southwest and involuntary denied boarding
It is interesting that in the wake of the United involuntary denied boarding debacle, SW has not announced any changes to its policy of seeking volunteers for overbooked flights. SW currently has one of the highest involuntary denied boarding rates in the industry--not a good thing when the public has recently become super sensitized to this problem, and there is a growing pubiic consensus that it is an unacceptable practice.
The SW practice of seeking volunteers seems highly inflexible and archaic. The $300+ price of your ticket compensation seems to be a policy over which gate agents have no discretion. If you are going to offer $700 to a passenger who paid $400, why not offer the same amount to a passenger who paid $200? Isn't that better than an involuntary denied boarding? Also, based on what other airlines are doing, the SW limit is too low. With the SW rate of involuntary denied boarding higher than other airlines, it is clearly time to raise the bar.
Does SW risk a public relations nightmare if they don't do something about this?