On average, just over 1 out of 10,000 passengers get involuntarily bumped from their flight. That’s ridiculous. It doesn’t sound like very many people but it shouldn’t happen… ever. I mean, one out of 10,000 customers don’t receive the service for which they paid. What’s terrible is that, until recently, the airlines didn’t have to do anything for the passenger. A few years ago when flights were plentiful it wasn’t a huge deal to get bumped. But nowadays it means hours and hours of waiting, if you can even get a flight that same day. For most people this is an unacceptable inconvenience. It means missed connections, missed cruises, missed events. It’s infuriating to pay for a service and then not receive it. It’s absolutely ridiculous that a company can get away with that. Imagine if you went to Subway and ordered a foot long turkey with lettuce and onions. Then after they take your money they say “oh sorry, we ran out of sandwiches. We knew we only had 10 left but we sold 12 just to make sure we sold them all. And no, you can’t have your money back, our sandwiches are nonrefundable, but we will give you this coupon for a free tuna on rye.” I mean, come on!

I don’t think the airlines should be allowed to overbook at all. Most tickets are already non refundable. They got their money, who cares if the passenger doesn’t show up. But at least now they have to compensate the involuntarily bumped. The airlines now must give the bumped passenger up to $400 AND put them on a flight within 2 hours. If they can’t do that then they must pay up to $800 AND put them on another flight, refund the price of the ticket, or send the passenger back to their original city, which ever the customer decides. And they have to give the passenger cash right there and then. That is great! At least they will have some incentive not to have bumped people and if you are bumped you have some cash to cover your expenses while you wait, and then some.

Pic by: Matt McGee

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post consider subscribing!

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.