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Air Canada agents reveal overselling practices

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Re: Air Canada agents reveal overselling practices

#51

Post by thaumasiotes »

jayalpha wrote: post #38
kortilla wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>But from passengers' point of view, few people are willing to voluntarily accept an offer to transfer to a different flight once they are at the gate awaiting boarding, even if the offer is quite generous. This is blatantly false. I fly all the time and I see this happen about every other time at a neighboring gate. Gate agent announced flight is oversold, makes an offer. Several people volunteer. End of story. You…

"Then the stupidity of United and the ignorant backlash of the public ruined it. Infrequent fliers associated overselling with the United incident and completely ignored the functioning 99.9% of cases that benefited all fliers overall." The United incident had nothing to do with overbooking.

While true, that doesn't really contradict the idea that "infrequent fliers associated overselling with the United incident".

Re: Air Canada agents reveal overselling practices

#52

Post by lisper »

tomhoward wrote: post #24

It's been discussed on HN before [1], but it's worth mentioning in this thread that there's a YC-backed company – Volantio – working to solve this specific problem. Most airlines' position is that they have to oversell flights, otherwise planes will fly with empty seats unnecessarily. But from passengers' point of view, there aren't always enough people who'll voluntarily accept an offer to transfer to a different fl…

> Most airlines' position is that they have to oversell flights, otherwise planes will fly with empty seats unnecessarily.

With most fares nowadays being non-refundable, why should the airlines care whether the seat is empty or not? It's paid for. If it's empty, that's a bonus because they save a little bit of fuel, time at the gate, and the passengers adjacent to the empty seat have a better experience. Empty seats that are paid for should be a win-win.

Re: Air Canada agents reveal overselling practices

#53

Post by raverbashing »

Wow what a complete irresponsible way of dealing with the issue. It doesn't beat United pulling a passenger out of the plane, but it's very bad.

The correct way is of course to deal with this before the gate and arrange it then. "Sorry, our flight is overbooked, would you volunteer to take the next one with a compensation of $100?"

Re: Air Canada agents reveal overselling practices

#54

Post by thepangolino »

lisper wrote: post #52
tomhoward wrote: post #24

It's been discussed on HN before [1], but it's worth mentioning in this thread that there's a YC-backed company – Volantio – working to solve this specific problem. Most airlines' position is that they have to oversell flights, otherwise planes will fly with empty seats unnecessarily. But from passengers' point of view, there aren't always enough people who'll voluntarily accept an offer to transfer to a different fl…

> Most airlines' position is that they have to oversell flights, otherwise planes will fly with empty seats unnecessarily. With most fares nowadays being non-refundable, why should the airlines care whether the seat is empty or not? It's paid for. If it's empty, that's a bonus because they save a little bit of fuel, time at the gate, and the passengers adjacent to the empty seat have a better experience. Empty seats…

If they know the s’est is going to be empty, they can sell it again.

Re: Air Canada agents reveal overselling practices

#55

Post by tomp »

kalleboo wrote: post #43
joecool1029 wrote: post #19

On topic: Depends on where you are. I was on an overbooked flight with WOW in Iceland a few months back, they ultimately ended up getting me a seat, but there is sometime about compensation if they can't get you on a flight within X number of hours as a result of the fault of the airline. I'll try to dig it up again... Somewhat unrelated but I had a terrible time with Air Canada a couple weeks ago for a YUL > EWR fli…

> there is sometime about compensation if they can't get you on a flight within X number of hours as a result of the fault of the airline EU air passenger rights https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-right...

Do these apply? Iceland isn’t in EU.

Re: Air Canada agents reveal overselling practices

#56

Post by wjjdjw »

un_montagnard wrote: post #28

Passengers would stop complaining or even start volunteering if Air Canada was offering them a monetary compensation for postponing their trip to the next flight. This is what happens in Europe and getting 300€ to wait 4 hours in an airport is not too bad if you're not in a hurry.

Thanks for making this clear.

In the EU, I've been asked multiple times if I'm OK with flying on the next day. 300€ / 600€ (if +1500km) and a nice hotel are quite nice as a student.

Never understood why overbooking is considered annoying in the US.

Re: Air Canada agents reveal overselling practices

#57

Post by isostatic »

kalleboo wrote: post #41
jtchang wrote: post #9

I'm not surprised airlines do this. I don't think it is just Air Canada. In a way it makes sense but it does make me think they are a bit greedy. If someone buys a ticket and does not show up for a flight then usually they don't get a refund/credit (or a crappy one: I'm looking at you United). But now the airline has an empty seat. The best thing to do is fill it. But you can't fill it the last moment so you need to…

> But you can't fill it the last moment I remember as a kid flying "standby". You got a cheap ticket but had to sit around until a seat opened up. What killed standby tickets? Post-9/11 security hell?

They still exist

Re: Air Canada agents reveal overselling practices

#58

Post by isostatic »

khuey wrote: post #27
Johnny555 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They could even offer a premium price to guarantee your flight They do -- they call it a "full fare ticket" -- airlines bend over backwards to accommodate these full fare fliers, even if it means bumping a paid economy passenger from the flight. Though it's a pretty steep fee -- usually several times more than the restricted fare.

The SkyTeam alliance guarantees its frequent fliers (people who hold SkyTeam Elite Plus status) that they can buy a full Y-class fare on a completely sold out flight and they'll kick someone else off to put them on.

BA do this, although only in economy I think. It’s a 24 hour minimum too. I’ve never needed it.

I’ve booked on fully sold flights in a full fare class a few days before and the wait list clears, often in a few hours.

Re: Air Canada agents reveal overselling practices

#59

Post by BlackFly »

Seems that nobody is reading the article.

Yes, pretty much all airlines are overselling. However, Air Canada employees speaking on condition of anonymity are stating that business as usual for the airline is to string customers along until the last minute, even if it is known well in advance that they are not going to be boarding. That is to say, passengers with GTE on the gate indication of the boarding pass will not be boarding but are lied to and told that they will be assigned a seat at the gate.

Regardless your views on overselling, you probably take a very different view about being lied to about your likelihood of boarding a flight as you check in.

Re: Air Canada agents reveal overselling practices

#60

Post by freeone3000 »

cjbprime wrote: post #32
stygiansonic wrote: post #2

Supposedly this is a company internal document[0], which states: Air Canada Revenue Management’s team is tasked with ensuring that the maximum revenue potential is made on each and every flight we operate. As it is known that a certain percentage of confirmed customers do not show for their flights, it is sometimes necessary to sell more seats than aircraft capacity. Revenue Management uses a sophisticated system tha…

That's just a description of overselling. What's unique to Air Canada about this story? Do the other airlines do this too?

Service staff appear to not make it clear to customers that unless your boarding pass has a seat number on it that you don't have a seat.
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