Originally Posted by
Toshbaf
I see the cancellation policy and full credit going away. At best, there will be a cancellation and full credit if you cancel within 72 hours.
+1 - Something has to give. Either WN substantially increases fares (which it can't do and remain competetive) or it radically alters the cancellation-change policy, at least in the few days before departure. That is in the cards because most WN passengers aren't sophisticated enough to understand what they have lost.
That is the cushion which overbooking allowed and which WN won't have anymore. The notion that WN can afford to leave empty seats lying around for IRROPS handling is not in the cards.
WN did not have to eliminate overbooking. It could have improved its predictive software, but it knows it has shaky IT architecture to begin with. It could also have upped its agent discretion for VDB, but it tends to be much more rules-oriented and it doesn't do that.
So, it has done something which looks customer-friendly. But, it won't be when the other shoe drops.