Originally Posted by
scottishpoet
Some of the information on this thread is perhaps a little misleading regarding the US carriers.
Yes they can offer more than BA typically do. What often happens with the US carriers is they start at $250, then if they do not get enough volunteers they start increasing their offers. Of course people know the offers will increase so nobody volunteers at the lowest amount.
as the number go up people start to think about it and decide they better get in before someone else does.
BA on the other hand often do get enough volunteers on the initial offer amount, so no incentive to progressively increase.
+1
Putting aside regulatory requirements for IDB, the decision to offer more than the required amount under EC 261/2004 or DOT 14/250.5 is a purely business decision of the carrier.
The business decision for BA is whether on a flight where IDB is EUR 250, what BA does if it cannot find a volunteer at that amount. The AA practice would be to increase the amount to some significant amount (but pay that amount in travel vouchers, not cash equivalent) and to only IDB if no volunteer can be found at a higher amount, while BA may be willing to IDB if not volunteers at the required amount.
For what it is worth, B6, which says that it does not intentionally overbook, has the worst IDB rate of major US carriers. Why that occurs is irrelevant. It simply shows that even planned full capacity does not create an IDB-free environment.