Over Booking Flights!

[jd_1984]

We are all aware this happens.
Flight operators do over book some flights. Often not all booked passengers arrive on time, but sometimes all do and there is a surplus of people unable to fly.
I am aware of the justification of doing this but I cant help but thin it is greedy and immoral.
Has anybody experienced this first hand?
I read about a case where a gentleman was offered £1000 in vouchers (all be it to be used with the company that had overbooked the flight) to travel the next day. His family travelled without him. As it was for a fortnight trip, he took the offer and still and 13 days holiday and £1000 in vouchers.
Its a good deal I suppose

[237SJ]

It will always happen while people no-show. Some routes are high no-show routes and if airlines didn`t overbook, they would go with empty seats (not ideal) Sometimes everyone turns up and people are offloaded/downgraded and always with financial compensation.

[jd_1984]

I get all that.
But if you have a plane carrying 300 passengers and all 300 seats have been purchased in full, to take another 10 (for example) bookings is potentially distressing for people who then cant board, even if they are well compensated. It is greedy, I feel for the airlines to do this, they still get the 300 air fares, and wouldn't need to compensate in the event that all passengers turn up

[237SJ]

But if you`ve got a plane with 300 passengers, then some of those passengers will be business class passengers who are traveling on flexible tickets and may well decide not to travel. That is one reason the aircraft is overbooked. And take for example a flight during the summer months when business travel falls off slightly. They overbook "down the back" knowing that some (or even quite a few) of the economy passengers will be upgraded due to oversales into Business Class. It works both ways.

[jd_1984]

Ok, I don't know much about the industry - that does make sense. Does it happen less on flights that are all the same class then?

[237SJ]

I don`t know about charter or low cost but yes, probably. A scheduled flight will nearly always depart with no-shows and will pretty much always be overbooked and still quite often end up with a few empty seats.

[grasscarp]

It works because there will always be some people who are happy to wait for another flight and they will be offered money to do so.
It would not make economic sense to stop selling tickets once you reach the number of seats as there are always no shows.

[andy-hughes]

If you are aware of the justification, then you must also be aware that if the airlines did not run this policy, and flew with empty seats, then the cost of seats would be exponentially higher.

Think about it - no airline is going to say "I know, let's run a route, but let's be really awkward and overbook and then compensate people, that's a really excellent financial model, and it will really annoy our passengers, and make sure our ground crew get loads of abuse - what's not to like?"

The reality is "If we overbook on certain routes, we are guaranteed that all our flights run full, which makes for minimum running costs and maximum profit, which is why we are in business. The downside is that overbooking passengers will be annoyed, but hopefully we can offset that with re-scheduling and financial compensations where possible. It makes for some awkward scenes, but it is economically viable to work this way, because if we ran with empty seats, we would have to increase prices, which would lead to more empty seats - no-one wins."

P.S. "Someone called jd_1984 may accuse us of being greedy and immoral, but we are a business, and we work the most efficient way we can.

[jno]

it's happened to us occasionally. One time with TWA (that's going back a way) we were offered compensation if we'd wait till the next flight, which it turned out was four hours later. Of course we said yes. More recently Virgin put us up in a nice hotel near San Francisco airport, all inclusive, for a couple of days plus a free flight anywhere; again we were happy to agree.

Tougher if you're on a tight schedule; but you can always wait and see if someone else volunteers to take the money and stand down.

[Buenchico]

It's worth remembering that only the 'full fare' airlines overbook. The only time that you might get 'bumped off' a budget airline's flight is if they've had to use a different aircraft (with fewer seats) due to operational difficulties (such as the intended aircraft being stranded by fog somewhere).

So there can actually be advantages (beyond simply saving money) to using budget airlines instead of full-fare carriers.

[Prudie]

Like jno, coming back from Antigua this January Virgin had offered us both 3 extra days in Antigua plus a free flight each to anywhere in the world as they were overbooked. We were so taken aback we limply refused because we had to get back to work - and then kicked ourselves ever since for not accepting the o0ffer.

[DSJ]

My daughter and her new husband had this experience some years ago when they were flying to Mexico for their honeymoon. Luckily two other people gave their seats up so that they could fly. Even so, they couldn't sit together.

[ummmm]

When Ryanair were first implementing the passport rule they refused my uncle on a flight. The other 10 people we were travelling with said there was no seats on the flight whatsoever so was def overbooked. We weren't the only only ones they refused either.

It was an interesting dash from Luton to Birmingham to board an Air Lingus flkight...

[Cloverjo]

A few years ago, our flight home from Ibiza was overbooked. We were put up in hotel (coincidentally, the same one we'd spent our holiday in) and given a small amount of compensation. It was no problem.

[Canary42]

I can see this catching on in other areas. A prisoner allocated to Maidstone Gaol for three months can't be accommodated because of overbooking so is offered six months in Albany gaol instead :)

[jno]

lol Canary, might be better than 6 months on Ryanair.

[mikey4444]

I have never understood quite why the airlines do this. Every flight I have ever taken in my life has been bought and paid for weeks, and in most cases months before the flight itself. If I had paid for my flight and then found that the airline had sold another ticket for that seat and now I couldn't fly when I intended, I would be very angry indeed.

To put it simply, if I had paid for my flight, the airline should be prevented from selling it again to anybody, unless it has refunded the cost to me first. When some business man turns up at the last minute, and he is sold MY seat, and then I couldn't fly, despite already paying for it, amounts to sharp practise and no more.

[ToraToraTora]

I think it's brilliant, I've been upgraded many times from cattle truck because of this, that's why I try not look like a sack of %^&T when travelling!

[jno]

they don't really sell seats, they sell flights. Even if you have the opportunity at some stage to choose a seat they usually say it can't be guaranteed. The matter of the flight itself being unavailable is a separate issue.

[ToraToraTora]

mikey with the budget mob you don't get an actual seat till check in (unless you pay more for the pre allocation) so there is just the number of seats and potentially a larger number of passengers. They get allocated when you check in and thus later checkins may cause the number to be exceeded and thus trigger the whole scenario of trying to pursuade a volunteer to take a next flight.

[mikey4444]

TTT...I have tried but never been successful in getting bumped up to First or Business Class ! If I had then, perhaps my attitude would be different.

The only time I have been effected by this was on a flight to LA many years ago, when Virgin tried to bump me off onto the following days flight. But I had a hotel booked, a rental car waiting, and an important appointment at the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to meet at the other side, so I refused to cooperate. Eventually they gave way gave me my allocated seat.

We shouldn't let these arrogant, money-grabbing airlines get away with treating us like dirt. Imagine turning up at Covent Garden and being told that they had sold your seat to another person !