Originally Posted by
JC5280
Both of these are legitimate. I have flown in to hubs where virtually everything has been delayed. But yes, airlines will sometimes hold aircraft for connecting passengers. Depends on the circumstances and downline situation and impact.
Sometimes a creative GA can really save the day. A buddy of mine used to be a GA and he told me of a pickle he managed to swim out of. He was working a flight to MCO that somehow got way oversold because IM mistakenly allocated a 757 worth of seats when the plane was only an A319. Even worse, it was a spring break flight that was filled with families going to DisneyWorld.
Since the 319 was scheduled to come back to the hub, he went through the computer looking for a 757 that was also scheduled to come back to the hub around the same time, and had a load light enough both ways to fly a 319 and found one. He then called in a favor to a buddy of his at dispatch and they did the tail swap. No one got bumped off of either flight. They don't teach you this stuff in GA school.