Airline overbooking

[Parilla]

Simon Calder wrote an article about the above in today's Independent, with the following quote from EasyJet, presumably in defence of the practice :

“Last year, nearly 3 million easyJet customers didn’t show for their flights. When this happens, it means aircraft leave with empty seats, increasing our costs and therefore the price you pay for your flight.”

I've never tried to book with them without paying for the ticket on line at the time of booking, but if 3 million did last year I must be missing a trick. Can anyone enlighten me ?

Parilla

[olive]

We were discussing this subject recently following the United Airlines debacle.

I too agree with your viewpoint. As someone who has missed flights for a variety of reasons over the years it would seem to me that the airlines are quids /euros in. They have had your money, the plane is lighter so uses less fuel, boarding is quicker, more room in the overheads and so on.

The contra argument regards something called flexible tickets which you buy but don't necessarily use on that flight but they have to have seats available for those customers. Don't know whether these flexible business user type tickets are sold on Easyjet. I seem to remember Ryanair have something along those lines but the premium you pay wasn't worth it in our case despite having a patch of "missing" paid for flights. No doubt someone on here will know more.

[Stevemul]

So if you ring or message EasyJet that you will not be using your prepaid ticket, are they saying they will resell it despite not offering you a refund? I've never heard of that happening!

[wollie]

To be fair Easyjet knowledged their error so i assume it got sorted.
It probably be a good idea if airlines offered say 50% or more if sold
for higher prices if possible for seats they could resell in last week
of before flight if people unable to travel but logistically likely impossible.
What is the rule on overbooking?
I thought if you have your boarding pass you own the seat.

[Parilla]

The point I'm trying to make Wollie, is that as far as I know every seat Easyjet sell has to be pre paid, so if there is a "no show" there is no financial loss to the airline, in which case there is no need to overbook apart from pure greed. I've no intention of being fair to EasyJet, along with all other airlines they are feather- bedded to an unreasonable extent. "Overbooking" would be fraud in most other businesses.

Parilla

[Manchesteral]

Spot on Parilla, and if you're selling something you can't guarantee to deliver then it IS fraud!

[Wicksey]

I agree Parilla, I can't see how they could overbook as you book online live on the system and also have to check-in yourself too.

We've had to cancel a flight at the last minute after we had checked in so they wouldn't have known that we weren't going to show up until the flight was about to go. There's no point in cancelling as they don't usually refund your money and the cost to change the booking is expensive (plus you still have to pay the difference between the original and new booking) so it's just not worth cancelling with the low coast airlines.

[ashtondav]

The point I'm trying to make Wollie, is that as far as I know every seat Easyjet sell has to be pre paid, so if there is a "no show" there is no financial loss to the airline, in which case there is no need to overbook apart from pure greed. I've no intention of being fair to EasyJet, along with all other airlines they are feather- bedded to an unreasonable extent. "Overbooking" would be fraud in most other businesses.

Parilla

No.

Easyjet sell a flexi ticket enabling you to cancel up to two hours before your flight and transfer to another at no cost. Hence they get no revenue for the original seat. It is this ticket that they are hedging against by overbooking. All major airlines do the same, and I know BA has millions of no shows who transfer to another flight

http://www.easyjet.com/en/help/booking/flexi-fares

Ryanair does not overbook as a matter of policy.

https://corporate.ryanair.com/about-us/ ... r-charter/

"Ryanair is the only airline in Europe that does not overbook its flights; therefore Ryanair has eliminated the possibility of passengers being denied boarding due to overbooking".

[Parilla]

I stand corrected, Ashtondav.

Nevertheless, it's the airline's decision to offer that type of ticket and not to charge their customer for transferring to another flight - I don't see how they can class that situation as a "no-show". It hardly seems fair that a customer who has paid for an ordinary ticket in good faith is the one to take the hit.

Parilla

[ashtondav]

P, you are right of course. The flexi ticket is way MORE expensive than the standard.

I have to say though that bumping is quite rare. I flew to international airports every week for twenty years and never witnessed it except in Brussels where eurocrats block booked seats for all flights on Fridays. Even on the rare occasions when it does happen there are usually people who will accept the airline offer.

Had just one one person accepted the airline offer in America, this topic would not have been a news item.

I agree it's a murky area - as is flogging full fare train tickets on commuter lines and then overloading them so 50% of passengers have to stand for their journey.

[elusive]

I guess they get upset because its one less cuppa and kitkat they cant make a profit off!