Originally Posted by
croberts134
In order for an airline to want to do this the cost savings from lowered DBs (which I don't think would be that great) would have to exceed the compensation paid to passengers who "pre announce" their no show. The ability to resell the seat is already baked into the overbooking rate so I don't think it should enter into the equation.
I really don't think the economics work.
According to
this there were 365,000 DBs (342k/23k voluntary/involuntary) in the US in 2017 so it sounds like there is plenty of room for improvement. Granted a lot of the DBs are due to irrops but the overselling model also accounts for the
x number of passengers who simply decided not to travel yet didn't inform the airline.
Rather than paying 'pre-announcers'
compensation, give a small-yet-significant incentive ($20?) cash to their bank account for informing the airline. More information = less uncertainty of what
x is = better pricing/overselling models.
Perhaps only offering the cash incentive to pax on already-full flights.
How does this sound?