Posted on 03/12/2015 4:57:11 AM PDT by Timber Rattler
All airlinews do that
Read the article, since you did not do that, and then post.
Nice slam!
“...If they didn’t overbook, they would have to charge everyone a higher fare to make up for the extra passengers (beyond the plane’s capacity) that they didn’t book...”
I can probably count less than 10 flights a year that are *not* full. And the ones that are not completely slam-full may have less than five empty seats. I just don’t see the airlines that I fly having any problem selling all available seats for the vast majority of flights. And if you don’t show, you typically do not get your money back - the airline keeps. And if you want to change a flight, they’ll charge me $200 for going online and working the keyboard all by myself to alter my reservation — there’s no labor on their part for that $200...
So, I just can’t agree that they have to overbook a flight to stay in business. My point is that if I want to pay for a seat, reserve that seat and then not use it - the airline technically comes out ahead because they have my money for that seat and they don’t have to burn fuel for my added weight (luggage & me). At least, that’s what makes sense to me.
IT boggles me that he airlines are allowed to sell seats multiple times and *hope* some of those folks don’t show. It just reeks of unethical business practices to me. If I had a widget for sale on ebay, should I be allowed to sell it to two or more people with a no refund policy, hoping both don’t come to pick it up — and — if both buyers *do* show up, I can just arbitrarily decide which one gets it and the other one has to be satisfied with my promise to give them something in the future, on my schedule, of equal or higher value?
There may be other businesses who can do that, but the airlines is the only biz I can think of offhand that can legally sell one item to more than one person without being charged with fraud. Now, I know they can and do overbook and I hear the excuses for why they do it. I just think they are lying about the need to overbook and that it’s a bunch of legalized bull-butter protected by federal law no less. Unless you buy a premium, refundable fare, they are keeping your money - even if they bump you off an overbooked flight. So I just can’t see how they lose a dime due to no-shows.
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