Hello all,

I'm off to Miami from LHR on 15th December, returning 28th, with my brother. Flights are already booked (BA) - what are the chances of being bumped? We're actually quite keen for this, both ways… would these pre-Christmas / pre-New Year flights be that busy?

I browsed this forum a while ago and saw a thread giving general advice about volunteering, and I recall a tool that could check how full a given flight was getting.

Any help / advice would be welcome - I'm new to the fourm so a thousand apologies if I've posted in the wrong bit!

BH

Seatcounter.com can give you an idea of how full a flight is, but do bear in mind that the numbers given are the numbers that the airline is willing to sell in any one block, not the remaining seats on the plane. Looking at it now, the MIA flights on those dates are very busy!

If you do find it's very full, then do mention to the check-in or gate agent that you're aware it's a busy flight, and that if they're looking for volunteers at any point, you're happy to put yourself forward.

However, do be aware that, since the introduction of EU 261/2004 rules on flight delays, EU-based airlines are becoming a lot stingier in their offloading compensation, often going to minimum amounts stipulated by the regulations, or finding loopholes therein to ensure people get nothing.

Hi, thanks for the quick response!

Very interesting indeed… with the new regulations in place, I would have guessed that a voluntary bumping would be preferential for the airline, if they can give a flight voucher which would cost them less than the hard cash equivalent?

Overbooking should be banned. Period. It CANNOT be legal for an airline to sell seats on a plane that don't exist.

Fine, but expect your fares to rise to compensate for the empty seats for all the no-shows and flexible tickets changes!

Yes, it always used to be, but the regulations turned out to be less generous (in this particular instance) than the bump compensation the more reputable airlines were giving. Faced with a rule setting it all out, they seemed to decide that that was enough to reduce compensation to the minimum statutory amount.

This isn't always the case, but is my personal experience.

The loopholes in that legislation are large enough to taxi an A380 through.