tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13417295.post3846569612103266945..comments2009-11-23T14:44:19.732-08:00Traveling Tech Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01547838190628135925noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13417295.post-70535695830057021492009-11-23T14:37:11.325-08:002009-11-23T14:37:11.325-08:00Guy,<br />We’ve looked into the facts and record of your flight where you were denied boarding. While situations like this are very rare, they do happen on occasion and we are truly sorry it happened to you in this case. We historically have one of the lowest denied boarding rates in the industry, but we also know that statistics don’t mean much to folks like you whose travels do not fit the usual pattern and end up being affected in this manner.<br /> <br />Our policies were correctly followed in this case – and we believe most other airlines would have handled it quite similarly since their policies are much like ours. Unfortunately, as you have stated, your flight was oversold by five passengers, which simply means more passengers showed up that day than we had seats available. Historically when this happens, we are usually successful in finding volunteers who are willing to fly on a later flight and receive dollar-for-dollar vouchers spendable on any American Airlines/American Eagle fare within one year. In this case, that did not happen, and involuntary denied boarding rules set by the U.S. government were the next step – those rules were followed exactly as they are set forth by the government.<br /> <br />Overbooking of flights has been a common practice of all airlines for many years. The reasons are simple – nearly every full flight has passengers who simply do not show up for that flight for any number of reasons. The example of a 100 seat airplane in which only 100 seats were sold would nearly always leave the gate with some empty seats (four or five empty seats would not be uncommon on that mythical 100 seat plane). Those empty seats could have ultimately been provided and sold to other customers who also need and want to travel that same time and day, but would otherwise be turned away. This practice also helps us provide the low fares we offer to be competitive with other airlines. To estimate the number of empty seats for each full flight, we use historical data for that flight, that day, to estimate how many “no-shows” it will have, using both computer and human input, and also considering any special factors that might skew the historical data. Most of the time we are quite accurate in our estimates. Occasionally, passenger behavior on a given flight does not match our best estimates. As we said, this is what unfortunately happened to you. It’s rare, but not unprecedented. And again, we’re sorry for your inconvenience.<br /><br />American AirlinesAmericanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13426312989456411458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13417295.post-66721546825140240442009-11-23T11:00:19.656-08:002009-11-23T11:00:19.656-08:00John, thanks for the link!<br />I wouldn&#39;t have even thought of this.<br />No, they did not give me a copy of the rules. The ticket itself was bought on miles (plenty of them), so I wonder if they can weasel out and say a $100 is their estimation of the charge. The least they could do is reverse the charge on the miles. Anyway, will wait for them to respond (or not respond) to my open email before proceeding.<br />But again, thanks!<br />GuyTraveling Tech Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01547838190628135925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13417295.post-84625257542603027922009-11-23T08:52:19.412-08:002009-11-23T08:52:19.412-08:00Without knowing all of the details, it sounds like AA violated DOT rules for involuntary denied boarding (aka bumping). You should have received twice the cost of your ticket in cash. Given that you had a last minute booking, I doubt that you were on a $60 ticket. Here&#39;s the link to the DOT rules: http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/rules/part%20250.pdf<br /><br />Clearly states they owe you 200% of your fare. If they didn&#39;t give you a copy of the rules, they violated another another part of the rule (as I read it).<br /><br />Since AA can&#39;t manage to make you happy, maybe a DOT complaint will wake them up.Johnnoreply@blogger.com