johan rebel
Jan 7, 03, 8:54 am
SAA EXPLAINS THIS WEEK’S OVERBOOKING AND DENIED BOARDING PROCESS
http://www.flysaa.com/about_saa/media_corner/news_body2.jhtml
johan
http://www.flysaa.com/about_saa/media_corner/news_body2.jhtml
johan
Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs - 160 SAA pax denied boarding.
View Full Version : 160 SAA pax denied boarding.
NickP 1K
Jan 10, 03, 7:24 pm
SAA website doesn't seem to like references to media links:
07 January, 2003: SAA EXPLAINS THIS WEEK’S OVERBOOKING AND DENIED BOARDING PROCESS
07 January, 2003, JOHANNESBURG: South African Airways would like to clarify its overbooking policy and perceptions that scores of people were deliberately denied boarding on some of its flights destined for, Lagos, London and New York this week.
Over a three-day period, 160 people were denied boarding on flights to New York, London and Lagos. We are sorry for those inconvenience caused to these passengers who were left behind. The overbooking was exacerbated by the number of people who wanted to return to their destination after the holiday season. SAA offered them free tickets in the class they flew as part of our compensation for not having flown on the day they booked. This is called the Flexi Flyer programme. The tickets can be used to travel to a destination of their choice anytime during the next 12 months.
SAA’ s "flexi-flyer" programme is intended to dramatically reduce the number of involuntary denied boarding on SAA flights. To accomplish this, SAA is offering attractive inducements to its passengers to voluntarily give up their seats on overbooked flights.
Industry experience is that there are usually enough passengers who have flexibility in their travel plans and will offer to give up their seat in exchange for compensation in the form of vouchers or cash. The key to SAA’s programme is to make every effort to identify and solicit every passenger to volunteer as a flexi-flyer at check-in.
In December last year, the number of no-shows ranged between 60 and 70 passengers on our US and UK flights. An average of 10 to 15% of the passengers holding a ticket for a flight never show up at the gate. Reasons vary, one being that passengers who hold full-fare tickets may be refunded.
The industry in Europe and North America book to reach 15-18 denied boarding per 10 000 passengers with 85-90% as volunteers. Currently SAA has 5-6 denied boardings per 10 000 passengers.
All passengers should understand that overbooking is a world-wide trend used by all airlines as a means to minimise seat wastage and counter the problem of ‘no shows’ which results in loss of revenue.
Most of the time we ask for volunteers to get off the plane so no one gets forced off. Those volunteers get free airfare vouchers and a seat on the next flight out. But occasionally there just aren't enough volunteers.
The airline has a tracking system in place which traces the trend of passengers who book, confirm, but do not turn up. The information is used to predict how many people may not travel on a specified flight.
Although we overbook our flights, we have never left anyone behind in a long time because there has always been ‘no shows'. Unfortunately these past weeks there has been a scramble for seats for passengers wanting to return to their specific destinations.
This situation will normalise in the next few days
Issued by Victor Nosi, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Communications
07 January, 2003: SAA EXPLAINS THIS WEEK’S OVERBOOKING AND DENIED BOARDING PROCESS
07 January, 2003, JOHANNESBURG: South African Airways would like to clarify its overbooking policy and perceptions that scores of people were deliberately denied boarding on some of its flights destined for, Lagos, London and New York this week.
Over a three-day period, 160 people were denied boarding on flights to New York, London and Lagos. We are sorry for those inconvenience caused to these passengers who were left behind. The overbooking was exacerbated by the number of people who wanted to return to their destination after the holiday season. SAA offered them free tickets in the class they flew as part of our compensation for not having flown on the day they booked. This is called the Flexi Flyer programme. The tickets can be used to travel to a destination of their choice anytime during the next 12 months.
SAA’ s "flexi-flyer" programme is intended to dramatically reduce the number of involuntary denied boarding on SAA flights. To accomplish this, SAA is offering attractive inducements to its passengers to voluntarily give up their seats on overbooked flights.
Industry experience is that there are usually enough passengers who have flexibility in their travel plans and will offer to give up their seat in exchange for compensation in the form of vouchers or cash. The key to SAA’s programme is to make every effort to identify and solicit every passenger to volunteer as a flexi-flyer at check-in.
In December last year, the number of no-shows ranged between 60 and 70 passengers on our US and UK flights. An average of 10 to 15% of the passengers holding a ticket for a flight never show up at the gate. Reasons vary, one being that passengers who hold full-fare tickets may be refunded.
The industry in Europe and North America book to reach 15-18 denied boarding per 10 000 passengers with 85-90% as volunteers. Currently SAA has 5-6 denied boardings per 10 000 passengers.
All passengers should understand that overbooking is a world-wide trend used by all airlines as a means to minimise seat wastage and counter the problem of ‘no shows’ which results in loss of revenue.
Most of the time we ask for volunteers to get off the plane so no one gets forced off. Those volunteers get free airfare vouchers and a seat on the next flight out. But occasionally there just aren't enough volunteers.
The airline has a tracking system in place which traces the trend of passengers who book, confirm, but do not turn up. The information is used to predict how many people may not travel on a specified flight.
Although we overbook our flights, we have never left anyone behind in a long time because there has always been ‘no shows'. Unfortunately these past weeks there has been a scramble for seats for passengers wanting to return to their specific destinations.
This situation will normalise in the next few days
Issued by Victor Nosi, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Communications