mrandrews1

I was at BTV checking in for my flight on delta, which was oversold by 8, and took a vdb. The delta check in is right next to the united check in which was a mess. United had oversold a flight by 21 people. Many IDB and VDB, and no flights out until Tuesday. From a small airport with limited flights, 21 was a shocking number of oversold in my opinion. So I was just curious if this was normal or if anyone else has heard of huge oversold numbers in their travels and any guesses as to why united would do this. What is the largest (hub or non-hub) oversold number you have come across?

love_to_travel

On a recent SFO-HNL flight the GA announced that they were oversold by 20 seats. They started compensation at $400. There was a long line of people at the counter. I was already upgraded to first and was on the last leg of a long mileage run otherwise I might have taken the offer.

Also on a recent IAD-GVA flight they were also overbooked, however I don't know by how much. I only mention this because I was the beneficiary of the flight being oversold and got an op-up to C. It was wonderous

aacharya

That number is a little misleading. It may also include folks on misconnects or cancellations.

I highly doubt that UA truly oversold that much on purpose.

cordelli

I came across seventeen last year, but the number oversold really doesn't matter, the software also knows about how many won't show. We volunteered, but not only did they not need our seats, they were able to take all the standby passengers, and took off with some empty seats.

I agree with aacharya in that the number has no meaning. I seriously doubt they are compensating 20 people on one flight on a regular basis. I also know in the last couple of years the actual VDB's has dropped to pretty much nothing, so their software apparently is getting it right.

Just because they made the offer doesn't mean they will actually be paying people, like in the last case I was involved with they had plenty of seats at take off.

I've found the best bet now is the small planes on a hot day where they need to get a few people because of weight restrictions, something the software can't handle.

channa

I don't know. Overbooking by 15 or more is not uncommon on UA. They have a high no-show factor, especially out of the hubs when you factor for misconnects and such.

They certainly aren't compensating 20+ people regularly, but they certainly overbook by that much.

It's possible the flight in question had some issue (e.g., downgauge) which usually causes this sort of stuff.

mrandrews1

A little added info to help with the discussion. I am sure that at least it was oversold by 12 as I saw one family of 6, one family of 4, and a couple all trying to get flights out of anywhere so they could catch cruises they had booked. None of them volunteered so if the IDB was at least 12 I imagine there were some VDB prior to this. Many of the IDB took cabs to Boston for flights out today, and united paid the cab fare. The 21 number did come from the gate agent but I understand the question of the real number.

mrandrews1

Not sure on the change of equipment but that is a good thought. It was the early am flight from BTV-ORD on Saturday feb. 25 if that helps someone figure out if they changed plane type.

Often1

Entirely possible that the pax on both UA & DL aren't actually oversold, but rather that both carriers were stuck with lots of pax in IRROPS due to WX or somesuch. BTV is a small outstation so it doesn't take much to back things up. And, there are probably a significant number of people willing to drive to YUL, BOS or MHT for onward flights.

Billiken

+1

My IAD-SEA flight last Friday was oversold (per the gate agent) by 16.
The aircraft was a 319 (as had been scheduled since I booked the flight in December).

bmvaughn

I was once on an LAX-SEA 757 that was oversold by 20. I took the $600, overnight, and routing via DEN the next day

global happy traveller

On Thursday Feb 16th.... our ORD-LAX flight (UA689 if i recall) was oversold by 93 seats.

Wanted to volunteer, but the GA warned I wont get out of Ohare until the next morning as all the remaining evening flights to LAX were sold out

TA

I have seen post-New Year SFO-SYD flights pretty grim, with people crying because they cannot standby to get back home (whether voluntarily or involuntarily changing reservations). Those are big money making flights...

samwkchan

What? 93? Can someone simply get IDB'd and buy a ticket on Spirit airline right after the denial? It may be a good option.

craz

Been thru myself a few times with European flights during the summer. Got the OPUP asked and was told the flight was Oversold in Y ( E- ) I asked if they needed any Vols and they said nope the flight will end up going out with some emptys. Its just they oversell E- , so if they cant sell anyone with an E- seat E+ they fill up E+, once thats done and they still have people w/o seats then OPUP Elites into C and if need be those in C to F, till such time as all the seats are full

bsmnsr

I had a family member who worked in PMCO reservations. It wouldn't be uncommon for a 777 to have a "no show" factor of up to 50 seats and for that flight to be booked up to the 50 seats with non rev PAX waiting on top of that.