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I'd say airlines should use whatever model they want, as long as they clearly communicate what their policies are.

If you want to overbook like crazy and bump passengers off the plane, you should be free to try that. It's a free market, and no one is forced to fly with you.




It's a highly regulated market that seeks to protect the interests of customers in the EU.


>It’s a free market

Commercial aviation? Good one. When’s the next bailout?


Or rather, it should be a free market.

In any case, have the budget carriers ever gotten a bailout?


So tell me, what happens when companies lie?

If I call up an airline and ask them: what happens when you bump me off, and they say they will find me a new flight immediately.

In practice they often dont wven pick up the phone because they don't have enough staff.

And they get away with this


There's plenty of tools available for customers when companies lie to them.

Those tools are applicable in many situations. Eg when Amazon doesn't send you the stuff they promised. Or when your shoeshop sells you knock-off Prada etc. It's a common problem with standard solutions.

Those standard solutions apply (or should apply) to airlines as well.

Eg when the airline gives you less legroom than they promised etc.


that's a crazy take, consequences of a person being bumped off the plane is dramatically higher for the person than for the airline


It is not a crazy take. Both the number of passengers arriving for a particular flight and the number of seats available on a given flight is basically stochastic. It is good and proper that airlines optimise for the maximum revenue (after some compensation for bumped passengers) and in particular the maximum number of people flown, even if that entails overbooking. (Without overbooking, more planes (with more empty seats) would have to fly to transport the same number of people - why would anyone want that?)

Furthermore, a flight might be cancelled for any number of legitimate reasons (weather, strike, technical problems, crew limitations, change in government rules, etc.). A flight is not like a car trip (even though the aviation industry has been so spectacularly successful in delivering safe and reliable flights that people often forget that).

It is foolish, in my view, to rely on making any given flight.


So? You can start an airline that doesn't bump anyone off, and charge more money for that service, if you think that's what customers want.




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