This treatment sounds disgraceful - very badly handled indeed...
If I was your colleague, I would have complained like h*ll until they were more accommodating. Sounds like far too much stick and not enough carrot to me...
When my Dad used to travel on business a lot (he was setting up a production operation in the US), he recalls many instances of flights being over sold in business class. The airlines used to offer compensation and call for volunteers (often after most of the passengers had boarded). He said that it used to be a waiting game: people would wait until the compensation was acceptable (usually several hundred dollars and an upgrade to first on the next available flight) and then accept. Seems like a far more acceptable way to handle an airline over-booking blunder to me...
Would love to work in Customer Service Review/Audting...
Boo
[This message has been edited by Boo Boo Too (edited 09-18-2003).]