Originally Posted by
BER Flyer
Sorry, but it's not. If the business cabin is full and an über-Ulti ( or worse, two of them! ) coming up exercising their booking guarantee someone has be to bumped. If you deny that somebody would have to be bumped then your "guarantee" is not worth much. Your guarantee means that i would get a seat on a flight that is already zeroed out in J, zero seats available. That makes it easier for airlines with a first class like LH by just op-up you to F, but what is KL supposed to do when YOU show up at the gate at an already full flight?
Sorry, it is.
You come back with the same point again: "but if the cabin is full..." - that's the point you miss. The airline doesn't fill the whole cabin before showing zero availability. There is inventory left, which can then be given to booking guarantee. Please read post #5 which explains how airlines do it (=not my invention, but this is how airlines manage their inventory every day). You will see that this is designed in a way not to bump anyone.
You only need to bump someone if there are more people turning up as forecasted, but that problem of the algo getting it wrong already exists today. I don't have the number of denied boardings for AFKL, but it's extremely small. So the accuracy of the forecasts is very good.
Also the question you ask about what KL should do if someone with booking guarantee shows up at the gate and the cabin is already filled with people. This has nothing to do with booking guarantee, which is, as explained, a mechanism that gives people a confirmed seat 24 or maybe 36 hours before departure. It's not about turning up at the gate and getting people off the plane.