KCMike From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 537 posts, RR: 0 Posted (3 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 2747 times:
My In-Laws visited for the week and were expecting to head home today out of Kansas City via American Airlines
AA639 MCI-DFW
AA1218 DFW-BHM
After checking in they were told that AA639 was overbooked and they were put on standby for AA1545 departing at 1310L. So after not making that flight they were put on standby again to eventually be told they would not be getting out of town today. I understand that it happens occasionally, we've all been there, but what really gets to me is that they are now being told that all of tomorrows flights have been overbooked and that there is a good chance they wont get out tomorrow. I personally fly Delta most of the time and have been bumped and overbooked but to be put off by days seems ridiculous. I am irritated however I dont want this to seem like a rant as much as I would like to know how this can come to be. How can AA overbook flights that bad, and then hose somebody two days straight? I would expect them to be on the first flight out of MCI tomorrow morning, but apparantly that may not be the case. and last but not least...of course their luggage made it out of town. I dont work in the airline realm so maybe someone can make some sense of this
ORDflier From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 174 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (3 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 2685 times:
As long as your parents met the check-in deadlines and were holding confirmed reservations, they are eligible for cash compensation unless certain operational requirements were not met... At the very least, AA should be making all possible options to get them out either on AA or on another carrier.
I did do a quick search of some search engines and found no seats available on anyone out of MCI today or tomorrow.
Do you know if you parents requested to speak with a Supervisor?
lhr380 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (3 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 2645 times:
If they were offloaded from the first flight for overbooking, they should have been given priority over seats on the next one, if not, rebooked onto the next service on any carrier to there final destination.
KCMike From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 537 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (3 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 2578 times:
They have since been booked on AA504 departing MCI tomorrow evening at 1650L. The 7th flight of the day and not much room for delay. They will arrive into DFW at 1835 and depart an hour later on AA1754 for BHM at 1955.
Quoting lhr380 (Reply 2): If they were offloaded from the first flight for overbooking, they should have been given priority over seats on the next one, if not, rebooked onto the next service on any carrier to there final destination.
Doesnt really seem to be the case here. Any issues with AA504 tomorrow and they will be spending the night again in Kansas City or Dallas. AA has provided a hotel room and food cash.
More of a business question here, why does AA overbook these flights so badly? If theres only 150 some seats on the aircraft why do they go and sell 160-170 seats?
crosswinds21 From Netherlands, joined Jun 2009, 684 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (3 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 2412 times:
Quoting KCMike (Reply 3): More of a business question here, why does AA overbook these flights so badly? If theres only 150 some seats on the aircraft why do they go and sell 160-170 seats?
AA, like any other airline, oversells flights based on the average amount of expected no shows. I don't know the exact formula, and neither does anyone else except for revenue management. But it's reasonable to make an assumption that if an average flight with a close-to-full load factor has 15 no shows, then the flight will be able to be oversold by as much as 15. It's just part of business, because a majority of the time, that percentage of people won't show and this ensures that as few seats as possible go out empty in the end. Despite all this, involuntary denied boardings are extremely uncommon.
mauiman31 From United States of America, joined Sep 2007, 434 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (3 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 2177 times:
This is also a heavy travel weekend at MCI and nationwide -- start of spring break week for many universities and school systems nationwide. Overbooking on all carriers will be at a peak.
CitationJet From United States of America, joined Mar 2003, 2229 posts, RR: 3 Reply 6, posted (3 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 2173 times:
Quoting KCMike (Thread starter): I am irritated however I dont want this to seem like a rant as much as I would like to know how this can come to be. How can AA overbook flights that bad, and then hose somebody two days straight?
This is spring break week. Every airline will be full or oversold out of MCI, not just AA. Not sure if they are traveling revenue or non-revenue. If they were revenue, they should have had prereserved seats.
Kansas State University and Kansas University just played last night in Kansas City for the big 12 champtionship, with many college students leaving for spring break after the game, for instance.
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