Originally Posted by
dmaneyapanda
Here's a worksheet for that pencil sharpening:
Number of IDB passengers per year by United: 10,000
Approx Number of flights this occurs on: 2,500
Approx cost of charter to ferry excess passengers instead of IDB: $20,000
Total cost to replace IDB with charter: $50M. Per year.
I will grant that this case is exceptional in some ways because the passenger was already on the plane. But things are never as simple as they appear, even in hindsight.
The charter would be to ferry employees and $20,000 seems high. But lets look at ways for United to not beat passengers and still get their crews positioned.
Perhaps a solution could be a mandated requirement to hold x seats open per flight used only for crew movement. Those seats should be far aft row and only released to paying passengers x minutes before door close. Once released use for airline purposes would be prohibited.
This would remove any need for GA's to bump passengers for crew, would make crew seats available on all flights, and would make standby seats available on most flights.