over booking on flights

[magstar]

I have always wanted to know why airlines overbook flights. i know the usual answer is that it is common for some passengers not to turn up so thats why they do it. but when you book a flight you have to pay for your flight completly so even if you do not turn up the air line does not lose money . so why the need to overbook. Am i being really stupid ? please can someone explain!! thanks

[Clanad]

But that's exactly why they overbook. Most airlines overbook flights by at least 50% or higher, depending on several factors available only to the people in marketing (who really run the airline, truth be told). Fact is there are always no shows. There are also people that miss their flight due to traffic delays or other such factors and to whom the airline will make a good faith effort to book on another flight. Even non-refundable ticket holders have some rights in certain cases. Many business travelers, who are the bread and butter passengers for the airline don't buy non-refundable tickets so the airline still has to refund the ticket or provide travel at a later date/time.

The airline is somwhat more at risk. If you travel often you've probably heard the announcement that the flight is overbooked and if someone will volunteer to give up their seat they will be compensated by being booked on the next flight leaving in XX hours as well as receiving some sort of compensation, such as two tickets on the airline roundtrip anywhere on its system within the next year. That really costs the airline, so there's always this juggling routine going on in the bowels of the airline offices by the green-eye-shaded bean counters...

[dzug]

You don't necessarily have to pay for your flight when you book, and it is possible in any case to buy flexible refundable tickets on most non-budget airlines.

You'll find the likes of Ryanair and Easyjet don't overbook for the reasons you state - but British Airways for example has a lot of business travellers who need to change flights at the drop of a hat and will pay for the privilege.

[magstar]

thankyou for clearing that up. i do not travel a lot on planes and so have never yet had the misfortune to miss a flight etc. i always assumed that if i missed the flight it would be deemed my responsibility and therefor i would not get a refund or have to pay to get on another flight. any way that is the way it seems to happen when i watch programmes about airports etc,!!
so thanks again

[Nkakamasembe]

Its also to recoup losses from under priced / heavily discounted tickets.

[jno]

a Virgin flight from San Francisco that we were booked on was overbooked once. To get us to agree to be offloaded, they offered to put us up in a posh hotel until the next flight a day later, upgrade us on the way back, and give us a free return flight anywhere on their routes during the next year. We accepted. The next flight was in fact delayed so we had two nights in comfort (free food included), and a nice holiday in New York later in the year. It must have cost Virgin a packet.

[kira000]

Just to add to this, it is as a previous respondent said; on every flight there are a proortion of pasengers who dont show up on the day. Many of these are people who had flexible tickets so the airlines have unpaid for empty seats, others are arriving on a transfer flight which arrives late, and miss the onward flight.
Most airlines are VERY good at this, and have very accurate profiles for every single flight on how many people will show up, so it is generally very rare for the flight to actually end up with too many passengers for seats- so you'd never know it was happening.
Occassionally with very busy times, the profle doesnt quite work, often because a flight on that airline or another has been cancelled, and passengers moved to a different flight. This is when they offer the compensation schemes..airlines prefer to find volunteers than force people involuntarily.
Just to give you an idea, on one New York JFK flight, economy was regularly overbooked by -35 passengers, and regularly departed with 20 seats spare, so over 50 people would regularly not turn up.
So unless the airlines did the overbooking, the ticket prices would have to go up by huge amounts to make up for the missing passengers.
Hope that helps!

[auntiebertie]

It is nowhere near as high as 50%. Maybe 10% but it does depend on the carrier and route.

[magstar]

once again thankyou for your replies. i now appreciate why the overbooking occurrs and have found your answers very interesting.
isn't this a wonderful site!