You might remember a little incident on a United Airlines flight back in April in which a ticketed passenger was forcefully removed from a flight after he refused to give up his seat. That incident resulted in several airlines changing their policies related to overbooking flights, and the results of those changes are starting to show: The number of passengers bumped from U.S. airlines is at its lowest level in more than a decade. [More]
overbooking
Airline Bumpings Were Up, But Complaints Went Down In First Months Of 2017
By 5.17.17 — Updated: 5.25.17
The first few months of 2017 haven’t exactly been great for airlines, what with system outages, bumped passengers being dragged off planes, and other customer service fiascos. In fact, new federal data shows that bumpings were slightly up during the first quarter of 2017, while complaints filed against airlines actually dropped 19%. [More]
Family Says They Were Kicked Off Overbooked Delta Flight After Dispute Over Toddler’s Seat
By 5.4.17
A family of four flying from Hawaii to Los Angeles last week say they were forced to leave an overbooked Delta Air Lines flight after they refused to give up the seat their toddler son was sitting in — a seat his father had paid for — and put him on their laps instead. [More]
Reality Check: Airlines Won’t Stop Overbooking (And You Won’t Get Rich Being Bumped)
By 4.28.17
Despite promises from United Airlines and Delta Air Lines to boost compensation for bumped passengers and Southwest Airline’s vow to do away with the practice altogether, you probably aren’t going to score $10,000 the next time you fly — and there’s still a chance your flight will be overbooked in the future. [More]
Continental Takes Three Days And Counting To Fly Passenger From Texas to New Hampshire
By 6.20.10
Poor Ashley, all she wanted was to fly from Houston to Manchester to visit her friend for the weekend. She planned to leave on Thursday, but Continental apparently overbooked a whole mess of flights and could only get her to Detroit the next day. From there Continental planned to send her onto Manchester with Delta, but that didn’t work out either. After spending a night stuck in Detroit, Ashley made it to Atlanta, where Delta figured she would manage to catch one of their many flights to New England. Nope! Instead, things got much, much worse. [More]
Your Reservation At This 4 Star Hotel? It's Now At A Motel Down The Street.
By 4.21.09
Travel guru Christopher Elliott has 5 tips for avoiding what he calls the “newest hotel scam.” It’s called “walking,” and it’s the hotel version of being bumped to another flight due to overbooking. What’s the scam? Well, travelers used to be offered a “comparable” hotel if theirs was overbooked — but lately, hotels have been trying to save a few bucks by booking guests in inferior hotels — and keeping the difference.
Death By Overbooking?
By 1.3.08
Here’s an interesting lawsuit. The widow of an Air France passenger is suing that airline, claiming that their decision to bump her husband “caused him to miss a life-saving dialysis treatment at home.” The lawsuit charges Air France with breach of contract, negligence and wrongful death.
Icelandair Overbooks Flight, Delays Return By 43 Hours, Forgets To Compensate Passengers
By 12.21.07
A reader just sent us a description of her flight back from London to Minneapolis that reads like a synopsis of a particularly unpleasant episode of “The Amazing Race.” The return flight, on Iceland air, was supposed to go from Heathrow in London to Keflavik in Reykjavik, then from there to Minneapolis. The initial flight is delayed for 2 1/2 hours—but not to worry, Icelandair tells the passengers, because the other flight is being held. When they arrive in Iceland, however, there’s no plane waiting for them—it’s been overbooked, so the airline has sent it ahead and left the passengers stranded overnight.
Protect Yourself From Being Bumped Off A Flight
By 11.12.07
Kiplinger’s “Win the Bumping Game” offers some advice on how to minimize the chances you’ll get left behind when your airline overbooks a flight. The main thing you can do is arrive early—it’s the last-minute arrivals, or worse, those who buy their tickets a half hour before departure, who are most likely to get bumped. The other thing you can do is avoid Delta, Comair, or Atlantic Southeast, which have the worst records of bumping passengers, and stick with JetBlue, which has the best. And make sure you have a seat assignment if at all possible.
How To Get Bumped By An Airline For Fun And Profit
By 7.2.07
An editor over at Jaunted has perfected a strategy for hassel-free airline bumping. We all know that we can grab some pretty nice rewards if we give up our seat on an overbooked airplane, but we’re never in a position to do so.
No Plan B For Bumped Fliers
By 5.30.07
The river of news concerning the awful summer travel season ahead continues to flow with a piece in today’s New York Times. According to the NYT, there’s no backup plan for crowded summer flights…and travelers who find themselves bumped could wait days for another flight.
A look behind the scenes of US Airways at the widespread practice of airline overbooking shows the industry’s struggle to fill every possible seat, including those left empty by the millions of passengers who buy a ticket but then do not show up.
