Originally Posted by
DougL
Of course, until people don't show up, cancel at the last minute, or miss a connection, you really don't know that you need to free up seats. So I find it odd that they're paying big bucks a full day beforehand to get folks to reschedule. I can easily see why, at boarding time, they might appeal for reschedules, and that often happens.
Airlines oversell knowing they will likely be no-shows and last minute cancellations. They have years and years of data to ensure they maximize revenue for each flights, hence some upgrades are not processed until boarding.
The sophisticated ticketing platform can predict flight loads ahead of each flight. It's a lot cheaper to solicit for volunteers ahead of time than at the gate.