Even Aer Lingus are at it.

Odyssey 2005

Mrs. Odyssey is on a flight from Dublin this morning and Airlingus staff are offering €125 to two people to take a later flight. They oversold the flight . Wonder will the airport police be called..

Slunk

Why does this never happen to me Normally I could accomadste a later flight no problem

dudara

I've had this happen a few times from flights from AMS to DUB with AL. Think it was €250 and a seat on the next flight

Fighting Tao

I thought it was common knowledge that all airlines did it

Odyssey 2005

Fighting Tao wrote: »

I thought it was common knowledge that all airlines did it

Didnt think AL did. Maybe im just naive. Trying to sell a seat twice is just immoral in my book.

Fighting Tao

Odyssey 2005 wrote: »

Didnt think AL did. Maybe im just naive. Trying to sell a seat twice is just immoral in my book.

I don't necessarily agree fully with it either but it must pay for them when they can offer more than the price of the ticket and a seat on the next flight as compensation. Like any company they are out to make a profit. Their methods are ok once someone agrees to be moved onto another flight and once it's handled before anyone boards. I certainly don't agree with people being dragged off flights.

markpb

dudara wrote:

I've had this happen a few times from flights from AMS to DUB with AL. Think it was €250 and a seat on the next flight

Out of curiosity, what kind of travel do you do? I can't think of any of my recent trips where it would have suited. If I'm going on holidays, I usually have connections or plans and I'd really prefer a holiday not to be cut short, except maybe for a free hours. If I going for work, I'm very time sensitive. And now that I have kids, no. Just no. There isn't enough money in the world to make me volunteer to spend longer I an airport.

jive

Odyssey 2005 wrote: »

Didnt think AL did. Maybe im just naive. Trying to sell a seat twice is just immoral in my book.

I've seen it with aer lingus in Dublin before. I think some old couple offered to give up their seat for a couple hundred € and night in hotel. Usually someone is happy to extend their stay wherever they are.

El Tarangu

markpb wrote: »

Out of curiosity, what kind of travel do you do? I can't think of any of my recent trips where it would have suited. If I'm going on holidays, I usually have connections or plans and I'd really prefer a holiday not to be cut short, except maybe for a free hours. If I going for work, I'm very time sensitive. And now that I have kids, no. Just no. There isn't enough money in the world to make me volunteer to spend longer I an airport.

I think they usually offer it to young people (who are less likely to be so time-sensitive, and more likely to agree for some ready cash) - happened to a friend of mine more than once.

Yourself isit

I was bumped off by aer Lingus before. Amsterdam

Phoebas

I think all airlines do it - it's just part of the business model.
Ryanair once offered me a return ticket to anywhere on their network for being bumped to a later Dublin to Charleroi flight. I took it but I think I could have got a better deal; at the time, the only places they flew to outside Ireland and the UK were Charleroi and Beauvais.


Delta seem to have a good system for it where they allow passengers to bid for their seats on oversold flights.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/how-delta-masters-the-game-of-overbooking-flights/

OU812

Was offered $600 each plus hotel &expenses plus business class tickets home from LA years ago with EI. I wanted to take it (we were staying with friends who we would have given the hotel vouchers to for their use at a later date), but she didn't want to because the next flight was 48 hours. Still think it was huge mistake, but she wanted to be back for work.

Quazzie

markpb wrote: »

Out of curiosity, what kind of travel do you do? I can't think of any of my recent trips where it would have suited. If I'm going on holidays, I usually have connections or plans and I'd really prefer a holiday not to be cut short, except maybe for a free hours. If I going for work, I'm very time sensitive. And now that I have kids, no. Just no. There isn't enough money in the world to make me volunteer to spend longer I an airport.

What if it's someone at the end of their holiday in Ireland. A couple of hundred quid, and an extra night on holiday sounds pretty ok to me.

homerjay2005

why isnt it first come, first served then? ie, first 180 people in their seat, get left alone.

Phoebas

homerjay2005 wrote: »

why isnt it first come, first served then? ie, first 180 people in their seat, get left alone.

Seems a bit arbitrary - why not the first 180 people who bought their seat get left alone? Or the 180 who paid most? Or just a random pick?


There's a big opportunity for some innovative software company to write an algorithm that crunches the data for past overbooking compensations paid, to build a model for predicting which passengers are likely to accept compensation in return for being bumped, and how much they might be willing to accept.

Locker10a

Odyssey 2005 wrote: »

Fighting Tao wrote: »

I thought it was common knowledge that all airlines did it

Didnt think AL did. Maybe im just naive. Trying to sell a seat twice is just immoral in my book.

Every airline overbook, and I've personally experienced it on Ryanair and Aer Lingus, I can see why you think it's immoral, and I have to agree, however it's only immoral when everyone shows up! And the problem is that's extremely rare! The no-show rate on some airlines and on particular flights is huge. And airlines found themselves flying around 10+ empty seats on flights they could have filled. As a result they began to overbook so as to fill their planes more efficiently etc. 99% of the time this works like a dream, on rare occasions more passengers than available seats will show up

markpb

Quazzie wrote: »

What if it's someone at the end of their holiday in Ireland. A couple of hundred quid, and an extra night on holiday sounds pretty ok to me.

Most people have jobs to go back to. Arriving home a day late might not be an option and taking extra annual leave at very short notice is not something most employers would be keen on.

CaptainSkidmark

My colleague was on the 11.50 Cork-LHR yesterday and was offered 500 and a paid taxi to go to shannon instead.

dudara

markpb wrote: »

Out of curiosity, what kind of travel do you do? I can't think of any of my recent trips where it would have suited. If I'm going on holidays, I usually have connections or plans and I'd really prefer a holiday not to be cut short, except maybe for a free hours. If I going for work, I'm very time sensitive. And now that I have kids, no. Just no. There isn't enough money in the world to make me volunteer to spend longer I an airport.

Up to the end of March I was commuting weekly to AMS. So out early on Monday and back mid-late Thurs. in this case I was on the 17.00 flight and they were looking for people to move to the 20.30 flight. Wouldn't have been any huge skin off my nose, except I wanted to get home as planned after a week away

Mebuntu

Whilst it doesn't appear to be a problem here, as far as we know, the only solution is the outlawing of overbooking as it falls clearly under the heading of "unfair contract". You pay upfront for your flight for particular dates and times because that is when YOU want or need to travel. For the airlines to be legally permitted to renege on that at will is grossly unfair.

Even if the flight takes off with 10 empty seats they have been paid for and you could argue the fuel burn is less

Korvanica

FFS... Pretty much ALL airlines do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqWksuyry5w

Edit: Its been a thing for years. And loads of people are bumped from flights every day. But now it seems to be a huge deal to some people because of how United handled it. Most people will accept the money offered, and most airlines will not get that heavy handed. Non issue.

Locker10a

markpb wrote: »

Quazzie wrote: »

What if it's someone at the end of their holiday in Ireland. A couple of hundred quid, and an extra night on holiday sounds pretty ok to me.

Most people have jobs to go back to. Arriving home a day late might not be an option and taking extra annual leave at very short notice is not something most employers would be keen on.

Out of say 180 odd passengers there are bound to be some who don't have tight for time plans and who'd be delighted with some extra cash.

Graham

Odyssey 2005 wrote: »

Trying to sell a seat twice is just immoral in my book.

If an airline knows that a particular flight has an average of say 5% no shows, I don't see a problem with overselling on that flight. Arguably it's good for the passengers as the additional profit helps keep ticket prices down.

There's usually sufficient passengers who are only too willing to accept compensation for being bumped. In the US there are travellers who actively seek out regularly overbooked flights in the hope that they're bumped as compensation often means the passenger gets several times their original ticket price back.

Locker10a

Mebuntu wrote: »

Whilst it doesn't appear to be a problem here, as far as we know, the only solution is the outlawing of overbooking as it falls clearly under the heading of "unfair contract". You pay upfront for your flight for particular dates and times because that is when YOU want or need to travel. For the airlines to be legally permitted to renege on that at will is grossly unfair.

Even if the flight takes off with 10 empty seats they have been paid for and you could argue the fuel burn is less

Say the 10 empty seats are the very very cheap seats you see advertised months in advance, they aren't really profitable for airlines but when they can sell them twice thats where they make money? Outlawing overbook would mean airline HAVE to make profit on the number of seats available, therefore seat costs would be higher, this would create HIGHER prices, not what consumers want.  Overbooking happens, its how airlines make money, and passengers can pocket a lot of cash if they're not in a rush to their destination.

Graham

Locker10a wrote: »

Say the 10 empty seats are the very very cheap seats you see advertised months in advance, they aren't really profitable for airlines but when they can sell them twice thats where they make money?

It's not just the cheap seats either.

Passengers travelling on fully-flexible tickets would be particularly common between major commercial centres. It's almost guaranteed some of these passengers would end-up switching to earlier/later flights.

Locker10a wrote: »

passengers can pocket a lot of cash if they're not in a rush to their destination.

No kidding, Delta gate agents can now offer up to $2,000, while supervisors can offer up to $9,950.

Locker10a

CaptainSkidmark wrote: »

My colleague was on the 11.50 Cork-LHR yesterday and was offered 500 and a paid taxi to go to shannon instead.

If i had nowhere to be in a hurry id have taken that thank you very much

ScouseMouse

Couple of years ago, my family and I with some friends were going Dublin to Tenerife with Aer Lingus. 3 days before the flight got a call from EI asking me to volunteer to fly to madrid then they buy us tickets from Madrid to Tenerife NORTH. Then a bus down.

Hummed and haaa'd a bit as it turned the 4 hour flight in to 10 hours. Then they mentioned compensation. 400 euro each by cheque plus they would make all arrangements. Couldn't accept it fast enough and also volunteered my friends who were on a separate booking.

Came home and said to the wife, "hey honey, guess what I did today! Gave away our flights!" When the roaring stopped and I explained, she smiled.

Have to say, sitting in Madrid airport drinking San Miguel with our friends was such a horrible experience.........

Bussywussy

Locker10a wrote: »

If i had nowhere to be in a hurry id have taken that thank you very much

I'd spend the 500 quid on nukes for buttevant and charleville on the way...

jester77

Standard practice for airlines.

I used to work for a major airline, overbooking is standard. I would fly standby on ID90, if the flight was 110% booked or less I was guaranteed a seat. Anything over would depend on route and time/day of week.

Tabnabs

ScouseMouse wrote: »

Couple of years ago, my family and I with some friends were going Dublin to Tenerife with Aer Lingus. 3 days before the flight got a call from EI asking me to volunteer to fly to madrid then they buy us tickets from Madrid to Tenerife NORTH. Then a bus down.

Hummed and haaa'd a bit as it turned the 4 hour flight in to 10 hours. Then they mentioned compensation. 400 euro each by cheque plus they would make all arrangements. Couldn't accept it fast enough and also volunteered my friends who were on a separate booking.

Came home and said to the wife, "hey honey, guess what I did today! Gave away our flights!" When the roaring stopped and I explained, she smiled.

Have to say, sitting in Madrid airport drinking San Miguel with our friends was such a horrible experience.........

As opposed to sitting by the pool drinking San Miguels if you hadn't agreed to the extra 6 hour journey

Graham

Tabnabs wrote: »

As opposed to sitting by the pool drinking San Miguels if you hadn't agreed to the extra 6 hour journey

Think of it as being paid 66euro an hour for drinking San Miguel.