I was unclear. It’s not that we can’t offload a person after the doors are closed. It’s just that it becomes much less practical. Once the doors are closed, the jetbridge or airstairs are removed and the final loadsheet is printed. The gate staff goes off to their next flight, or off shift.
Starlionblue
starlionblue
It should indeed never have come to this.
Let’s not think that what a gate agent is permitted to do is correlated to how much the positioning crew needs to get to their destination. ;)
Except “denied boarding” means “not traveling on this flight”. It doesn’t mean, “I’m safe once I’m on the plane.”
He was trespassing because he refused to leave. The contract of service which the customer agreed to when buying the ticket is clear.
Take it from an airline employee. Yes, it is normal procedure, or at least not uncommon. One plane goes tech. Two guys call in sick. Happens all the time. That’s why airlines have crew on call.
Last minute changes happen all the time. Most likely if that positioning crew didn’t board, another flight would have been canceled. Meaning a whole planeload of people not getting to where they want/need to go.
It’s just airline jargon. You can still be denied boarding until the doors are closed.
The logic is simple. Lots of tickets are non-refundable, but the profit per ticket (“yield”) on those tickets is very low. It is a volume business. Filling the plane with low yield passengers does not turn a profit. And so airlines overbook to make sure the plane is as full as possible.
Most tickets sold are non-refundable, but those tickets don’t have very good yield, meaning the company doesn’t make a lot of profit from them. It is a volume business.
Checking in early online can help, but in the end it is all about boarding priority. My airline has no fewer than 37 different boarding priority levels. “Passenger on confirmed ticket” is the third highest level, after “positioning crew” and “essential company travel”.
No false advertising involved. The conditions of carriage are pretty clear. Sure, the airlines don’t advertise that they overbook, but as a buyer you should be aware of the contract you are entering into.
If overbooking was fraud, airlines worldwide wouldn’t be doing it.
Why are employee’s families held to a different standard than every other passenger? If my dad works for the post office and gives me free stamps, does my handwriting have to be extra neat on every letter I send? It’s a dumb rule that an employee’s family should feel any less comfortable than any other paying…
Reading on other sources that he was being offloaded to make space for positioning crew, which sounds much more like reality than offloading for a standby traveler.
Depends on climate and amount of sweat produced. Living in the tropics and being a sweater, I’m rather cautious. ;)
When I worked for a cosmetics company, I learned the importance of toner and moisturiser for men**.
Growing up small town, all Asians were considered the same. Except for Filipinos, for some reason. People here really hate Filipinos. I’ve never quite figured out why.