The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsL.A. Times defends United Airlines and overbooking, gets solidly trounced in the comment section.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-airlines-overbooked-20170413-htmlstory.htmlPoindexterOglethorpe
(25,746 posts)Which is an important detail in the entire saga.
That said, overbooking is not going to go away. It's slightly possible that the airlines will get a teensy bit less aggressive about how much they overbook, but trust me, they won't stop the practice.
exboyfil
(17,857 posts)To buy back the seats, I don't see a problem. The problem is they don't.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,280 posts)http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/how-delta-masters-the-game-of-overbooking-flights/
exboyfil
(17,857 posts)It also shows that Delta has 3 per capita mandatory bumps to UALs 11. The number of total bumps is about the same.
That article demonstrates to me that UAL is engaged in predatory practices on those customers they feel are the less economically beneficial to them.
I would urge anyone in a mandatory bump situation to video their interaction with a gate agent. It might not hurt to ensure that the conversation is very loud so that other passengers hear the conversation. Ask the gate agent specifically why you were selected. Challenge the answer if necessary. Also ask for the compensation in cash. They have to pay cash in a mandatory bump (this article does not make that clear).
It would be nice if that reporter who interviewed the CEO of UAL had asked about the 3.3 times number of mandatory bumps when compared to Delta. Also the reporter should explored how the bumps are actually done. It is far from being a random process.
The maximum compensation for a bump should definitely go up. Actually far enough to ensure a fair auction.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,280 posts)All the airlines have been doing it for many years; maybe the United incident will result in ways to do it better. I don't think it will go away, for the reasons explained in the article. But the United situation wasn't the result of overbooking at all, but of the airline's decision to bump boarded passengers in order to get some employees on the plane for another flight. The whole thing got conflated in the media with the overbooking issue.