While there wasn’t an oversale in this situation, most airlines in North America will sell more seats than they can carry passengers. They use historical information to determine how many passengers are likely not to show up for a flight. They want each seat to go out with a passenger in it.
I wrote earlier about a doctor who was dragged off a United Express flight (operated by Republic Airlines) last night when the airline needed to transport crew instead of four passengers. He needed to get to work at a hospital the next day. United, though, needed crew in place in Louisville.
United didn’t just decide crew were more important than passengers, they needed those crewmembers in place in order to work a flight in the morning.
Last month I flew Etihad Dallas – Abu Dhabi in first class using American AAdvantage miles. The flight has been pretty easy to book using miles, much easier than New York JFK – Abu Dhabi on their Airbus A380, and living in Austin it’s much easier to connect to.
Reader @JayseDavid was on board United flight UA3411 from Chicago to Louisville, a United Express regional jet operated by Republic Airlines.
The flight was overbooked and United was looking for 4 volunteers to give up their seat, reportedly “for personnel that needed to be at work the next day.” There weren’t any volunteers, so United moved on to bump passengers involuntarily.
There’s an 844 mile flight between Conakry, Guinea and Ouagadougou, Burkina Fasao. It’s operated twice a week with a Boeing 737 by Turkish Airlines.
It’s a short hop, but Friday’s early morning flight was just long enough for a baby to be born onboard.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
British Airways eliminated free meals in economy on intra-European flights, and even free hot water if you bring your own tea bags. They’re reducing leg room, too.
Now they’re saying that they’ll consider no more free meals in coach on long haul flights, too.
Twitter may not get the experienced agents and priority it used to, there are too many people trying to get service that way, and mass metrics like response times have been imposed.
But twitter can solve real problems that are tough to solve any other way.
Checking lithium ion batteries as cargo is dangerous. The European Aviation Safety Agency has expressed concerned over the electronics ban for this reason.
We can’t make the world risk free (although there are fewer people trying to take down planes than we often think). All we can do is transfer risk.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
