|
Why do airlines
sell more tickets for a flight than there are seats on an airplane
(overbooking)?
More often than
not, not everyone shows up for a flight. People get stuck in traffic, catch an
earlier flight, arrive late on a connecting flight or whatever. Airlines keep
good records of how many people typically "no-show" for a flight, so
they make a good estimate of the number of seats they can "oversell",
so when they do "oversell" the airplane departs more often than not
with a full airplane. Sometimes, however they get it wrong and there are not
enough seats for everyone. In this case the airline will re-accommodate you on
a later emptier flight (if your plans are flexible), and reward you with a $200
(e.g.) voucher. Airlines have figured out that giving vouchers with a face-value
of $200 is much cheaper than denying a passenger the opportunity to buy a seat
for say $500.
Site last updated December, 2004
Over 9.0 million served
Copyright 2004
R Ryan. All Rights Reserved
|
