United Airlines forcibly removes passenger from overbooked flight

[AlterEgo]

When I book with a cheap cross-EU airline, such as Ryanair, Jet2 and Flybe, when I get close to departure day the pax is then expected to print their ticket, give their API and choose their seat. Often, for me, I'm not bothered about where I sit so don't pay the extra, so when I print my ticket there are just a few seats left to choose.

At some point, if the flight is "overbooked" won't that show up on the flight plan for someone trying to choose the seats when all have been chosen? Si if Ryanair sold 205 seats but only had capacity for 200, the last 5 will miss out even though they bought the flight?

Or do the budget airlines simply not overbook, so you pay peanuts but you get the seat?

And of course overbooking means passing your pax onto another flight, which may be overbooked and full, meaning pax will have to miss that flight etc etc.

Ryanair do not overbook. Almost all other airlines do.

 

[Howardh]

Yes. Got all the way to the ECJ. Lightning strikes are the current battle.



Best of luck. When I'm next up in Stirling we could probably organise a whinge-a-thon!



This is what was so bizarre about the United Airlines fiasco: of all the people on that plane, they chose to drag off a non-white doctor travelling back to his patients.

There is no possible way that couldn't have been a massive PR disaster for them, especially in the US! Pretty much anyone else would have been less controversial.

Pregnant woman? Bloke with one leg? An octaganarian with high blood pressure? Someone who just happens to be a travel journalist (Simon Calder....)??

 

[Howardh]

Ryanair do not overbook. Almost all other airlines do.

Thanks..Jet2??

 

[AlterEgo]

Thanks..Jet2??

Ryanair, Monarch and Jet2 said they do not overbook flights.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/04/24/passengers-entitled-bumped-flight/

 

[edwin_m]

Pregnant woman? Bloke with one leg? An octaganarian with high blood pressure? Someone who just happens to be a travel journalist (Simon Calder....)??

Simon Calder wrote a few weeks ago that he actually aims for flights he reckons will be overbooked, since he's happy to take the compensation and (presumably only when) he doesn't mind being delayed. On a quick search I can't find the actual article, but this one is interesting instead:

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel...happen-airline-passenger-rights-a7690611.html

Simon Calder explains why airlines sell seats that don’t exist — and your rights when they guess wrong about the number of “no-shows”.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Ryanair, Monarch and Jet2 said they do not overbook flights.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/04/24/passengers-entitled-bumped-flight/

Interestingly, apparently in response to the United fiasco, SouthWest Airlines have now said that they will no longer overbook.

 

[greatkingrat]

My experience.
Flight 1 - return journey overbooked - 33% of passengers offloaded.
Flight 2 - return journey overbooked - 20% of passengers offloaded.

I don't believe any airline deliberately overbooks by anything like those percentages. Are you sure it wasn't a maintenance issue which meant they had to substitute in a smaller plane than that originally scheduled?

 

[najaB]

If airline A - charge £1000 and you would get what you have paid for I would use them over airline B which charges £850 and overbooks.

You are an exception. Most Y passengers are looking for the cheapest ticket they can get. You need to be spending Y+ or J money before service becomes a differentiator.

 

[tspaul26]

Pregnant woman? Bloke with one leg? An octaganarian with high blood pressure? Someone who just happens to be a travel journalist (Simon Calder....)??

A pregnant, black, lesbian doctor with a peg-leg and a popular travel blog...now that's the kind of scandal that brings down the entire company!

United can do what they like to journalists, estate agents and politicians. Oh, and celebrities that I have vaguely heard of without having any idea what they do or look like.

 

[edwin_m]

You are an exception. Most Y passengers are looking for the cheapest ticket they can get. You need to be spending Y+ or J money before service becomes a differentiator.

If someone has an essential business appointment then they probably won't want to be bumped off the flight at any price (and these are probably the people that check in last!). If they've on their way to a holiday then they will want reimbursing the amount they've paid out for accommodation, plus a big chunk extra for the inconvenience. But someone on the way home, or just visiting a relative for a few days, might be quite happy to change their plans if it's made worth their while financially.

This suggests that there might be scope for a premium fare to guarantee no denial of boarding. The problem with that might be that if they advertise it they bring the existence of overbooking to the public's attention (even more than it is now).

 

[Tetchytyke]

Most Y passengers are looking for the cheapest ticket they can get. You need to be spending Y+ or J money before service becomes a differentiator.

That's what Alex Cruz thinks.

I think Alex Cruz is wrong.

If cost were the only consideration, even in Y, the only shorthaul airlines left standing in Europe would be the LCCs.

 

[najaB]

If cost were the only consideration, even in Y, the only shorthaul airlines left standing in Europe would be the LCCs.

The LCCs have decimated the legacy carrier's short-haul European networks. For the most part, they exist largely to feed their long-haul networks.