Delta paid a passenger $4,500 to NOT let him take a flight
You read correctly, we did not make a typo, the American airline Delta Airlines had to shell out 4,500$ in [...]
Delta
SkyTeam
You read correctly, we did not commit a error typing, the American airline Delta Airlines had to shell out 4.500$ in gift cards to a passenger to convince him to postpone His flight to the next day.
In this article:
The company also made sure to pay the night unscheduled at the hotel.
Delta did not go crazy all of a sudden, what happened is what happens to many travelers at least once in a lifetime, that is, the flight went into overbooking.
What is overbooking?
In Italian it could be translated literally as. "overbooking" And it happens when they are sold more tickets of the actual capacity of the aircraft, as if a plane had 100 seats but tickets were sold for 110. How does this happen? We explain it to you.
Airlines need to fill their aircraft as much as possible in order to maximize the profits and balance them with the expenses Which are carried out for each flight.
Often, however ,the unexpected happens, some passengers do not show up, delete the flight at the last second or because of bad weather misses some connections and so on....
Airlines play on this very fact, that is, they sell more tickets of how many actual seats are on the plane because they know that days before or at the last minute someone will cancel the flight or will not show up for boarding, thus still guaranteeing himself the flight complete.
The magic algorithm of overbooking
Airlines are not clueless, and the practice of overbooking is not done for all flights regardless, there is a lot behind it studio e calculation.
It is thought that behind this practice is a algorithm very powerful that studies every little detail to perfectly calculate all the variables. For example, if we take an airport small and a flight National, almost commuting for many, with few flights in the day, then it will be very difficult that someone gives up flying at the last minute, almost certainly everyone will take that flight.
If, on the other hand, we move to an airport International, with different terminals trafficked and dozens of airlines with hundreds of daily flights, with rates facilitated to maintain competition, it is certainly more probable that many passengers cancel at the last minute, fail to show up or risk losing the coincidence.
Other variables may also be the conditions climatic, the news of the destination country, other more competitive flights, etc. We will never know exactly how overbooking is calculated, what we do know is that it is a practice perfectly legal and which we ourselves accept when we buy the ticket, it is in fact written in those lowercase lines footer that no one reads never: "the seat on board may not be guaranteed."
Andy Luten, the blogger/photographer received 4,500$ for not flying
Delta paid me $4500 to take a later flight! https://t.co/preJw9Mb9r
- Andy Luten (@andystravelblog) July 2, 2021
Returning to today's story, the outstanding photographer Andy Luten found himself in just such a situation-he was taking a colo from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Reykjavik in Iceland to do a photo shoot.
He was not alone in this situation, apparently the algorithm did not work this time and others 30 passengers they had to agree to postpone one's flight to the next day. The offers started from 465$ all the way to the 4.500$ of Luten, the estimate is that Delta had to shell out as much as 180.000$ Between gift certificates and hotel rooms to unlock the situation!
Failing perhaps a series of fatal concatenations for Delta, Iceland was the first country in Europe to reopen to vaccinated American tourists, the flight connecting the two cities is only 1 time a day, and an approaching disturbance has endangered another important route.
Usually 5 or maximum 10 people are sufficient to handle an overbooking, but this time Delta ran into trouble and the one who gained was Andy Luten, who gives us a beautiful shot:
All the effort of taking $4500 for a flight a day later was worth it. I got to meet the puffins in Iceland today! pic.twitter.com/delR2cSdNc
- Andy Luten (@andystravelblog) July 4, 2021
How much can we "make" from overbooking?
In general for a cancelled flight, we know that we can catch even 600€, But what about overbooking instead? Will we be as lucky as Andy?
For routes intra-EU compensation is around the 250€, If the distance to be covered is less than 1,500km; If it is higher, however, the compensation is around the 400€.
Same rules for non-EU flights, but if the distance is greater than 3,500km then you can get around the 600€.
Added to all this is, of course, the refund of the ticket of the trip not made, the reservation of the alternative flight as soon as possible and the possible night in hotel should the flight be the next day, including meals e shifts obligated.
In the United States, where overbooking is more common than in Europe, we may be rewarded with more high.
How to avoid overbooking?
Finally, we want to give you two tips To avoid running into overbooking:
- First, you need to make the check-in as soon as possible, avoid shrinking to the last, best if online And not directly at the airport on the day of the flight
- I airline loyalty programs certainly help their members avoid this problem
- If the ticket is very cheap, then think about also buying theinsurance might be a good idea, as well as boarding priority
- Top classes such as Business e First, Rarely are they subject to overbooking
- I frequent flyers Of the company with which you fly are protected
Now that the Green Pass is finally up and running and vaccines continue, we can enjoy the vacations properly and... watch out for overbooking!
