Rights when Bumped from Flight

To be fair, that sort of thing is running at an all-time high. Especially over the last few weeks, with the cruise lines' responses to the hurricanes, the prevalence of unfounded expectations by consumers, unsupported by the terms and conditions of the agreements they enter into, is overwhelming.

 

DING DING DING....we have a winner.

I'll heel to Flyertalker that says that our domestic airlines never utilize their computers to recognize and attempt to mitigate oversold conditions via rational rescheduling prior to date of flight. Nope, he claims that's something they'd never do. I might wonder why they wouldn't, the technology I'm certain is there. But if Flyertalker says it never happens, then it never happens. Thanks for the enlightenment!

I'll heel to Flyertalker that says that our domestic airlines never utilize their computers to recognize and attempt to mitigate oversold conditions via rational rescheduling prior to date of flight. Nope, he claims that's something they'd never do. I might wonder why they wouldn't, the technology I'm certain is there. But if Flyertalker says it never happens, then it never happens. Thanks for the enlightenment!

 

I think you are over estimating the sophistication of the airlines computer systems and their willingness to mess with flyers.

 

People pick specific routes and flights for various reasons. They don't like a particular type of aircraft, they dislike a certain hub. They are meeting someone en-route etc. Airlines we generate many unhappy flyers if they started to change someone routing. They tend to only do this when they are cancelling a flight or changing aircraft type.

People pick specific routes and flights for various reasons. They don't like a particular type of aircraft, they dislike a certain hub. They are meeting someone en-route etc. Airlines we generate many unhappy flyers if they started to change someone routing. They tend to only do this when they are cancelling a flight or changing aircraft type.

Regardless of the causes, they know precisely how much changing aircraft, changing routing, etc., causes customer dissatisfaction. There is a cost to that dissatisfaction. There is also a cost associated with not making the changes. A very big cost. More than thirty years ago I interviewed for jobs with airlines to make use of the mathematical techniques I learned in grad school that they were using at the time to balance all these factors and decide what changes to make. Over three decades, I'm sure that they've not only expanded their use of such techniques, but have developed even more efficient and accurate models.

I think you are over estimating the sophistication of the airlines computer systems and their willingness to mess with flyers.

 

It wasn't that long ago that when I had an involuntary reschedule I was automatically rebooked on flights through a different airport. The only problem being flight #1 landed 45mins or so after flight #2 left. :D A quick call to the airline with my preferred flights in mind and all was sorted.

 

I really don't mind the involuntary reschedules, IME, airlines seem to give me carte blanche to do as I want with flights within reason. My biggest score was about 10yrs ago on AA when I was flying BOS-SFO-SEA in FC, I believe I paid something like $500 one way for that. My flight was retimed to a very bad connection through ORD or STL so I called and asked if I could reroute BOS-JFK-LAX-SEA. AA have premium transcontinental flights between JFK and LAX/SFO, which at the time were operated by 767-200s. The retail on this was about $3200 one way because the FC seats and service on those 767s was vastly superior to that of regular domestic narrowbody aircraft. Not a problem! As an airline and premium cabin geek this was a big score for me. I wasn't working then so the extra time needed wasn't an issue.

Sometimes schedules changes can really work to your advantage. The best is when you want to cancel, but have non-refundable tickets. A big enough change, and you may be able to cancel and get your money back in full.