Business History Books » Business Consultant » Tracking Overbookings
Tracking Overbookings
Question:
> That flight was a businessmen’s special, and the > business folk routinely booked spots (just to get the aisle seat > assignments?) but then took whatever flight they damn well pleased.
I agree with your assessment that business-type flights are often overbooked and still manage to leave with one or two empty seats, but not for the reasons you state. We book the flights we think we’ll be on, but sometimes we can’t make those flights. When it’s 4:30 PM on Friday and your flight leaves in a hour and the customer says, "Hey, this isn’t done, you have to stay late and fix it," you stay late and fix it. So it’s not really "whatever flight" we please, but whatever flight we can get. At least, that’s my experience. In addition, it has been a long while since I’ve seen many flights with empty seats on popular routes, like DEN-LAX, DEN-EWR, DEN-ORD, DEN-LGA, etc. See a lot of them on less popular flights. Seems every seat is always full for Sunday morning DEN-LGA flights. No hope of having an empty seat next to you, sigh. > On > other flights I’ve been on, overbooked by maybe a couple, they were asking > for dozens of volunteers, and later dragging people off the plane. I’ve > also seen flights zero out in Y class in Sabre, and then suddenly grow 15 > spare Y seats (group cancellations?). I was also on one AA flight where > they begged to get a dozen bumpees at $600 a crack–and many of these had > already received $1500 (yes, fifteen hundred) for skipping the previous > flight! It’s all a matter of what in the insurance trade they call > "actuarial science"–and dumb luck. THANKS AGAIN!! DWH
Seems to me that the flights with vacationers on them often have more open seats than the business flights, except when the two overlap. I have only seen one flight this past year where the gate agents offered $500 in vouchers, mostly just $300 in vouchers. I never take ‘em, got a stack already. I don’t pay for my flights, so I have no use for them. Gave some to my sister for her honeymoon flight recently. Now, if they paid in CASH, that would be a different story. I am told that my company used to try to make employees "pay back" to the company in the form of reduced expense checks any vouchers, etc, that they collected. They apparently gave it up as a bad idea. Too hard to track, and much anger by consultants and salespeople who feel that it is one of the few perks they get for living in hotel rooms, so hands off! Best Regards, Bill Mattocks
Response:
A new issue to consider when looking at availability is whether the flight is a code-share with another airline. There may be many seats available, but they are owned by airline B and won’t show up on the CRS for airline A. –Tom To e-mail me, remove no-junk from address.
Response:
> I disagree with them always being overbooked…
Thanks for the tips! From my experience much depends upon the time of day and the season. I’ve gotten to the gate for a Chicago-Kansas City AA dinnertime Friday flight that was overbooked by 20 seats, and the gate agents said that sure its overbooked, but there’s no chance I would get bumped, and wouldn’t even bother to take my name–and the plane did indeed leave with empty seats. That flight was a businessmen’s special, and the business folk routinely booked spots (just to get the aisle seat assignments?) but then took whatever flight they damn well pleased. On other flights I’ve been on, overbooked by maybe a couple, they were asking for dozens of volunteers, and later dragging people off the plane. I’ve also seen flights zero out in Y class in Sabre, and then suddenly grow 15 spare Y seats (group cancellations?). I was also on one AA flight where they begged to get a dozen bumpees at $600 a crack–and many of these had already received $1500 (yes, fifteen hundred) for skipping the previous flight! It’s all a matter of what in the insurance trade they call "actuarial science"–and dumb luck. THANKS AGAIN!! DWH
Response:
> And if availability appears only in Y class, you can almost be assured > the flight is overbooked. If all fare classes show "0" then it’s > definitely overbooked. But even on flights where all fare classes show > "0," there’s still no assurance they’ll need volunteers, and just the > same, flights that may show availability in several fare classes may > ultimately need volunteers due to other flights being delayed/cancelled.
I disagree with them always being overbooked. I got a tip from a friend at our corporate travel agency whos husband works for one of the major carriers. The 0 means sold out, but not necessarily sold out. Carriers will "zero" out a flight if they see that one flight is booking up too fast and they want other flights to fill up. Essentially, they use a racheting action to top off each flight as it comes closer to departure time. When I went to SAN two weeks ago, I tracked the flight very closely – several times a day. The flight would shoot up from Y7B7 to Y7B0, then Y0B0, back down to Y2B2, then Y1B1, then Y1B0, then Y0B0 the night before the flight. When I check about bumping at BWI, the agent told me that the flight was completely sold out – but not oversold. Rich
Response:
ITN, and the airlines that use them, will show availability if you set your preferences to the advanced or expert mode (don’t remember what they call it). They will show up to 9 available seats in each class. I don’t know of any way to get a number for overbookings, I think they guard that very closely. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Does anyone know of a reliable way to check how many seats are available, or > how many have been overbooked on major domestic airlines (e.g., UA, AA)? If > I know in advance there’s a chance to pick up Denied Boarding Compensation I > make all these special arrangements (e.g., get to the gate to volunteer as > soon as it opens; have a rental car booked for the next day; make hotel > bookings without guarantee, or wing it). I used to go into the travel > agency where I used to work and look into Sabre directly, but are there any > actual online inventory databases (besides calliing the airline and asking > if seats are available) that could make the excercise easy–and trackable > from day to day?
Response:
And if availability appears only in Y class, you can almost be assured the flight is overbooked. If all fare classes show "0" then it’s definitely overbooked. But even on flights where all fare classes show "0," there’s still no assurance they’ll need volunteers, and just the same, flights that may show availability in several fare classes may ultimately need volunteers due to other flights being delayed/cancelled. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > ITN, and the airlines that use them, will show availability if you set your > preferences to the advanced or expert mode (don’t remember what they call > it). They will show up to 9 available seats in each class. I don’t know of > any way to get a number for overbookings, I think they guard that very > closely. > Does anyone know of a reliable way to check how many seats are available, > or > how many have been overbooked on major domestic airlines (e.g., UA, AA)? > If > I know in advance there’s a chance to pick up Denied Boarding Compensation > I > make all these special arrangements (e.g., get to the gate to volunteer as > soon as it opens; have a rental car booked for the next day; make hotel > bookings without guarantee, or wing it). I used to go into the travel > agency where I used to work and look into Sabre directly, but are there > any > actual online inventory databases (besides calliing the airline and asking > if seats are available) that could make the excercise easy–and trackable > from day to day?
Response:
Does anyone know of a reliable way to check how many seats are available, or how many have been overbooked on major domestic airlines (e.g., UA, AA)? If I know in advance there’s a chance to pick up Denied Boarding Compensation I make all these special arrangements (e.g., get to the gate to volunteer as soon as it opens; have a rental car booked for the next day; make hotel bookings without guarantee, or wing it). I used to go into the travel agency where I used to work and look into Sabre directly, but are there any actual online inventory databases (besides calliing the airline and asking if seats are available) that could make the excercise easy–and trackable from day to day?