10 things your airline won't tell you.

[eliza61]

Interesting read. Here's the link to entire article.

http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/rip-offs/10-things-your-airline-wont-tell-you-22910/

1. “Welcome to our crowded plane.”

Just because you show up at the airport with a ticket reservation doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll end up on your intended flight. Most airlines overbook flights to compensate for last-minute cancellations, but they don’t always get the numbers right. And with so few seats open on later flights, fewer folks are volunteering to get bumped. As a result, the number of involuntarily bumped passengers is up, having grown 45% between 2005 and 2009, according to the Department of Transportation.“Instead of fixing the problem,” says Tony Polito, an associate professor in the college of business at East Carolina University who has published academic articles about airline industry issues, “they are institutionalizing it.”

What’s worse, travelers who get involuntarily bumped aren’t necessarily entitled to “denied-boarding compensation.” If the airline arranges substitute transportation that gets you to your destination within one hour of your original scheduled arrival time, there is no compensation. If you arrive an hour or more later, the airline is required to pay you, up to a maximum of $800, depending on the price of the ticket and length of delay, according to the DOT’s rules.

 

[neonurse]

Thats good to know. Thanks for sharing. I guess more people will be paying to prebook their seats.

 

[NancyIL]

Thats good to know. Thanks for sharing. I guess more people will be paying to prebook their seats.

You don't necessarily have to pre-book your seats, but you ought to do the online check-in as soon as you can (usually up to 24 hours before departure time).

 

[Brian Noble]

As a result, the number of involuntarily bumped passengers is up, having grown 45% between 2005 and 2009, according to the Department of Transportation.

I suspect this is one of those lies, d*mn, lies, and statistics situations.

First, folks who accept an offer be bumped probably do not count in these stats---because it wasn't "involuntary". And, while I don't fly as much as some, I do fly quite a bit. Airlines can almost always find volunteers, to the total number of "involuntary" bumps is probably small in absolute numbers, even if it is growing. My anecdotal experience, flying once every month or so for the past 10-15 years, is that the number of passengers being left behind (voluntarily or not) is going down, not up. Airlines are getting much better at predicting exactly how many no-shows they will get with improved data mining, etc.

So, it makes a good headline, but I don't think this is something to worry about.

 

[Lewisc]

Brian--The point is the impact of being IDB is greater. Airlines have fewer flights and those flights may be fully booked. Airlines many of us fly, including SW, JetBlue, Spirit, Allegiant etc will rarely accomodate a passenger on another airline.

SW does a lot of things right. They are not very generous with their offers to passengers who agree to voluntarily bumping. I've seen some passengers get bumped. Doesn't affect us. Passengers who have the highest sequence number, assuming they get to the gate ontime, are the passengers who get bumped.

 

[DebbieB]

Interesting read. Here's the link to entire article.

http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/rip-offs/10-things-your-airline-wont-tell-you-22910/

1. “Welcome to our crowded plane.”

Just because you show up at the airport with a ticket reservation doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll end up on your intended flight. Most airlines overbook flights to compensate for last-minute cancellations, but they don’t always get the numbers right. And with so few seats open on later flights, fewer folks are volunteering to get bumped. As a result, the number of involuntarily bumped passengers is up, having grown 45% between 2005 and 2009, according to the Department of Transportation.“Instead of fixing the problem,” says Tony Polito, an associate professor in the college of business at East Carolina University who has published academic articles about airline industry issues, “they are institutionalizing it.”

What’s worse, travelers who get involuntarily bumped aren’t necessarily entitled to “denied-boarding compensation.” If the airline arranges substitute transportation that gets you to your destination within one hour of your original scheduled arrival time, there is no compensation. If you arrive an hour or more later, the airline is required to pay you, up to a maximum of $800, depending on the price of the ticket and length of delay, according to the DOT’s rules.

Even if you are in your assigned seat on the plane you are not safe. I was on a Continental flight 2 weeks ago and we were all seated and ready to go when someone came on and asked for volunteers to take another flight in return for a $300 voucher. No one volunteered. He left and came back on and went looking for 2 people and said they had to get off. I think what happened is the pilot said we would be about 15 minutes late due to storms on the way and they decided to take 2 people off to get the weight & balance numbers in line (we would need more fuel). The agent said they were the last 2 people to check-in at the airport. This was a 737, not a RJ. Taught me a lesson to always do online check-in, I was glad I did on this one but I don't always.

 

[Brian Noble]

The point is the impact of being IDB is greater.

Agreed. But, the chances of being in that position---especially with others willing to take the voluntary bump---are still low in absolute terms.

When the new limits come into play, it will be easier to get volunteers, and hence even less likely to be IDB'd.

 

[Tara]

What’s worse, travelers who get involuntarily bumped aren’t necessarily entitled to “denied-boarding compensation.” If the airline arranges substitute transportation that gets you to your destination within one hour of your original scheduled arrival time, there is no compensation. If you arrive an hour or more later, the airline is required to pay you, up to a maximum of $800, depending on the price of the ticket and length of delay, according to the DOT’s rules.

Frankly, I don't get why someone who isn't delayed more than one hour should get any compensation, so I don't get the "what's worse" part of this author's paragraph.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Agreed. But, the chances of being in that position---especially with others willing to take the voluntary bump---are still low in absolute terms.

I agree.

Following this board for many years now, it seems to me that the concern about involuntary denied boarding (IDB) due to overbooking is way out of proportion. IDB is rare because the airlines can usually get volunteers who are eager to arrive at their destination a few hours later in exchange for travel vouchers.

Passengers need to be much more concerned about delays, missed connections, and flight cancellations related to weather. Not only are these much more common, but the airlines do not provide denied-boarding compensation, meal vouchers, or hotel vouchers if the reason is weather.

The best way to deal with such weather issues to make sure you don't need to be somewhere important right after you land. I would never fly on a day when I'm attending a wedding or departing on a cruise ship. If there is an issue, stay calm; the airline agents will do their best to get you to your destination.

 

[Tara]

Agreed. But, the chances of being in that position---especially with others willing to take the voluntary bump---are still low in absolute terms.

When the new limits come into play, it will be easier to get volunteers, and hence even less likely to be IDB'd.

In my years of travel, I've NEVER seen anyone IDB'd.

 

[uva185]

In my years of travel, I've NEVER seen anyone IDB'd.

I see IDBs ALL the time. In fact last month while trying to catch an early flight out of DCA not only was I not able to clear the standby list but there were 5+ IDBs for each flight I tried to get on! FWIW this was a Friday afternoon.

 

[mrodgers]

The first and only time I have ever flown was on September 11, 2002, the 1 year anniversary. Airlines certainly were not overbooked that day. There were 4 of us on a 737.

 

[eliza61]

In my years of travel, I've NEVER seen anyone IDB'd.

Really? Back in the early 2000's I flew every single day. I lived in SJersey/Philly area and had to fly to Chicago to set up a new plant so from Monday-Thursday I caught the 7:00 am to Chicago, I can't tell you how many times I saw American and US air give someone the heave ho.
Not fun.

 

[Tara]

Really? Back in the early 2000's I flew every single day. I lived in SJersey/Philly area and had to fly to Chicago to set up a new plant so from Monday-Thursday I caught the 7:00 am to Chicago, I can't tell you how many times I saw American and US air give someone the heave ho.
Not fun.

Really. Why would I say so otherwise? I don't fly every day, more like every 10 days at most, so your chances of seeing someone were a lot higher. But I've been traveling frequently for 10 years (and sporadically before then) and I've never seen it. I asked the coworkers I was traveling with today from our work in Puerto Rico (I'm in Charlotte at C10 typing this now). Both of them fly more often than me and have been doing so for 20+ years each - neither has ever seen an IDB. Plenty of voluntary, though.

 

[Brian Noble]

Same here---on the other hand, most of the IDBs on my flights are folks I probably would not see, as they would likely be those without seat assignments who never got seats assigned.

But, usually when the GAs call for volunteers, there are more people willing to take the voucher than there are spaces available for them.

 

[Inkmahm]

Really. Why would I say so otherwise? I don't fly every day, more like every 10 days at most, so your chances of seeing someone were a lot higher. But I've been traveling frequently for 10 years (and sporadically before then) and I've never seen it. I asked the coworkers I was traveling with today from our work in Puerto Rico (I'm in Charlotte at C10 typing this now). Both of them fly more often than me and have been doing so for 20+ years each - neither has ever seen an IDB. Plenty of voluntary, though.

*waves as one having beein IDB personally*

My DH and I were flying to NY through Detroit on the Friday night of Memorial Day weekend in 2008. We were both on "free" tickets with NW using our miles. As such, we had separate reservation numbers.

I tried to board the Detroit to NY (Elmira) flight first and got beeped. The airline worker told me I was being bumped from the flight as it was oversold and there were no volunteers to give up their seats. I asked if they REALLY were going to send my husband ahead without me! She let me on. And, of course, my DH tried to board and HE got beeped instead. We were the two lowest class guests according to the airline so one of us had to be bumped.

As luck would have it, the entire plane ended up not going anywhere because it was late and was TOO late to fly to NY and get there before the airport closed. All of us were put in hotels in Detroit for the night and told to come back for a flight on Saturday morning.

On Saturday morning, we made sure we checked in VERY early and then waited. With 10 minutes to go in loading the plane, they let us both on saying someone who had checked in Friday night had not returned yet for the flight on Saturday morning.

I guess if that person did show up at the last second, they were the one who got the IDB status. Had everyone shown up again on Sat morning, either my DH or I would have been bumped and our weekend trip to wine country in NY would have been ruined. I learned a lesson- never have both of us fly on miles at the same time again.

 

[SurfinTX]

The chances of IDB are higher along certain routes with few options. Buisness routes early in the day have them while liesure destinations have them in the evening. I was on a plane flying from ATL to DFW and was on a flight that needed 11 volunteers due to delays earlier in the day due to security issues. They got a few volunteers but not that many. I ended up volunteering since there were two more flights later and my parents went ahead. There were 5 IDB just for that flight.

I was really sweating getting on the next flight but they found just enough volunteers so I could board. I think on that flight they sweetened the deal with some overnight stay and meal vouchers.