sticker sealed NES games known to exist."
The buyers includ- ed Heritage Auctions Founder and Co-Chairman Jim Halperin of Dallas; coin dealer and video game collector Rich Lecce of Boca Raton, Fla.; and video game store owner Zac Gieg of Lancaster, Penn. There's no word as to what they plan to do with the game now, but don't be surprised if you hear it's up
for auction again down the line.
"I'm very happy with our purchase of the Super Mario Bros., considering the impact the release of this game had on the world and contin- ues to have," Halperin said, adding that it "just may end up in an auction sometime in the future."
Over the years, other vintage tech- nologies have made their way to the auction block, fetching a pretty penny. In September, for instance, a working Apple-1, one of the first computers Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak ever made, sold
for $375,000.
By Tara John and Nadine Schmidt
(CNN) — A method commonly used by airline passengers to get cheaper fares is at the center of a court row between a German airline and one of its cus- tomers.
Lufthansa has taken a passenger, who didn't show up for the last leg of his ticketed jour- ney, to court in an apparent bid to clamp down on "hidden city" ticket- ing.
The practice involves passen- gers leaving their journey at a lay- over point, instead of making a final connection.
For instance, someone flying from New York to San Francisco could book a cheaper trip from
New York to Lake Tahoe with a lay- over in San Francisco and get off there, without bothering to take the last leg of the flight.
According to a court document, an unnamed male passenger booked a return flight from Oslo to Seattle, which had a lay- over in Frankfurt. The passenger used all legs of the outbound flight, but did not catch the Frankfurt to Oslo return flight. He instead flew on a separate
Lufthansa reserva- tion from Frankfurt to Berlin.
Lufthansa saw this as a violation of their terms and conditions and is seeking €2,112 (around $2,385) in compensation.
A Berlin district court dismissed
the lawsuit in December, but Lufthansa's spokesperson con- firmed to CNN that the company has "already filed the appeal against the decision."
Back in 2014, United Airlines and Orbitz filed a civil lawsuit against 22- year-old Aktarer Zaman, who founded the web- site Skiplagged.com, which helps travel- ers find cheaper flights by using the "hidden city" strat- egy.
The case was thrown out in
2015 after the judge in the Northern District Court of Illinois said the court did- n't have jurisdiction over the case because Zaman didn't live or do business in that city.