Features

Snapshot

29 Aug 2013 by Alex McWhirter

Alex McWhirter looks through the Business Traveller archive. This month: Overbooking, February 1990

Airline overbooking is as prevalent as it was back in 1990, and staff continue to trot out the same excuses in 2013 as they did 23 years ago.

The big difference today is that EU travellers are protected by passenger rights. Those departing the EU, or from a point outside the EU, to the EU, with an EU-based airline, automatically receive DBC (denied boarding compensation), which is especially generous when flying long-haul. DBC compensation is clear-cut – there are no “get-outs” as there might be for technical or weather delays.

This wasn’t the case when I covered the issue in 1990. Although some carriers paid DBC on a goodwill basis, most did not. Or if they did, you had to complain long and hard for a meagre handout. Nigel Robinson was bumped off Sabena’s 0850 flight between Manchester and Brussels. He was rebooked with British Airways at 1145 but by the time he landed in Brussels, it was 1400, so he lost half the working day. Sabena’s goodwill offer? A paltry US$50.

Snapshot Sep 2013

In another case, Charles Monk was stranded at Cairo airport for two days when Austrian Airlines refused him a seat to London via Vienna. Austrian offered no compensation or hotel accommodation, but a vigorous complaint upon his return led to an offer of £117 plus out-of-pocket expenses.

1990 was a time when the Indian government protected its national airline, Air India, by restricting foreign carriers. The resulting seat shortage meant flights were regularly overbooked.

Reader A Hamza was stranded in Delhi when his London-bound Pan Am flight was overbooked by 60 passengers. He said: “I had to wait until the next Pan Am flight 48 hours later. The staff offered no apologies and when I explained I had appointments and deadlines to meet, I gained the impression that I was unreasonable.”

A Hamza got away two days later even though many did not because, once again, the flight was heavily overbooked. Pan Am did not pay any DBC to A Hamza (then, as now, India had no passenger rights) but it apologised for what it called “the perennial overbooking problem”.

It claimed: “If airlines did not overbook and charged fares that fully compensated for the lower load factors that ‘no show’ passengers would generate, fare levels would be much higher.”

Another reader, P Sampson, was resourceful when faced with overbooking at Delhi. To avoid being bumped from an Air India flight to London, he sat on his baggage on the weighing scales.

“It caused chaos that was resolved by my being upgraded to business class,” he said. “Unfortunately, many more timid passengers were left behind.”

So how does the DBC of 1990 compare with that of today? On a goodwill basis, BA would pay out between £45 and £200 in cash depending on the length of delay and flight distance. In 2013, the EU specifies cash DBC payments of between e125 and e600.

The length of qualifying delay has been reduced. Then, it was 12 hours or more to receive the maximum compensation. Today, it’s only four hours for the maximum sum.

Loading comments...

Search Flight

See a whole year of Reward Seat Availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Be up-to-date
Magazine Subscription
To see our latest subscription offers for Business Traveller editions worldwide, click on the Subscribe & Save link below
Polls