6 ms·

Sometimes people miss flights, or last minute cancel, for various reasons. If past statistics show the every 200 seats plane has 10 no-show passengers at depart

by rusanu 9y ago

Sometimes people miss flights, or last minute cancel, for various reasons. If past statistics show the every 200 seats plane has 10 no-show passengers at departure on average, you can sell 210 tickets in average and depart with every seat occupied. Hotels do it too, and many more industries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overselling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overselling

kylec 9y ago
I used to work front desk for a hotel and we never oversold our capacity. In fact, we would normally block a few of our rooms from being able to be reserved in case of unexpected maintenance issues. If no maintenance issues arose we would sell those rooms to walk-ins. I can't imagine working someplace where, as a matter of course, people with reservations are turned away due to overbooking. It's likely that such a place would not last very long either, because as soon as people read TripAdvisor reviews about how your property doesn't honor its reservations they will stay elsewhere.
- Someone 9y ago
  Airlines are different: people typically visit web sites to compare prices, not service. I think you'll find hotels targeting backpackers overbook, too (if they allow reservations, at all)
  - thomasahle 9y ago
    How would that work? So you arrive at your hotel, they tell you it's overbooked and you can sleep there for free the day after? That's hardly useful.
    - jaclaz 9y ago
      No, when it happens they find you another hotel room in a nearby hotel and either drive you there or have you driven there on a cab. But is not at all common, and when it happens it is more likely that the reason is not overbooking, but rather some incident (like a mistake in the bookings, a bathroom found leaking just before the customer arrival, a couple that booked a twin and then arrived with a 17 year old "kid", etc.)
- smm2000 9y ago
  Hotels routinely oversell capacity - when this happens they just walk customers to comparable hotel nearby. Not sure why hotel you worked in did not do it. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-j-jones/how-to-avoid-being-walked_b_1855524.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-j-jones/how-to-avoid-be...
  - CogitoCogito 9y ago
    Unfortunately this is _not_ what airlines do. They work very hard to book you on one of _their_ next available flights. I think that by law they should be required to book you on the next available flight by any airline in any class and additionally pay fines depending upon how long the passenger is delayed. They should also be required to make their best effort to find the available seats for the passenger.
    - arcticbull 9y ago
      What you're asking for already exists pretty much in the US under DoT regulations. If you are removed involuntarily (not asked to switch for a certificate) you're entitled to up to 400% of your one way fare up to $1350 cash in hand on top rebooking you, depending how long you got held up. [1] Theyre also required to show you your rights on paper in that situation. It almost never happens because there's a huge incentive for them not to do this to you. And if you think that's rough check out EC 261/2004 [2] and that applies even in the case or a mechanical issue. [1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/250.5 https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/250.5 [2] http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/holidays/article-2271213/How-claim-EU-flight-delay-compensation-EC-261-2004.html http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/holidays/article-2271213/...
      - CogitoCogito 9y ago
        I should have made clear I know that some of the rights already exist, but this was really my most important point: > They should also be required to make their best effort to find the available seats for the passenger. In other words, it should be their responsibility to get you re-booked immediately on all available flights. This should be something that should be verifiable afterwards (i.e. if you as a customer find out they didn't send you on a certain flight by another airline that was better, that should mean additional fines). This should be strongly enforced by regulators to the point where it actually occurs. Unless I'm missing something (didn't see it in [1]), those rules/enforcement are not currently place. Under these circumstances, I could _maybe_ accept overbooking as an acceptable practice, but without them I don't see why it should be acceptable.
- losteverything 9y ago
  This. Ditto. "Maintenance rooms" are like Broadway's Rush tickets. Even most sold out hotels have maintenance rooms. Sometimes the only reason it is in "maintenance" is something simple. And could be rented last minute (as i did in similar job)
chx 9y ago
> many more industries. In our industry, ISPs used to, many still do. Shared hosters definitely. VPS, way too often. That dedicated host with a gigabit port? Well, you have a gigabit inside the datacentre... beyond ... it's a big question and not all are honest about it.

by rusanu 9y ago

kylec 9y ago

I used to work front desk for a hotel and we never oversold our capacity. In fact, we would normally block a few of our rooms from being able to be reserved in case of unexpected maintenance issues. If no maintenance issues arose we would sell those rooms to walk-ins. I can't imagine working someplace where, as a matter of course, people with reservations are turned away due to overbooking. It's likely that such a place would not last very long either, because as soon as people read TripAdvisor reviews about how your property doesn't honor its reservations they will stay elsewhere.

Someone 9y ago
Airlines are different: people typically visit web sites to compare prices, not service. I think you'll find hotels targeting backpackers overbook, too (if they allow reservations, at all)
- thomasahle 9y ago
  How would that work? So you arrive at your hotel, they tell you it's overbooked and you can sleep there for free the day after? That's hardly useful.
  - jaclaz 9y ago
    No, when it happens they find you another hotel room in a nearby hotel and either drive you there or have you driven there on a cab. But is not at all common, and when it happens it is more likely that the reason is not overbooking, but rather some incident (like a mistake in the bookings, a bathroom found leaking just before the customer arrival, a couple that booked a twin and then arrived with a 17 year old "kid", etc.)
smm2000 9y ago
Hotels routinely oversell capacity - when this happens they just walk customers to comparable hotel nearby. Not sure why hotel you worked in did not do it. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-j-jones/how-to-avoid-being-walked_b_1855524.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-j-jones/how-to-avoid-be...
- CogitoCogito 9y ago
  Unfortunately this is _not_ what airlines do. They work very hard to book you on one of _their_ next available flights. I think that by law they should be required to book you on the next available flight by any airline in any class and additionally pay fines depending upon how long the passenger is delayed. They should also be required to make their best effort to find the available seats for the passenger.
  - arcticbull 9y ago
    What you're asking for already exists pretty much in the US under DoT regulations. If you are removed involuntarily (not asked to switch for a certificate) you're entitled to up to 400% of your one way fare up to $1350 cash in hand on top rebooking you, depending how long you got held up. [1] Theyre also required to show you your rights on paper in that situation. It almost never happens because there's a huge incentive for them not to do this to you. And if you think that's rough check out EC 261/2004 [2] and that applies even in the case or a mechanical issue. [1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/250.5 https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/250.5 [2] http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/holidays/article-2271213/How-claim-EU-flight-delay-compensation-EC-261-2004.html http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/holidays/article-2271213/...
    - CogitoCogito 9y ago
      I should have made clear I know that some of the rights already exist, but this was really my most important point: > They should also be required to make their best effort to find the available seats for the passenger. In other words, it should be their responsibility to get you re-booked immediately on all available flights. This should be something that should be verifiable afterwards (i.e. if you as a customer find out they didn't send you on a certain flight by another airline that was better, that should mean additional fines). This should be strongly enforced by regulators to the point where it actually occurs. Unless I'm missing something (didn't see it in [1]), those rules/enforcement are not currently place. Under these circumstances, I could _maybe_ accept overbooking as an acceptable practice, but without them I don't see why it should be acceptable.
losteverything 9y ago
This. Ditto. "Maintenance rooms" are like Broadway's Rush tickets. Even most sold out hotels have maintenance rooms. Sometimes the only reason it is in "maintenance" is something simple. And could be rented last minute (as i did in similar job)

chx 9y ago

> many more industries. In our industry, ISPs used to, many still do. Shared hosters definitely. VPS, way too often. That dedicated host with a gigabit port? Well, you have a gigabit inside the datacentre... beyond ... it's a big question and not all are honest about it.