Getting Bumped From Your Flight to Get a Lot More Lucrative
Filed in archive Travel by Justin McHenry on April 17, 2008
It's always seemed a little unfair that you can buy a ticket for a flight and be bumped off when it's oversold, even if you really, really need to be on that plane. Starting in May, it's going to become a lot more expensive for the airlines to bump you off:
I'm sure the airlines, which can't seem to stop going bankrupt
these days, aren't happy about this. But as travelers it's not only annoying to get bumped, it's annoying even if you make the flight but it gets held up while the airline tries to woo people off of the flight with vouchers for free travel. I once had a flight get off the ground 45 minutes late simply because the airline couldn't get enough people to budge from their seats.
I'm sure there are plenty of people that would take $400 for a couple hours of inconvenience, though.
Passengers who get bumped involuntarily from oversold flights can expect double the compensation, under a new Department of Transportation rule to take effect in May.
Fliers who are involuntarily bumped would get up to $400 if they are rescheduled to reach their destination within two hours of their original arrival time or four hours for international flights, and up to $800 if they are delayed longer.
I'm sure the airlines, which can't seem to stop going bankrupt
these days, aren't happy about this. But as travelers it's not only annoying to get bumped, it's annoying even if you make the flight but it gets held up while the airline tries to woo people off of the flight with vouchers for free travel. I once had a flight get off the ground 45 minutes late simply because the airline couldn't get enough people to budge from their seats.I'm sure there are plenty of people that would take $400 for a couple hours of inconvenience, though.
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