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Should a law be passed that bars airlines from overbooking flights?

Should a law be passed that bars airlines from overbooking flights?

  • Total voters
    58
Hawkeye10 said:
It just too obvious where justice is here aint it......but how few of us advocate for it.

SAD!
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so no refunds at all for no shows too right?

then its no issue....the airlines wont overbook, and they wont ever throw anyone off

but if you are late, get caught in traffic, get sick, etc....sorry charlie

buy another ticket

i am all for those rules...for both sides
 
I can't understand how anyone can look at it other than what should be a breech of contract. If someone agrees to sell you something at a specific time to get to a specific area, then that's what should happen. I know the bull**** that people will say based on what the airlines have fed us, "You are paying for a service not the seat itself, blah blah blah". The fact of the matter is, if any other business did what the airlines did they would be sued out of business. Imagine if you buy a ticket for a concert or sports game. Then imagine if the owner of the stadium decided that they weren't making enough money already, so instead of selling your ticket to just you, they would sell it to one or two other people because they don't believe you'll show up. As far as I'm concerned it should be considered fraud. Every ticket that I have bought to fly has had a no refund policy unless you pay extra money to change out dates. Therefore, there should be literally no reason that this practice should be in place in the first place. Its a scam. Plain and simple.
 
gdgyva said:
so no refunds at all for no shows too right?

then its no issue....the airlines wont overbook, and they wont ever throw anyone off

but if you are late, get caught in traffic, get sick, etc....sorry charlie

buy another ticket

i am all for those rules...for both sides
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Sign me up, though maybe we only charge those who are late a couple of hundred dollars to discourage carelessness. So long as the no-shows roughly match up with stand-by most of the time all is good, and those who miss their planes most certainly can go stand-by.....make the fine what ever it needs to be to get the no-shows to a manageable number.
 
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radcen said:
Should a law be passed that bars airlines from overbooking flights?

Lots of examples in recent news. Chances are these types of incidents aren't new, they're just trendy in the media now that they've caught our attention.
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I voted no but they should be required to keep increasing their offers until passengers willingly give up their seat. With a reasonable max of say twice the most expensive seat on the plane or something similar.
 
Hari Seldon said:
I voted no but they should be required to keep increasing their offers until passengers willingly give up their seat. With a reasonable max of say twice the most expensive seat on the plane or something similar.
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Wow, you trust these creep airlines a lot more than I do, to tell honestly what the most expensive ticket was.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Wow, you trust these creep airlines a lot more than I do, to tell honestly what the most expensive ticket was.
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Not a matter of trust. The airlines are heavily regulated as well they should. This too can be audited with sufficient penalties to encourage compliance. It really shouldn't get to that. A couple of free tickets and some cash should do it ost of the tie. If it becomes too expensive they will over book less.
 
holbritter said:
I'm talking about elderly people as well and people that are not tech savvy. It's not laziness. Try and search as a novice would for statistics on each airline for bumping people off flights. Except news headlines, is there anything out there? I found a lot of "why they overbook" "how to avoid overbooking" and things like that, but I could not find an up to date listing of airlines and their overbooking rates.
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Don't you think if this was such a huge problem, you would hear about it. Other than the dude being dragged off the plane and the dad being asked to hold his kid, what other incidents have you heard about?

.
 
Hari Seldon said:
Not a matter of trust. The airlines are heavily regulated as well they should. This too can be audited with sufficient penalties to encourage compliance. It really shouldn't get to that. A couple of free tickets and some cash should do it ost of the tie. If it becomes too expensive they will over book less.
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Shockingly enough I like my idea better, I want people to try to make their planes, and if they dont to face a penalty, not allowing overbooking will do that.

However, your idea is not without merit.
 
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Hawkeye10 said:
Shockingly enough I like my idea better, I want people to try to make their planes, and if they dont to face a penalty, not allowing overbooking will do that.

However, you idea is not without merit.
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The reality is people will always miss their planes or cancel or decide not to go for whatever reason. The airlines need to over book to maximize their revenue. I' not crazy about it but I understand. The paying passengers should have some recourse by getting sufficient compensation.
 
Hari Seldon said:
The reality is people will always miss their planes or cancel or decide not to go for whatever reason. The airlines need to over book to maximize their revenue. I' not crazy about it but I understand. The paying passengers should have some recourse by getting sufficient compensation.
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The reality is that almost all people can make their planes if they put a little effort into it, and those who cancel less than 48 hours out and for sure less than 24 should lose all their money. Airlines most certainly do not NEED to overbook if their customers have good habits, which can be encouraged.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
The reality is that almost all people can make their planes if they put a little effort into it, and those who cancel less than 48 hours out and for sure less than 24 should lose all their money. Airlines most certainly do not NEED to overbook if their customers have good habits, which can be encouraged.
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Business people need to cancel or change late all the time. Then there are emergencies. I disagree with you completely. Interesting you are all for telling the airlines how to run their business.
 
Hari Seldon said:
Business people need to cancel or change late all the time. Then there are emergencies. I disagree with you completely. Interesting you are all for telling the airlines how to run their business.
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They obviously need assistance.
 
radcen said:
I totally get what you're saying, but at the same time my time is important to me.
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Well then you would buy the priority ticket that is guaranteed a seat. This way you decide whether you want to save some money or pay full price and not have to worry about being bumped. Everybody wins. Those that want a for sure seat pay $30 or $40 more for a seat and those that are willing to risk getting bumped save $30 or $40 bucks.

With a few smaller seats and a few oversize seats your could also make people happy and comfortable. At 300 lbs. and 6' 4" I would not mind paying extra for a little more room while giving a child a smaller seat for less money helping a family travel cheaper.
 
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TOJ said:
Don't you think if this was such a huge problem, you would hear about it. Other than the dude being dragged off the plane and the dad being asked to hold his kid, what other incidents have you heard about?

.
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None, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Not everyone causes a scene, which is the only reason it makes the news. I don't think it happens every day, but much more than we think.

Edit:
Actually, I faintly remember other incidents in the recent past.
 
molten_dragon said:
So you'd be fine if, for example, there were no regulations on the national power grid and different companies in different areas decided to use different voltage and current standards for the power they provided?

Or if Lockheed Martin could build a new fighter jet for the US air force, and then immediately sell the technical specs to whoever they wanted, like Russia or China?

And I'm sorry, if you don't think we'd be a third world country without a power grid, a telecommunications system, or national transportation infrastructure, you're out of your mind.
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Yes, yes, and ditto. Lockheed would probably go out of business if it did such a thing, but then plenty of countries buy weapons from the same foreign country. And a more diversified power grid would probably be more secure. Much harder for the Chinese to take down in one swoop. More likely the industry would develop a standard on its own.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Question: I am right am I not that before deregulation overbooking was a crime....That a ticket used to be considered a contract which could not be legally broken by the airline.
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Its still a contract. As is any purchase. Youre giving them money for something in return. Thats a contract (they call it a contract of carriage).
 
ajn678 said:
I can't understand how anyone can look at it other than what should be a breech of contract. If someone agrees to sell you something at a specific time to get to a specific area, then that's what should happen. I know the bull**** that people will say based on what the airlines have fed us, "You are paying for a service not the seat itself, blah blah blah". The fact of the matter is, if any other business did what the airlines did they would be sued out of business. Imagine if you buy a ticket for a concert or sports game. Then imagine if the owner of the stadium decided that they weren't making enough money already, so instead of selling your ticket to just you, they would sell it to one or two other people because they don't believe you'll show up. As far as I'm concerned it should be considered fraud. Every ticket that I have bought to fly has had a no refund policy unless you pay extra money to change out dates. Therefore, there should be literally no reason that this practice should be in place in the first place. Its a scam. Plain and simple.
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Ive actually been hoping a sports team would do such a thing. I hate going to a game and seeing all the empty season ticket seats that are empty. And I hate paying $120 for **** seats. Imagine if they sold those empty seats for $20 with the chance of getting bumped. Great idea ajn!
 
jonny5 said:
Yes, yes, and ditto. Lockheed would probably go out of business if it did such a thing, but then plenty of countries buy weapons from the same foreign country. And a more diversified power grid would probably be more secure. Much harder for the Chinese to take down in one swoop. More likely the industry would develop a standard on its own.
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Okay, so you're libertarian to an irrational degree and there's no point in further debate with you. Got it.
 
jonny5 said:
Perhaps you would be more comfortable somewhere everyone agrees you, than a debate forum.
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No, I'm perfectly comfortable here. I just don't enjoy wasting time debating with irrational people.
 
jonny5 said:
Ive actually been hoping a sports team would do such a thing. I hate going to a game and seeing all the empty season ticket seats that are empty. And I hate paying $120 for **** seats. Imagine if they sold those empty seats for $20 with the chance of getting bumped. Great idea ajn!
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I did "standing room only" at a baseball game once. Once. Never again. I'd rather just not go.
 
natsb said:
Laws are not the solution to events in every news cycle. This is a perfect example of a problem that the market will sort out.

Put if a law were passed, it should necessarily include the right for the airline to charge no shows for their full ticket price.

Sent from my LG-V930 using Tapatalk
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Not if all airlines continue to do it it won't... Airlines have a monopoly on air travel.
 
Bodhisattva said:
Not if all airlines continue to do it it won't... Airlines have a monopoly on air travel.
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That would not be an accurate application of the word monopoly. There are dozens of airlines competing for our business. If you were to use the word collusion, we might close in thought.
 
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