Originally Posted by
Often1
The flight was served by a CRJ-200 with 50 passenger seats. DOT IDB rules exempt flights served by aircraft with less than 60 seats. Thus, while OP was likely involuntarily denied boarding, he is due $0 compensation.
Sorry, that is not correct.
The DOT IDB rules apply to all commercial aircraft with 30 or more seats.
Aircraft with capacity of 60 or fewer seats may be excepted but
only based on weight/balance issues:
A passenger denied boarding involuntarily from an oversold flight hall not be eligible for denied boarding compensation if . . . on an aircraft with a designed passenger capacity of 60 or fewer seats, the flight for which the passenger holds confirmed reserved space is unable to accommodate that passenger due to weight/balance restrictions when required by operational or safety reasons
14 C.F.R. 250.6.
That exception obviously does not apply here. OP was told he was offloaded because he was too late. And the flight went out full.
Originally Posted by
Often1
The DOT complaint is, of course, a waste, because there was no DOT violation.
There in fact likely was a DOT violation.
Moreover, there is no requirement that a complaint be based on a "DOT violation." Even when the issue falls outside existing DOT reg, a complaint may be appropriate because:
1. It helps DOT identify problem areas for
future regulation.
2. It adds to the published complaint statistics.
3. It will be forwarded to UA for response, and will receive higher level attention than if made through the normal customer care channels.