Be warned about airlines overbooking!

Yesterday 25th Lesley went to fly back to England to see her new born grandchild who had arrived earlier than expected, we booked her on the first available flight which was Easy jet flight £160 ouch! when booking we usually buy a seat for speed of check in but the system would not allow us to do this and just said go to baggage drop! I dropped her at the airport and arrived back only to get a call saying she may not be able to fly as the flight was overbooked and three people were waiting to see if they could fly, they were told to go to the gate and wait until boarding to see if they could have a seat no explanation was given at this stage, once boarding was complete all three were told that they could not fly and a manger would speak to them, when they got to see the manager they all protested the other two passengers had booked flights at least two months earlier! Lesley asked as they had computerised systems surely they should not be able to overbook she was amazed at the response she was told this was common practice as if some people do not fly they can fill the seats!! they offered her a flight to a different airport 10 hours later or was told the next available would be Saturday 28th she just could not believe it and told them she wanted a refund and would fly with another airline they gave her a leaflet and told her she would have to put in a claim for a refund!! I collected her from the airport returned back and booked on the next available flight and she is now with her grandchild. The moral of the story is if you don't book a seat you can be left high and dry. this is the first we have had this happen in many years of flying but apparently it is commonplace. BE WARNED. http://www.which.co.uk/news/2013/08/airline-overbooking-policies-revealed--331108/

scubydoo wrote:Yesterday 25th Lesley went to fly back to England to see her new born grandchild who had arrived earlier than expected, we booked her on the first available flight which was Easy jet flight £160 ouch! when booking we usually buy a seat for speed of check in but the system would not allow us to do this and just said go to baggage drop! I dropped her at the airport and arrived back only to get a call saying she may not be able to fly as the flight was overbooked and three people were waiting to see if they could fly, they were told to go to the gate and wait until boarding to see if they could have a seat no explanation was given at this stage, once boarding was complete all three were told that they could not fly and a manger would speak to them, when they got to see the manager they all protested the other two passengers had booked flights at least two months earlier! Lesley asked as they had computerised systems surely they should not be able to overbook she was amazed at the response she was told this was common practice as if some people do not fly they can fill the seats!! they offered her a flight to a different airport 10 hours later or was told the next available would be Saturday 28th she just could not believe it and told them she wanted a refund and would fly with another airline they gave her a leaflet and told her she would have to put in a claim for a refund!! I collected her from the airport returned back and booked on the next available flight and she is now with her grandchild. The moral of the story is if you don't book a seat you can be left high and dry. this is the first we have had this happen in many years of flying but apparently it is commonplace. BE WARNED. http://www.which.co.uk/news/2013/08/airline-overbooking-policies-revealed--331108/

So sorry to hear this - It must have been so upsetting and very inconvenient.

It is inexcusable and greedy of an airline to do this!

Thank you for the warning and glad to hear that Lesley is happily with her new grandchild now.

Jan

What a terrible experience to be treated that way with such contempt,a warning for us all,
glad Lesley is with the granchild.

How awful for you and so lad she is now with her grandchild. Having worked for several of the worlds major airlines I can confirm that they will overbook until passengers have the courtesy to cancel a reservation they no longer require. Airlines have a statistical programme which tells them how likely they are to have no shows as they are called. This is very sophisticated and takes into consideration the time day month route flight number. 99% of the time all booked passengers can be accepted as booked.
Normally having a preallocated seat shouldn't make a difference but online checkin would as they then have to wait till the flight closes at the departure gate to find out exactly which checked in passengers have reported to the gate. I have even known passengers who have left it till airport checkin to not arrive at the gate or to cancel at the gate due to a last minute emergency. Some also arrive at the gate with too much luggage and will not pay the excess charge so do not board the flight.
Where I feel the fault lies here is that they didn't offer Lesley an alternative seat on their next flight.
Sorry to be long winded but I just wanted to clarify the reason for overbooking. The morale is always cancel an unwanted flight - once this happens overbooking will not be required

One further point is that there are denied boarding rules within the EU and if Lesley can prove she was not offered an alternative flight for several days she should be able to claim denied boarding compensation as well as the refund

Shemarg that's a good account of what happens,
The airlines are wrong to take bookings they can't honour.
The airlines are wrong to treat people with disrespect.
The airlines are wrong to assume the public can be used in this way.

In life you get what you pay for and expect nothing less,except of the airlines where it would appear they can do what they wish.

My wife & I travelled yesterday to Alicante on the morning flight from Bristol & asked the cabin member standing alongside us if the flight was full. She said not only were they full they were overbooked. Personally I find this disagreeable but there are cases where people don't or can't turn up for the flight. My wife had her BP meds changed by the Dr. a few days prior to us expecting to fly a couple of years ago. The morning we were due to fly she couldn't stand, she was so dizzy, she was in quite a state. We had paid upfront obviously with Easyjet & there would be no refunds, I couldn't contact them to rebook as I'd no idea when my wife would be ok to fly & I was too concerned about my wife right then to ring Easyjet to say we weren't going, why would I anyway? I'd paid for our seats.

So sorry that your wife was put in that situation, scoobydoo.

Hi shemarg It really doesn't matter who turns up or doesn't turn up because all seats are fully paid for in advance so overbooking is just down to sheer profiteering by the airlines and should not be allowed full stop, its a disgrace it is allowed to happen at all and yes you can get compensation but that really is not the issue it is just plain wrong, and as I am now well aware causes a lot of upset heartache and inconvenience.

Hi scubydoo I was not suggesting that any compensation would make up for the distress just thought you might not have been aware of it. I agree that the low cost carriers if not refunding tickets to those passengers who don't turn up should not have to overbook. I suppose it might be something to do with the fact that they can sell tickets for s much higher price to people who book late. The larger airlines do however refund an unused seat with perhaps only the loss of a cancellation fee. As I say the solution lies with people canceling unwanted seats although of course in an emergency it is not always possible.

scubydoo wrote:Hi shemarg It really doesn't matter who turns up or doesn't turn up because all seats are fully paid for in advance so overbooking is just down to sheer profiteering by the airlines and should not be allowed full stop, its a disgrace it is allowed to happen at all and yes you can get compensation but that really is not the issue it is just plain wrong, and as I am now well aware causes a lot of upset heartache and inconvenience.

Absolutely!!!!!!!!!!!And what utter nonsense to blame passengers who do not cancel !!!!!!!These airlines should be heavily fined. What price the heartache of someone rushing home in an emergency and finding the seat they have paid for is not available. It's scandalous.