LOS ANGELES- A Reddit user alleges that Delta Air Lines (DL) was compelled to remove up to 42 individuals from a flight bound from Los Angeles (LAX) to Tokyo Haneda (HND).
However, a spokesperson for the airline has affirmed that the mentioned flight has not been overbooked for at least several months.
Delta Los Angeles to Tokyo Flight
As per the Reddit post, gate agents purportedly solicited passengers to voluntarily relinquish their seats on the flight for a compensation of $1,500, in addition to a seat on the subsequent non-stop flight to Tokyo, slated for departure 24 hours later, reported PYOK.
The Reddit user Prior_Glass_2568 recounted an instance where a passenger aboard Delta Flight 7 anticipated their journey to Tokyo, only to encounter a potential delay as they awaited fellow passengers to vacate their seats.
Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to confirm the exact timing of this incident. A Delta spokesperson mentioned they hadn’t experienced an oversold situation on Flight 7 to Tokyo since earlier this year. It’s possible that the individual who initially made this claim may have misunderstood the circumstances.
The maximum compensation Delta is required to provide for “denied boarding” is $1,550. However, the airline, headquartered in Atlanta, has been known to offer up to $10,000 per passenger if they willingly agree to be bumped to the next available service.
In reality, Delta is vested in offering more substantial compensation for voluntary bumps rather than reporting higher numbers of involuntarily denied boarding to the Department of Transportation.
Common Practice of Overbooking
Overbooking flights is a common practice within the aviation industry, particularly among airlines employing ‘hub and spoke’ business models, where passengers transition from one flight to another.
Utilizing statistical models and past data, an airline’s revenue management team endeavors to estimate the number of passengers who may not show up for their flight and consequently sells a corresponding number of seats beyond the actual capacity of the aircraft.
While this system operates effectively for the most part, many passengers are unaware of its existence. Nonetheless, it is not infallible, and there are occasions when all passengers on an overbooked flight do indeed arrive.
Delta has been exploring how much it can overbook its flights, with CEO Ed Bastion recently informing investors that the airline intended to oversell certain flights by up to 5%.
However, this strategy doesn’t always yield favorable results. Between January and September 2023, Delta had to compensate over 123,000 passengers who were bumped from oversold flights.
Despite this, Delta generally excels in persuading passengers to opt for a later flight voluntarily. In fact, according to data from the Department of Transportation (DOT), during the first nine months of 2023, only three individuals were involuntarily bumped from Delta flights.
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