Airline overbooking

bobblebob

What do people think of the practise of airlines overbooking flights, meaning passengers may have to get bumped off the flight?


I know cheaper airlines like Easyjet and Ryanair do this, but I wasn't aware that larger airlines do. Was on a flight from Peru a few years with LAN airways and they were offering passengers £1000 to bump off the flight. Got a Jet Airways flight booked next month and in their T&C it says they do practise overbooking. I would have thought there is a lot less chance of someone missing a flight if they paid £300+ for it compared to £50 or whatever with Easyjet


I know why airlines do it, but does it make it right?

peachyprice

All airlines do it, and it very rarely goes wrong for the passengers.

You have to take into account that it's not just people missing their flights, there are also people who have paid for a flexible ticket and will change their flight at the very last opportunity. I've done it myself, plenty of times, phoned the airline 3 hours before departure and changed to a later flight or turned up at the airport early and been transferred to an earlier flight.

If you're worried about being bumped off make sure you arrive at the airport early, or if you want to make a fast buck and are in no rush take the cash, I've done that too, they were asking for volunteers to offload on a BA flight to Orlando, 5 of us travelling, £500 each, that was our spending money, all for a change of plane in Dallas and arriving 4 hours later, well worth it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat for the right price!

Caz3121

bobblebob wrote: »

I know cheaper airlines like Easyjet and Ryanair do this, but I wasn't aware that larger airlines do. Was on a flight from Peru a few years with LAN airways and they were offering passengers £1000 to bump off the flight.

Easyjet are fairly new to overselling, (I don't believe Ryanair do) but this has always been common in non-LCC (larger) airlines
there is complex data analysis performed to identify the average number of passengers that change their booked flights late on (eg. I fly every week and 50% of the time change my return flight on the day)
No-shows....want a one way ticket longhaul? cheaper to buy a return and not turn up for the return leg!
connecting flights - on average how many people miss their connection due to delays
Cheaper to pay passengers money to be bumped when required than lose the revenue for not overselling
If it means selling 105 tickets to fill 100 seats then that is what they do...selling 100 tickets could mean flying with empty seats
I would reckon most times they 'get away' with it...I have seen volunteers being advised at the gate that they are not required to come off and can travel as planned.
I would always checkin online as early as possible and not worry about overbooking...volunteers is the way to go for this and many people are very happy to take the £ for a bit inconvenience...I volunteered on a FRA-EDI to go FRA-LHR-EDI in exchange for €500 voucher some years back..had I not volunteered, I would have travelled as booked.

bobblebob

Yea can see in that case its worth it. I know on the Peru flight though most people on the flight were getting connecting flights after landing, so no one wanted to bump off the flight due to then missing their connection, and there was only 1 flight a day.


Probably why they were offering £1000

peachyprice

bobblebob wrote: »

Yea can see in that case its worth it. I know on the Peru flight though most people on the flight were getting connecting flights after landing, so no one wanted to bump off the flight due to then missing their connection, and there was only 1 flight a day.


Probably why they were offering £1000

If we were travelling as a family I'd still take it! £5000 for being a day late? Bargain!

bobblebob

I was tempted if they said £1000, and 1st class all the way home

jpsartre

bobblebob wrote: »

I know cheaper airlines like Easyjet and Ryanair do this, but I wasn't aware that larger airlines do.

Traditionally it's been the other way around - LCC do not overbook, but network airlines do. I believe EasyJet started overbooking when they started selling flexi-fares. To the best of my knowledge Ryanair does not overbook.

malkie76

It means the customer gets cheaper tickets, with clever management systems overselling where there is a habit of no-shows or last minute cancellations. A lot of business travel will be in flexible (expensive) fare buckets which can be cancelled right up until the flight leaves (more or less). That's a lot of money to lose if a significant proportion of customers cancel.

Involuntary Denied Boarding is covered by EC251 meaning you are entitled to up to 75% of the ticket cost back.

I've been offered many times and haven't had an offer worthwhile yet. Was offered an upgrade to First (from business) earlier this year at check-in, but only if I transferred from SFO to LAX (obviously they'd arrange the flight). Too much to go wrong there, and had a driver booked at LHR, so stuck with my seat in business.

bobblebob

I can see why tickets would be cheaper if overbooking, but in reality does this actually get passed onto the customer or do the airlines just pocked it?

jpsartre

You're asking a question that makes little sense. Ticket prices are determined by what customers are willing to pay, not the airline costs associated with running the flight.