ASFKAP - while in theory it would be beneficial to Aer Lingus to take such an action, if an Aer Lingus employee ever admitted to doing this or FR were able to show that Aer Lingus were taking such an action (e.g. via tracing the IP address of the purchaser), it is likely that the ensuing press storm, along with all the noise and bluster coming from MOL would do a lot of damage to EI. Does Irish or EU law perhaps have a concept of unfair competition, and would such a practice count as unfair ?
If a private individual were to buy up seats for 1 cent, 2 questions might arise:
1) - Can I possibly see myself wanting to spend money on getting to the airport and take this flight even if the flight is free ? If not, why am I wasting my time entering my address and credit card details on this website ? It takes a minimum of a minute to go through the booking process - 100 bookings means over 90 mins of your time possibly wasted.
As an analogy, many farmers with livestock have plenty of free "organic fertiliser" available on a farm - doesn't mean anyone wants to take it home with them !
2) - If I buy up over a thousand flights, do I trust FR enough not to try to take revenge in some way (e.g. being banned from FR flights for some trumped up reason) ?