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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, June 2, 2002

Odds of being bumped by airline increasing

By Donna Rosato
USA Today

Airlines are flying fewer passengers these days, but the odds of a ticket holder getting bumped from an oversold flight are slightly greater than a year ago.

And for those who don't mind spending extra hours waiting for the next plane to depart, the chances of nabbing a free travel voucher by giving up your place on a flight with more passengers than seats have slightly improved, too.

Most fliers who get bumped are volunteers, although even some passengers who are bumped involuntarily might receive compensation if they've met their airline's check-in rules.

The U.S. Department of Transportation tracks bumpings — officially known as "denied boardings" — for each quarter. Some findings from its report for the first quarter:

• America West and US Airways had the highest voluntary bumping rate among major carriers. Each had about 32 passengers of every 10,000 voluntarily give up their seats in the first quarter. US Airways' rate jumped from 20 a year ago; America West's was flat. On Delta Air Lines, nearly 27 of every 10,000 passengers surrendered their seats in the first quarter, up from 22 a year ago.

• Southwest had the lowest voluntary rate among the major airlines. It bumped 10 passengers for every 10,000.

• Bumpings are up even though passenger counts are down. Airlines drastically cut schedules after Sept. 11 to offset the downturn in travel. Flight schedules are still down, even though travel has been picking up. The result is that planes are more crowded than a year ago, which increases the number of oversold flights.

Airlines routinely overbook flights because 10 to 15 percent of travelers don't show up, particularly business travelers who are more likely to use refundable tickets that don't carry a no-show penalty.

Airlines are running a limited number of flights, so they pushed the overbooking system harder hoping to fill a higher percentage of seats, says Tom Parsons, CEO of Bestfares.com.

The number of passengers who voluntarily gave up seats on major airlines rose to about 21 passengers for every 10,000 in the first quarter, up from 20 in the first quarter of 2001, according to the Department of Transportation.

Though the number of passengers involuntarily bumped from their seats is much smaller than the number who volunteer — 8,739 people vs. 224,140 during the first quarter — the rate of involuntary bumpings rose slightly year-over-year to 0.8 per 10,000 fliers from 0.76.

On some routes, airlines are combing the ranks of passengers looking for volunteers to relinquish their seats. Frequent travelers say some airlines offer free dinners, hotel stays and vouchers worth up to $750 toward another ticket.

That's a lot better than the standard offer of a free round-trip domestic airline ticket. Although airlines say they have not sweetened incentives for volunteers, some frequent travelers say they are being offered some pretty good deals:

• David Zangenberg gave up his first-class Delta seat on a flight from Atlanta to Orlando during spring break and got $600 toward a future ticket. "Last year, the same bump would pay only $200," he says.

• David Symonds was on two Delta flights recently when travelers were asked to give up seats. Delta immediately offered a $750 voucher for volunteers.

"Incentives seem to be better. The best one I recall before that was $400," says Symonds, who lives in Birmingham, Ala.

Delta says its first-quarter bumpings were up because of bad weather that hit its Atlanta hub in January and February.

"These numbers fluctuate tremendously," says spokesman John Kennedy.