SherlockMiles

I was on a Volotea flight from VIE and there was a couple who were about to be denied boarding. There was one seat available, so a single traveller volunteered (without being invited) to be offloaded instead of the couple.

How does Volotea deal with these situations? Would they have arranged hotel, flight next day, and EU261 compensation for the couple?

Why would they want to offload a couple when there were single travellers on the flight?

SK AAR

No first hand experience with Volotea, but normally the airline rebooks the pax on the first available flight (even if it means booking with another airline) and pay compensation based on EU Reg. 261/04 for denied boarding. If hotel is needed the airline will arrange for the hotel, or reimburse the costs.

Normally if an overbooking situation occurs, the gate staff will ask if there are volunteers for VDB (voluntary denied boarding) and the compensation and the new flights will be offerred to the interested pax. Normally the overbooking situation is solved this way as often there are several volunteers for IDB (when they hear the comp. amount that they will receive). However, if no pax volunteer the airline will be forced to IDB (invol. denied boarding) some of the pax; often pax who checked-in last, are traveling without luggage, have the cheapest tickets or have no connecting flights.

I can't explain why the airline refused to VDB the single pax - maybe his monetary demand was too high or he had a complex itinerary with onward connection? We really don't know.

MSPeconomist

If I'm traveling alone and a couple are on "priority" the list for an IDB, the airline had better not pick me instead for an IDB simply because I'm traveling alone. In fact, I would expect single travelers to be relatively more likely to be traveling for business than leisure, so there's a good chance that they have paid higher fares and have a travel purpose requiring them to arrive on schedule.

BTW, in this anecdote DID the airline refuse to give a VDB to the single passenger who volunteered? Do we know that the couple weren't simply traveling on nonrev benefits? I've heard of cases where only some of a group traveling on the same PNR get an IDB; I'm not sure whether the remainder of the group has the option to take a IDB too and receive compensation (or even free rebooking and duty of care) for it as then would be volunteering to be offloaded from the flight.

Also, BTW, EC261 and USA DOT regulations are very different regarding IDBs.

SK AAR

I think the point was why didn't the airline VDB a pax when he/she volunteered (and only 1 seat was needed) rather than two pax that apparently preferred to travel as ticketed.

But I agree with your comment, we don't know if the two pax were on standby, or non-rev/ID travellers etc. i.e. without a confirmed seat. In a situation like that obviously Volotea will not rebook and pay VDB comp. to accommodate others without confirmed seats.

SherlockMiles

Thank you for your replies and sorry for not being more precise with my questions.

Arriving at the gate, the couple were asked to stand aside and see whether there was space for them. They seemed surprised at this treatment and I believe that they were just standard passengers, not on nonrev benefits or knowingly on standby.

The guy volunteered right at the end of the boarding process either because of the hope of compensation or just wanting to help the couple out, and he was indeed offloaded, with the couple being allowed to board.

The gate lady was very casual about it all, likely a third-party agent, and she definitely didn't ask for volunteers. I suspect she didn't have the authority or knowledge to organise new flight / hotel / compensation.

I am wondering whether it would be worth volunteering in such situations in future (like in USA airports) or whether LCCs in Europe make it more difficult to get rebooked / compensation.

SK AAR

oh ok. It makes sense know. It would have been helpful if you had stated that the single pax was indeed VDB and the 2 pax allowed to board. I don't see any unusual in the way the gate agent handled it. The problem was solved.

Yes, you can also volunteer for VDB in Europe and with LLC if you know the flight is full. Obviously, you don't agree to give up your seat until it is clear that you will be rebooked and what you will receive as financial comp. I have yet to hear of any airlines not playing fair on this part as they know you did them a big favor.

tom tulpe

He volunteered to be offloaded. He wasn't asked to offload himself. He wasn't denied boarding - one of the couple were, and one of them (not both) could have asked for IDB compensation and rerouting, but they got on the flight as sold to them.

For European LCCs this means that our volunteer forfeited his ticket (and onward travel), and they owe him nothing. It was nice of him to offer his seat to help fellow travellers in their predicament, but good luck to him if he wants to get anything from Volotea (or Ryanair, or Wizz, or Vueling - maybe a bit better with Easyjet) as compensation.

SK AAR

Hmm.. I doubt it occured like this. Any sane person volunteering for to give up his/her seat would make it clear that rebooking and comp. is required in return for giving up the confirmed seat. If denied by gate staff most likely the pax would have boarded the flight. I'm quite confident that the guy giving up his seat wasn't left to hang and dry but walked away happy with a rebooked ticket and some sort of compensation.

tom tulpe

As others have mentioned, Volotea use third party ground agents who generally can't issue any of the above. The volunteer probably assumed that what you described would happen. I really hope that he got rebooked at least, but for the trio from LCC hell that are Ryanair, Wizz and Volotea the rule of thumb is that no good deed will go unpunished. Vueling less so, and easyJet can be borderline human.

SherlockMiles

A quick look at trustpilot for Volotea shows 350 out of 34000 reviews mention the terms overbooking / surbooking / bumped. If I have time I will read them in detail to find out how many of those people were rebooked / compensated.

orbitmic

Don't worry, they absolutely can. airlines brief third party agents very specifically about overbooking situations and how to handle them and their standard practice in such context, just like they brief them on what to do in case of cancellation, long delay, lost baggage and more. None of those situations are unusual or unpredictable and handling agents are the representatives of the airlines that contract them and aware of their procedures.

Furthermore, every handling agent will have airline contacts available (it used to be station managers, now they may be representatives of the airline for a region or country instead) whom they can get hold of for any unusual situation.

tom tulpe

All true, but we're talking unprompted VDB, not a situation where the airline asked for VDB candidates to come forward, or even IDB. The instructions for ground agents in this case are to do as little as possible, from a starting position of "retrieve pax checked-in luggage (if any), arrange for pax to go back landside".

orbitmic

The scenario proposed was about the passenger asking what he'd be entitled to if volunteering (whether he did or not). That's just VDB - prompted or unprompted would make no difference (as long as it is needed of course) and airlines will typically have a standard VDB offer - it is not case specific - and that is what the handling agents will be aware of.

Of course, with some airlines, if you are at base or deal with the airline's representative, you might be able to discuss different options (e.g. you don't want the financial compensation they offer but would take an upgrade instead etc) but as mentioned, if the ground agents wanted to enquire about a very specific demand, they know who to contact to ask (but of course, upgrades are irrelevant here as we are talking of Volotea) and if instead the passenger asked "what would I get if I volunteer to be offloaded and put on the next flight so that this nice couple can fly on?", the handling agent team will know exactly what to answer.

As for cases of IDB, there would have been no need for any instruction as it is entirely regulatory and based on EC261/2004 without any deviation.