I think the catch to this whole game is the 30 minute window prior to boarding. If there’s overbooking, or a need to put crew members in seats...then BEFORE a single person is allowed to walk down the ramp, there needs to be some offer put out there.
I agree....some later flight...some compensation (say $100 to start off). If no interest in two minutes, then offer up a $300 voucher. Then move onto a Marriot hotel deal for the night and a max of $400 cash. After that...just punch the button and pick folks at random (well before they board).
If you screw up and everyone has boarded, and then you try to ‘herd the cows’....it just won’t work. Just on the baggage issue alone (you’d have to remove bags from the cargo area). I personally hate seeing Senators regulate this but the airlines need to get their act together and just agree...30 minutes prior to boarding, you start the over-booking game.
Though I agree, this whole “overbooking” thing needs to be reigned in. This has gotten crazy. It used to be that on RARE occasion they had to entice people to leave. They have figured out that since it is no skin off their nose if they “pay” people to leave because so many of them don’t even use the “free” ticket, that they can overbook with little to no financial fallout.
That is, until this story went viral. Now there are PR consequences. Just as people used to be scared of lost luggage, now they are scared of being bumped. It will affect some people’s decisions to fly if they really don’t absolutely have to. It could affect the industry in a way that forces them to make changes.
In my case, their major competition is my car. We live in KY and our grand kids are in Chicago. We always drive. The airlines are just not worth the hassle. And I love the drive. We usually take the back roads and it only costs us an extra half hour.