Getting Bumped Off A Plane

[chokkie]

Hi AB travellers out there ... please excuse this very thick question, but I am at a loss to understand why an airline (Air France) bump people off planes. My husband was due to fly out of Marseille yesterday, change at Paris and get an onward connection to Birmingham. When he checked in at Marseille, he was told that the plane had been overbooked so they were putting my OH on standby. Thankfully, they managed to find him a flight from Marseille to Amsterdam to Birmingham, all via KLM (a much nicer airline than AF, in our opinion). What I fail to understand is - my husband paid for his seat on both planes, and there are only a finite number of seats on a plane - so why does AF overbook? If they do this then they have to bump people off and go to the trouble of possibly finding overnight accommodation for the bumpees and/or find them alternative flights. I know that my hubby had checked in because I did this for him when I checked him in for his two outward flights ... it's all a mystery to me, and I would love to be enlightened as to why they do this. I doubt we will ever fly Air France again - they are just rubbish! Many thanks, cheers, Chox.

[ummmm]

I think they hope people won't turn up or get caught in traffic.

[jno]

they count on some passengers not showing up - passengers who buy premium seats, for instance, may have the right to cancel without penalty - so they sell more seats than they've got. And this often works out fine. But sometimes everyone shows up, and that's must be what happened here.

[Cloverjo]

They do it because people don't always take their flights, and it's expensive to fly with empty seats. So they overbook.
I think most airlines do this.

I agree with you about AF. KLM is much nicer all round.i wouldn't fly AF again given the choice.

[Pyxis]

This happened to me not long ago on a BA flight from Italy.
I was booked into business class, but they'd overbooked Business and Economy. They downgraded me to economy, so I reckon some poor person was bumped off.

I hadn't eaten, as I was expecting to get a meal on the flight.

I was livid.

Why do they do it? IMO out of sheer greed.
As you say, the seat was booked and paid for, so, if someone doesn't turn up, the airline doesn't lose out.

They can still offer seats on a stand-by basis, but at least then you know what the score is.

We wouldn't put up with theatres overbooking seats, would we? It makes me so cross.

[Cloverjo]

If they didn't do it, all flights would be more expensive.

[Canary42]

They over-book based on historic no-show stats. Obviously it often goes wrong.

[chokkie]

Thanks for all your responses, that's all very interesting, and will pass on to hubby. A friend of mine was due to stay in a hotel on Thursday night so she and her husband could go and see a theatre show in the evening and not have to worry about getting a late train back. She had an email from the people she booked the room through saying that this room had been cancelled. She was livid - not so much about the room being cancelled, but about the fact that they would not credit her credit card, they would only give her a credit for a future stay at this hotel. She doubts whether she would ever stay at this hotel again (as you can imagine), so she's taking it up with her credit card provider - who are on the case right now! Grrrr ....

[Rockrose]

Every airline does it

[237SJ]

There are no-shows on every flight. Some routes are higher no-show routes than others. If the airlines didn't oversell they would go with empty seats. The computer systems work out the no-show profile but sometimes they get it wrong and everyone turns up. It's quite rare to bump people off and quite often their are willing volunteers due to the compensation. Likewise with people who are downgraded. Just one of those things.

[237SJ]

*there*

[-SharonA-]

On this latest flight to Miami with American Airlines, we was offered £300 to come off the flight and get rebooked on the next possible flight which on Checking was 4 days later.

[Canary42]

I remember the days of "The Shuttle" (and used it several times, to Edinburgh where family lived - I lived only a couple of miles from Heathrow at the time) when BA guaranteed a "turn up and go" capability even if it meant putting on an extra plane for just one person.

Explanation for younger ones here, from Wiki :- [An innovation on 12 January 1975 was the British Airways Shuttle service from Heathrow to Glasgow (and later Edinburgh, Manchester, and Belfast), which allowed a walk-on no reservation service with a "guaranteed seat" — this latter feature was facilitated by a backup aircraft or sometimes transfers to British Midland flights.]

[Prudie]

We were once offered 3 extra nights in a hotel to not fly back from Antigua with Virgin when they were overbooked. To this day I kick myself that we turned it down because of being due back at work - when in reality I know work wouldn't have minded. As said, it's well known all airlines overbook.

[237SJ]

With regards to the OP, actually it is quite bad management to bump someone who has a connecting flight, unless he was the last to check in.

[TonyV]

Yes airlines always overbook seats to ensure plane is full. Happened to me when I was flying back from States when I complained was upgraded to club class best leather recliner I've had

[EDDIE51]

ALL airlines ALWAYS overbook flights. It is standard procedure. Normally there is 20% overbooking. To avoid taking off with empty seats they overbook. For an international flight you should confirm the booking 24 hours before the scheduled take off time.
I used to work in the Middle East flying in and out of the UK 6 times a year. I always confirmed my bookings the day before. One time I was booked Air France. I HAD confirmed, but when I got to Heathrow they bumped me saying I had not. I complained strongly, pointing out I would lose pay. They offered me £60 compensation and a seat the next day which I was forced to accept. I was still sitting in 'departure' when an Air France rep came running up to me. She said they had found 1 spare seat which I gladly accepted.It turned out to be in 1st Class ! Free Champagne and caviar all the way! Best flight I had ever been on. First Class AND a £60 refund that they told me to keep. I LOVE Air France.

[Cloverjo]

Budget hotels like Travelodge overbook their rooms because there are plenty of no-shows. They don't usually cancel before you get there though. The first to arrive and check in on the day get the rooms.

[237SJ]

Eddie - the days of confirming your booking are long gone and the overbooking profile is nowhere near 20 per cent

[zebo]

We've done very well from being bumped! In the early 90s we were due to fly London, NY change, Los Angeles. At the gate they were asking for volunteers to stand down and fly next day, with $500 travel credit. We volunteered but it was then $800 and we asked to be put onto the direct to LA, which they did, we were put into a hotel and when we arrived in LA we worked out that as the Lon-NY flight was delayed we would be on a later LA flight and eventually being stood-down had cost us about 7 hours as we were far more refreshed! It paid for the following year's trip, we now go ready to stand down, spare pants mainly, even if not eventually stood down we've been put into business for volunteering!

[TonyV]

When it happened to me had got internal flight already. On another occasion was flying home from Holland after buisiness trip my guys got upgraded I flew in back lol