No room on the plane? You can do this!

class=”sc-3778e872-0 cKDKQr”>

The spring holidays showed this impressively: Swiss people are really into the holidays. After Corona you can finally travel again without major restrictions. The need to catch is great. The queues at the airports are also long in parallel. This increases the number of passengers stranded because they cannot find a place on the plane. This phenomenon is known primarily from the USA. Now the situation in Germany seems to be getting worse.

This is due to systematic overbooking. This means airlines are selling more seats than they actually are on the plane. “It’s common for airlines to overbook their seat capacity by 10 to 30 percent,” says Igor Maas, passenger rights expert at the Myflyright portal. In this way, they want to use their capacity at the maximum level and increase their profitability. And protect yourself against passengers who never start their flight. “The rates used depend on the airline and the route,” says Maas.

Common industry application

An airline can “force” its passengers to stay on the ground. If there are not enough seats, there is no transportation obligation. However, passengers do not leave empty-handed. According to EU passenger rights regulation, they are entitled to compensation between 250 and 600 euros. Depending on the length of the flight. They are also eligible for reimbursement for hotel expenses, meals and transportation to another airport or telephone.

“Overbooking flights is a common practice in the industry,” said Swiss spokesperson Meike Fuhlrott. “This way, we are able to offer other customers the empty seats on the plane caused by the absence of passengers or cancellations in a short time.” Otherwise, these places would be empty. “This makes no economic or ecological sense.”

But who has to bite the bullet when a flight is overbooked? In Swiss they look for volunteers who want to withdraw from the flight first. “Otherwise, the selection is based on check-in time,” the spokesperson says. Swiss does not provide any specific figures for how often passengers must be denied. The number is in the “low per thousand” range.

Ecological and economic considerations

Edelweiss also overbooks flights. “And those whose historical data show an above-average no-show rate,” says Blick spokesperson Andreas Meier. The route selection is adjusted regularly. Meier raises ecological and economic considerations. “However, our guests are rarely affected by the negative effects of overbooking.” To be specific: “several dozen” of nearly 3 million passengers failed to fly in 2019. The vast majority voluntarily opted for compensation and an alternative flight solution.

According to a spokesperson, Helvetic does not offer more airfare than aircraft capacity allows. “This is why flights cannot be overbooked,” he says.

So American conditions are not a threat. On a flight from Chicago to Louisville, a 69-year-old passenger was pulled from the plane against his will because it was too full. As a result, various airlines developed new guidelines. They offer passengers up to $10,000 if they voluntarily cancel their flight.

Source :Blick