Airlines bumping more passengers

More than 37,000 travelers were bumped in the first half of this year, statistics show.

SCRIPPS HOWARD

Chris Sclafani did everything by the book ahead of his flight from Philadelphia to Denver last Sunday.

He bought the ticket weeks in advance, checked in at the airport two hours early and arrived at the gate with plenty of time to spare before departure.

But just 30 minutes before the plane was scheduled to leave, a US Airways agent told Sclafani and several other passengers they would be bumped to another flight the next day.

The reason: The airline oversold their flight.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Sclafani, who needed to get to Fort Collins recently for the start of classes at Colorado State University. “That’s never happened to me before, and I fly pretty often.”

In the end, US Airways was able to get Sclafani and the others on, in part because several passengers volunteered to give up their seats for free tickets.

An increasing number of passengers are finding themselves in similar situations, as airlines try to cram as many people as possible onto their planes.

Statistics

Nationwide, nearly 37,700 passengers were “involuntarily denied boarding” this year through June, a 13 percent spike compared with the first six months of 2006, according to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

So far, the total this year already has surpassed the amount for all of 2002. Denied boardings are on pace to hit their highest level ever, both in number and in average per 10,000 passengers.

Though the numbers are still minuscule, compared with the millions of passengers airlines carry each year, getting bumped is yet another growing hassle travelers face during what’s turning out to be a congested, cramped and frustrating summer for air travel.

Overbooking is a common practice airlines employ to offset no-shows and last-minute cancellations.

Carriers use historical data on each route and flight to estimate how many people likely won’t show up. They then oversell accordingly — sometimes by dozens of seats.

But many airlines cut back on domestic capacity in recent years, meaning there are fewer open seats and less wiggle room in general. Load factors, which measure how full a plane is, are running at record levels this year, hitting upward of 90 percent on many flights this summer.

“The industry, as a whole, is overbooking at what used to be manageable levels, but people are flying at much greater levels, and airlines are trying to stuff more people into the same space,” said Stuart Klaskin, an aviation consultant in Florida.

It’s also becoming more difficult to persuade passengers to give up their seats voluntarily. In many cases, the next flights are overbooked as well, meaning passengers sometimes must wait 24 hours or longer to get a confirmed seat.

Under pressure

Airlines say they’re under increasing pressure to boost revenue, as ticket prices have been at historically low levels. So they’re trying to make sure each plane is as full as can be.

Passengers who are bumped are entitled to as much as $400, depending on when they actually get to their destination and how much their ticket cost. But federal lawmakers are considering changing the rules, possibly raising the maximum compensation or abolishing the cap on how much passengers can receive.

So just how do airlines decide whom to boot?

Most say they bump the last people to check in or arrive at the gate, while others seem to target the passengers who paid less for their tickets. Some use automated systems that incorporate several factors.

US Airways says it bumps the last passengers to show up at the boarding gate, although it gives priority to preferred members of its frequent-flier program.