easyJet denying boarding – again

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 28 total)

  • FDOS_UK
    Participant

    Not covering themselves in glory….

    http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/easyjet-flights-overbooking-denied-boarding-glasgow-luton-empty-seats-plane-a7805986.html

    Offloaded pax due to downgauging, then left with 2 empty seats.

    Thank goodness for E261, which at least makes the airline financially responsible.


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    This must irk BA. “Easyjet, Britain’s biggest airline?”


    capetonianm
    Participant

    That overused word ‘biggest’!
    EZY do carry more pax than BA but I think BA’s RPK is greater, and without looking it up I’d guess their fleet size is greater.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    [quote quote=815607]That overused word ‘biggest’!
    EZY do carry more pax than BA but I think BA’s RPK is greater, and without looking it up I’d guess their fleet size is greater.

    [/quote]

    BA 278 v U2 248 aircraft

    BA (2016) ~42 millon pax, U2 (2016) ~74 million

    However, it is no contest when considering which has the biggest amount of strike days, BA wins hands down 😉


    TominScotland
    Participant

    Would Revenue Passenger Kilometres be a better comparison here? Certainly, in terms of Passenger Kms flown, BA is bigger than Ryanair so assume bigger than Easyjet as well. Given complaints about BA pricing on this site, I assume that their RPK is considerably higher.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    [quote quote=815616]Would Revenue Passenger Kilometres be a better comparison here? Certainly, in terms of Passenger Kms flown, BA is bigger than Ryanair so assume bigger than Easyjet as well. Given complaints about BA pricing on this site, I assume that their RPK is considerably higher.

    [/quote]

    Let’s compare the money outflows caused by IT outages.

    Wonder who shades that one?


    Flightlevel
    Participant

    RPKs are a curious way to gauge airline size ‘though often used. LON – HKG is the busiest route in the OW system in RPKs because its over 5000 miles. There must be many OW routes that are busier in pax numbers. I guess easyjet claims to be biggest in pax, ‘though after Ryanair ofcourse.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    [quote quote=815633]RPKs are a curious way to gauge airline size ‘though often used. LON – HKG is the busiest route in the OW system in RPKs because its over 5000 miles. There must be many OW routes that are busier in pax numbers. I guess easyjet claims to be biggest in pax, ‘though after Ryanair ofcourse.

    [/quote]

    I agree, fleet size is one indicator, number of passengers is another,market cap, turnover etc.

    Depending on your lens, you’ll likely get different answers.


    TominScotland
    Participant

    I guess the only saving grace for Easyjet here is that they did not drag the 15 year old off the plane…..

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jul/21/unaccompanied-child-taken-off-overbooked-easyjet-flight-at-gatwick

    They do seem to be making a habit of garnering bad press through their handling of overbooking. Maybe Ms McCall is making a good call by moving on…..


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    There was a case at EDI only a week ago which made The Scotsman.

    In The Guardian CEO Carolyn McCall says there are on average five no-shows per flight.

    She is quoted as saying “We don’t see an overbooking issue. We don’t tend to overbook in peak periods.”

    But EZY must not overbook. EZY is a simple point-to-point, short-haul airline. Its tickets are non-refundable.

    Unlike a global airline EZY doesn’t have to deal with huge volumes of connecting passengers, a good number of whom use flexible/refundable tickets) at major hub airports worldwide.


    TominScotland
    Participant

    I agree, Alex. No shows are not an issue for LCCs as they have been paid for the seats whether people turn up or not. It is basically dishonest to overbook, selling something you do not own.


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    I agree, Tom. It’s just being greedy. One cause of overbooking (as I’ve written before) is the fact you get huge swarms of pax transitting hubs. That’s all very well if things are running according to plan.

    But it’s when you encounter weather/technical/industrial-related delays, either at the hub itself or at an overseas location, that the problems arise.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    It would be very hard to operate an airline profitably without overbooking. The trick, and this is where it often goes wrong, is to match the prognosis to each day’s changing reality. Each flight has a profile based on past performance and adjusted frequently to take into account factors which may impact noshows/goshows. For a global airline, it’s an incredibly complex task as it has to take into account, inter alia, WX all over the world.

    “It is basically dishonest to overbook, selling something you do not own.” As a standalone statement, that is (basically!) true, but when applied to the reality of air travel, it’s a flawed philosophy. Does a passenger ‘own’ a seat he’s paid for? He ‘owns’ a contractual right to travel, but he loses that if (even though it may not be his fault) he finds himself unable to travel, thus it makes sense for the airline to oversell – sometimes.

    If airlines overbook and get it wrong, and the situation is somewhat different for LCCs, they will usually find a willing passenger who will relinquish his seat in return for payment, or a night in a hotel and a good feed and a transfer to a future flight. It’s about the way it’s handled than the fact that it happens.


    Flightlevel
    Participant

    Overbooking pre-paid non-refundable tickets is really dishonest greed and should be regulated out of the business. A simple case of U2.


    TominScotland
    Participant

    Flightlevel, fully agree. Capetonianm – I am sure what you say is correct with respect to traditional airline operations but the LCC model is totally different. With LCCs, they have taken the money – whether the pax uses the seat or not, their revenue is not affected. In theory, if no passengers show for the flight but they had all paid, the airline would not suffer. I really cannot see why, with the LCC model, you would even consider overbooking. Easyjet is being unethical here and this is practice that should be prohibited.

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