But Travelers In Better Bargaining Position, Too

If you fly on commercial airlines, the chances you'll be bumped from your next flight are about to go up... as airlines effectively say "we already have your money, so there."

According to a recent story in The New York Times, there will be more bumped fliers after Labor Day, when several airlines intentionally shrink their fleets to fight rising costs.

The US Department of Transportation says in the first half of 2008, out of 282 million total airline passengers, that 343,000 -- or about a tenth of a percent -- were bumped from their flights. Most agreed to give up their seats voluntarily, but a little more than one in 10,000 weren't given a choice.

Historically, airlines have overbooked flights by about 15 percent. In the past, if you missed your flight, you'd catch the next one. This fall, in a growing number of cases, there won't be a next flight until tomorrow... and you'll pay $100 to change the ticket.

The Times predicts bumping is here to stay, as airlines struggle to make sure every seat is full, to minimize seat-mile costs. But they'll have to manage it carefully. Effective last month, if you're bumped involuntarily from a domestic flight, and you're not accommodated on another within two hours, you're required to be paid $800, up from the $400 rate in effect for many years before.

The airlines are responding to the higher stakes. Last summer, Delta bumped more than three of every 10,000 passengers, more than double the industry average. This year, new technology to more accurately predict no-shows has cut that in half.

No matter how refined the software becomes, there will always be the chance you'll be bumped from a flight you needed to catch to make your daughter's wedding. One alternative would be charging you for your seat whether you show up or not, and letting it stay empty if you don't make it. After all, the airlines would love it... empty seats save weight.

There is an upside, however, albeit a chancy one. As ANN reported, the DOT mandated earlier this year that passengers may now receive up to $400 if they are involuntarily bumped and rebooked on another flight within two hours after their original domestic flight time, and within four hours for international travel.

Travelers are eligible for up to $800 in cash if they are not rerouted by then... a powerful incentive for airlines to do what they can to rebook travelers in an expeditious manner. And if a passenger doesn't want a travel voucher from the airline (after all, who knows if some airlines will still be around to use it?) they can demand cash.

In related news, passengers who voluntarily give up their seats for other customers -- say, a family traveling together -- are in a position to demand more compensation than in the past. And bumped passengers are newly empowered, as well.

"I stood my ground," said Clay Escobedo, who was told by Horizon Air gate agents there were only three seats available for his wife, daughter, two grandsons, and himself on a recent flight from Reno to Los Angeles. "I kept telling the agent, 'That plane better not pull away from the gate. You need to make another announcement.'"

To their credit, the Horizon workers apparently went above and beyond in finding two extra seats... eventually offering volunteers round-trip tickets in addition to being booked on later flights. Sure enough, Horizon found two willing candidates.

"They saved the day for me," Escobedo said of those volunteers.

FMI: www.dot.gov