271–280 of 335 posts
The problem isn't overbooking. The problem is not auctioning the seats higher when overbooked. I've seen a number of overbooked southwest flights and people can't line up fast enough for a $300 flight credit + next available flight. I can't imagine it ever going over $1k. IMHO if any airline should continue overbooking it's SWA. No first class, no assigned seats. Most of the flights are short range with multiple flig…
Do people really miss their flights so often that overbooking isn't often an issue or do a lot of flights have people that need to wait for the next one? As someone that's never flown it's surprising to me that overbooking is even a thing airlines do, who's out there missing their flights? I can't even imagine cancelling a pre-booked taxi never mind a flight!
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It could be much more than one dollar. Those were my made up numbers to demonstrate the principle, not any kind of indication of the magnitude of the real numbers. > As usual, people striving to save one dollar no matter what (in this case, giving up the certainty of flying) are the problem. It's not necessarily a problem. Flyers can choose between certainty of flying and other nice things that cost money. Most appea…
Are you aware of any airline that exploits overbooking while letting you choose a "no-overbooking-for-my-seat" fare?
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Yea, I agree the problem is not auctioning seats high enough. But the proximate issue is that United didn't offer cash, but $800 in United Fun Bux that are worthless for most people. The vouchers they were offering were only valid at dates United decided. The vouchers expired after a year. And they are offered in coupons for which you can only use one coupon per flight, and the excess value is lost. Practically all n…
Calling airline vouchers 'worthless to most people' is pretty stupid. The vast majority of the population would love to travel more and is constrained mainly by their budget. The proof of this is how Delta never seems to have problems and they constantly offer Delta dollars.
I travel for pleasure about once a year. I can travel more if I wanted to, finances don't hold me back, but once a year is enough for me. Traveling for vacation is usually pretty fun but at the same time just stressful enough that I wouldn't want to do it more than once a year. Airplane travel is really inconvenient.
Plane tickets are just a small part of the cost of a vacation so a free ticket isn't magically going to make them afford extra travel. United isn't paying them for their hotel, rental car, and activities they are going to do when they go on this extra vacation.
Even if you do make use of the vouchers, you better hope that United flies to that place you want to go and you have enough time off saved up at work and your schedule works out to use that voucher before it expires. I know you get a year but people have schedules and usually only have windows where it works out to take vacation.
If you are a business traveler you better hope you actually like traveling for pleasure.
The problem isn't overbooking. The problem is not auctioning the seats higher when overbooked. I've seen a number of overbooked southwest flights and people can't line up fast enough for a $300 flight credit + next available flight. I can't imagine it ever going over $1k. IMHO if any airline should continue overbooking it's SWA. No first class, no assigned seats. Most of the flights are short range with multiple flig…
Do people really miss their flights so often that overbooking isn't often an issue or do a lot of flights have people that need to wait for the next one? As someone that's never flown it's surprising to me that overbooking is even a thing airlines do, who's out there missing their flights? I can't even imagine cancelling a pre-booked taxi never mind a flight!
Yes. Wendover Productions on YouTube posted an excellent video a while back explaining why airlines overbook their flights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqWksuyry5w Most of the time it's not an issue.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yea, I agree the problem is not auctioning seats high enough. But the proximate issue is that United didn't offer cash, but $800 in United Fun Bux that are worthless for most people. The vouchers they were offering were only valid at dates United decided. The vouchers expired after a year. And they are offered in coupons for which you can only use one coupon per flight, and the excess value is lost. Practically all n…
Yes, the voucher thing is nonsense. I've been on overbooked flights before where I could have easily taken the next flight instead. I never volunteer, because the vouchers are worthless to me. Offer me cash and I'll often be first in line.
The problem isn't overbooking. The problem is not auctioning the seats higher when overbooked. I've seen a number of overbooked southwest flights and people can't line up fast enough for a $300 flight credit + next available flight. I can't imagine it ever going over $1k. IMHO if any airline should continue overbooking it's SWA. No first class, no assigned seats. Most of the flights are short range with multiple flig…
Do people really miss their flights so often that overbooking isn't often an issue or do a lot of flights have people that need to wait for the next one? As someone that's never flown it's surprising to me that overbooking is even a thing airlines do, who's out there missing their flights? I can't even imagine cancelling a pre-booked taxi never mind a flight!
It's also very, very easy to miss a connector flight if the plane coming in is delayed, or even if the airline decides to route you through an entirely different city. I've missed a couple that way. You can get held up at customs or security when landing in a new country and that country requires everyone to go through customs and security again.
Then there is illness, accidents, and emergencies that come up all the time.
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Given the reason that airlines employ overselling, you would have to expect that it would impact the airline profitability, which could in theory lead to an increase in ticket prices. The bet SWA is making is that the revenue gain from overbooking is smaller than the consequential losses from bad publicity. Just think about the downside to United based on their share price alone, and now the increased focus that is o…
I don't want to fly on an airline with profit margins so slim. If a few hundred dollars one way or another is all that matters, I don't want to think about the decisions going on behind the scenes. These are extraordinarily expensive machines filled with hundreds of very human humans. You need more room for contingencies. I'd rather pay a few dollars more if that meant flying on a plane that wasn't constantly skirtin…
You should probably consider switching to Greyhound in that case. The last few years have generally been good ones for commercial aviation but, historically, the industry lost money as whole since its inception.
One of the problems is that you may be willing to pay a few dollars more but most will just go with whatever is cheapest.
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Fast boarding speeds lowers their cost. That's one of the reasons Southwest can often be much cheaper than other airlines.
Is Southwest often that much cheaper? I usually only fly them because they're direct where others are not, but it usually doesn't save me money.
This response feels knee jerk. It's been demonstrated in countless other threads (1) and articles (2) how economically important it is to overbook. Overbooking is central to airline profitability and their ability to provide flexibility - like partial refunds, or SW's "open tickets" policy on business select. As a consumer I appreciate these things and find them incredibly useful. United's response of "We'll push the…
>how economically important it is to overbook. I still don't believe this claim. A 727 seats 129, a 787 seats 290, and a 747 seats 366. That means it only makes flights slightly less expensive. I only travel a few times a year and I'd rather pay 2% more than get bumped off my flight. Why do we allow airlines to overbook but not movie theaters or other industries? This seems like an artificial advantage we've given th…