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Nov 16, 2007 8:49 am US/Mountain
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Passengers Can Avoid Getting Bumped By Airlines
Good Question: How do You Get The Best Treatment When Your Airline Bumps You?
by Alan Gionet
DENVER (CBS4) ―
It's pretty frustrating said one woman.
"It's just when they've been overbooked."
"I write letters usually after the fact which usually does get me something," said another.
The reality of the airline business these days is that there simply may not be room for everyone on a flight. This holiday season the airlines are expected to be booked at 90 percent capacity. Book on flight on a common route and travelers can expect flights that are full, and then some.
CBS4 asked Frontier Airline's Joe Hodas how much room customer service people have to help.
"They have... they have a lot of latitude," he said - within limits of course.
Hodas says the best way to avoid getting bumped is not to be late. Airlines can trade with other airlines to put passengers on another flight, but if one airline is overbooked to a particular destination, it's likely another is as well.
Airlines might not offer to check right away, because they'd rather keep people on their own planes. Customers will need to ask.
If travelers are bumped, travel agent Chris Russo, President of the Rocky Mountain chapter of the American Society of Travel Agents, says one of the best things people can do is skip the line and call the airline. There's no point waiting for an overtaxed person at the counter. Passengers might be able to get that last seat on another flight before the person in line in front of someone.
Russo also says if the airline offers voucher for being bumped, ask for a check instead. He says the issues with vouchers are, "Black out dates, they may offer you a 200 dollar voucher, but how many airline tickets are 200 dollars anymore?"
Russo says one thing almost always works. That is having that seat. While a lot of airlines don't give travelers seat assignments at time of booking, they can sometimes get them within 24 hours by revisiting the airline's Web site, or calling their travel agent.
Once a passenger has it he says, hang onto it.
"It's worth its weight in gold even though it's on a little piece of paper."
(© MMVII CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)