Originally Posted by
blagger
IDB is always a possibility for airlines that routinely overbook flights and it's up to them to balance the IDB risk/cost against the risk/cost of empty seats. When calculating the level of overbooking for that flight, AA should have taken into account that breaking up a large group of schoolkids is not usually an acceptable option.
I don't think their system knows/identifies groups of school children. Nor do I think this is a worthwhile investment in upgrading the system for a one-off situation.
Further, once ticketed the only options were to IDB pax with seats or IDB those without seats. AA chose to follow policy.
Again, not really an issue that needs to have blame thrown around.