Originally Posted by
Platy
Do I understand your point Dave...if the flight was indeed overbooked then surely QF would be potentially liable to pay compensation to a set number of pax in any case.....presumably that compensation payment may not payable in the event QF can counter with the argument the pax were too late board (?)...(hence the practice of selecting late arrivals for off load...?).
Yes - I did make a mistake on the max compesation though - it is only 200% up to max $1350
If the airline denies boarding to passengers due to oversale on LAX-MEL , it is required to pay passengers 200% the cost of that flight up to a maximum of $1350 see details of 14 CFR 250.5 at
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/250.5 )
The passengers arrived at the gate only 15 minutes before departure , by which time Qantas will have had to have processed any passengers still awaiting seat assignments
Looking at business class r/t fares from SYD-LAX , the cost is $10,200 per person. At 200% of the one way journey that would lead to compensation of $1350 to people at that fare
Where a passenger is not at a gate in time ( I know that AA stipulates 30 minutes ) that passenger can be denied boarding without compensation
Would you expect to (a) deny 4 passengers travel and pay $5400 - and likely have 4 empty seats if the connecting passengers were just a few minutes later to the gate or (b) rebook the 4 delayed passengers on a flight 1 hour later and pay zero compensation