overbooked Delta flight on 12/24/05

[Mona Lisa]

Customer service has been very kind but who is running the show at Delta? I booked a direct flight from FLL to CVG for my family of five in January for December. I was notified Monday that the flight is majorly overbooked and that our seats are not confirmed. (We are confirmed on the flight but not confirmed in assigned seats :confused: ). How could that have happened? We booked with 17 other family members (not as a group though) on the same flight. They are all confirmed.

 

So, Delta offered $150 per passenger travel voucher to bump to a non-direct flight. We held out for more and got $225 per passenger and a better flight. This flight will bring us home about the same time but stops in Tampa.

 

Just wanted to post in case it happens to any of you--make sure to be greedy and get the most you can. Of course, Delta travel vouchers may be worth no more than the paper they are printed on by next month. I hope not though. I was smelling another trip in our not-so-distant future.

 

Lisa

[MRF777]

Same thing happend to my friend she (a travel agent) was escorting a group of Carnival Cruisers back from Fort Lauderdale to Cleveland on Delta. When they got to the airport Delta told her that the flight was over-sold and that she should have been told this by her Travel Agent..When she told them she was the Travel Agent they didnt know what to say..They offered her no compensation, no food-vouchers or anything.. They had to take a flight that got them into Cleveland at 1:30am.

[wrp96]

Unfortunately, this is happening more and more with other airlines as well. The last several times I've flown to San Diego, the return flights have been majorly overbooked. I paid for my last trip to San Diego on AA with travel vouchers I had gotten for allowing myself to be voluntarily bumped on a previous trip to San Diego on AA. Good for you for pushing for more compensation and better flights, sorry that this is happened to you.

 

My family and I are flying Southwest on the Friday before Christmas and fully expect our flight to be overbooked. We've already agreed that if the offer comes, we're taking the bump so that somebody else doesn't have to.

[Globaliser]

I was notified Monday that the flight is majorly overbooked and that our seats are not confirmed. (We are confirmed on the flight but not confirmed in assigned seats :confused: ). How could that have happened?

Airlines don't allocate all of their seats before the flight. (Some airlines allocate more seats than others, but none of them allocate all seats.) So even if a flight is not overbooked, there may be a significant proportion of people with confirmed reservations who do not have pre-allocated seats.

 

Don't forget that a significant proportion of people with confirmed reservations for flights cancel them at very short notice, and a further significant proportion simply fail to show up for the flight. This is one reason why airlines overbook, because if they can still fly the aircraft full, fares stay low for everyone.

 

If you previously had pre-allocated seats but you don't any more, there may have been a schedule change or an equipment change that has meant more people on your flight, or fewer seats.

 

If you'd insisted on flying on that flight anyway, you might have been allocated good seats when you checked in, because they were the seats left by the people who'd cancelled. You might have been allocated poor seats because they were the only ones available when you checked in. Or you might have had to be allocated seats in first class, if there was one, because all of economy/coach was full but there were empty seats in the front. Or you might have liked the offer they were making at the airport; or you might have got involuntarily bumped with whatever they have to give for that. Such are the uncertainties of travel.

 

If you're happier with what you've got, including the vouchers, that's probably the best course you could have taken.

[jimc_usa]

Same thing happend to my friend she (a travel agent) was escorting a group of Carnival Cruisers back from Fort Lauderdale to Cleveland on Delta. When they got to the airport Delta told her that the flight was over-sold and that she should have been told this by her Travel Agent..When she told them she was the Travel Agent they didnt know what to say..They offered her no compensation, no food-vouchers or anything.. They had to take a flight that got them into Cleveland at 1:30am.

 

 

As a general rule GA's (Gate Agents) hace a lot of leeway on what the can do and will do. They may not offer compensation but it is required!!!

 

Overbooking is not illegal, and most airlines overbook their scheduled flights to a certain extent in order to compensate for "no-shows." Passengers are sometimes left behind or "bumped" as a result. When an oversale occurs, the Department of Transportation (DOT) requires airlines to ask people who aren't in a hurry to give up their seats voluntarily, in exchange for compensation. Those passengers bumped against their will are, with a few exceptions, entitled to compensation.