travelthunder.com

Federal law permits overbooking in the airline in more reservations from travelers than the carrier has available seats. Each year, more than 500,000 passengers lose their seats, voluntarily or involuntarily, as a result of overbooking practices, especially during peak travel times and holiday periods. If a flight is overbooked the airline is required by federal regulations to ask for volunteers-passengers who will surrender their seats for awaiting passenger in return for an incentives which as free or discounted airline tickets, frequent flier bonus miles, or even cash. Nine out of U.S. passengers who are bumped from their seats voluntarily give up those seats in this manner. If not enough passengers volunteer their seats, then the air-line will begin involuntarily bumping passengers (usually, travelers who checked in last or who bought their tickets at the latest dares).
To be eligible for denied boarding compensation, you must have a confirmed reservation and your aircraft must have at least sixty seats. (Therefore, many commuter flights do not qualify.)
On flights within or leaving the U.S.A., the compensation levels vary greatly. If your replacement flight arrives at your destination within one hour after the original flight is scheduled to land, you will likely receive no compensation. If your replacement flight arrives between one and two hours after the original flight (domestic) or one and four hours (international), you will receive the value of that ticket segment, upped at $200.
If your replacement flight arrives more than two hours after the original flight (domestic) or after four hours (international), you will receive twice the value of the ticket segment, capped at $400.
If your original flight included a scheduled stopover of at least four hours, then the airline will owe you additional damages if it cannot get you to either the stopover city or your final destination within the time
What if you believe you have suffered damages beyond these amounts (for example, you missed a paid speaking engagement due to being involuntarily bumped, or the bride and groom did not board their honeymoon use several hours after the ship sailed)? Unfortunately, most airlines protect themselves against such illegal claims by individual claimers within their contracts of carriages specifically waiving any liability for additional damages. By purchasing the airline ticket, you agree in effect to this waiver, and therefore the chances are slim to none that you could recover your losses through the courts. Your best bet will be appealing to the airline employees at the air-port when the incident happens for overnight accommodations, a free ticket ,or other benefits in the name of positive customer service.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.