**Why Airlines Sell More Tickets Than Available Seats**
In the airline sector, it is a commonly accepted practice for airlines to sell more tickets for a particular flight than there are seats available. You may have experienced being bumped from a flight at some point, or at the very least, witnessed airlines asking for volunteers at the gate to take a later flight in return for incentives.
To clarify some terms:
– A flight is deemed oversold when an airline sells more tickets than the number of seats on the aircraft.
– A flight is overbooked when more passengers actually arrive at the airport for a flight than there are seats.
In essence, overselling can (but isn’t required to) lead to overbooking. When a flight is overbooked, airlines typically seek volunteers to take an alternate flight for compensation. This is referred to as voluntary denied boarding. If there are insufficient volunteers, the airline may be compelled to involuntarily deny boarding, resulting in some individuals being removed from the flight.
So, what are the reasons for airline flights being overbooked? There are several potential factors, which I will outline below.
**Airline Seats Are Perishable Items**
Airline seats are perishable items, and understandably, airlines strive to fill as many seats as they can. The moment the airplane door shuts, the airline loses the chance to earn revenue from those seats.
Revenue and inventory management for airlines is highly intricate, and they utilize various methods to price discriminate among different consumer segments and maximize seat occupancy. Airlines aim to fill as many seats as possible, charging passengers as much as they are willing to pay.
Airlines possess extensive data on historical no-show rates, last-minute cancellations, and more, and they leverage this information to oversell flights in a (mostly) logical manner. If a flight has 160 seats and an airline discovers that, on average, four individuals don’t show up (this number varies by flight due to multiple factors), the airline may choose to oversell to that extent.
Additionally, airlines have abolished change fees on numerous fare types, resulting in a higher number of passengers making adjustments to their flights compared to the past. If a flight is fully booked two weeks prior, an airline might conclude that on average, 10% of ticket holders cancel within a week of the flight, leading them to oversell accordingly.
**Airline Passengers Miss Flights for Various Reasons**
As stated earlier, airlines maintain strong historical data about this subject, and numerous factors may cause confirmed airline passengers to miss their flight:
– With many airlines doing away with change fees on most fare categories, numerous travelers book speculative tickets and only cancel close to their departure.
– Even those intending to fly might arrive late to the airport, encounter long check-in or security lines, etc.
– Many travelers are on connecting routes, and delays in their inbound flight can cause them to miss their connection.
– For international arrivals with connections, they may face delays in customs and immigration or waiting for their luggage, etc.
– Some passengers might arrive but lack the necessary travel documents for their intended destination, preventing their boarding.
On certain flights, every single passenger appears, while on others, I’ve experienced oversold flights with several empty seats. It can vary significantly.
**Airline Operations Are Complex**
There are numerous instances where a flight might be overbooked, even if the airline did not plan to oversell. How can this occur?
– Airlines operate various aircraft types, and even the same aircraft type may feature different seating arrangements; various operational challenges could lead to a last-minute aircraft change.
– There may be pilots or flight attendants needing to deadhead on a flight to operate another one; they can be booked at the last moment and are considered “must rides,” as another flight could be canceled if they cannot board.
– Weather circumstances can lead to weight restrictions on flights, meaning an airline may not be able to fill all seats; this could be due to storms, high temperatures, or even due to cargo sometimes being more profitable than passenger revenue.
**Sometimes a Particular Cabin Is Oversold**
In certain scenarios, the entire flight may not be oversold, but rather a specific cabin might be. The most frequent instance involves economy class being oversold while first and business class cabins have numerous empty seats.
In specific cases, passengers may not be removed from a flight; instead, they may be upgraded to a higher cabin due to operational needs. This is especially prevalent with Gulf carriers, where economy may be oversold by several seats while business class remains completely vacant.
The reasoning is that some income is preferable to none — indeed, airlines would like to sell higher-priced premium seats, but ultimately…