Has anyone been refused boarding on a flight they had been checked in for due to overbooking?

DannyBoyD said:
I have, several times in the US. There's usually vouchers / air miles /hotel or other sweeteners thrown in.
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You should have a look at the flight from Frankfurt to Dublin with Lufthansa. It happens there from time to time but they always look for volunteers to be fair.

Best,

Opus2018
 
Opus2018 said:
You should have a look at the flight from Frankfurt to Dublin with Lufthansa. It happens there from time to time but they always look for volunteers to be fair.

Best,

Opus2018
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I spoke to a friend of mine who makes multiple flights a year on Lufthansa between Frankfurt and Dublin and has never experienced it.

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Of course, you are right.

They call security to people who are polite and mannerly.

Ryanair deliberately provoked these people by sabotaging one of their own planes and brought in a slightly smaller plane.

Brendan
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It seems fairly clear that Ryanair did not deliberately overbook the flight, that there was a problem with the scheduled plane and Ryanair had to replace it with a slightly smaller one.

The story is about how Ryanair dealt with that.

Calling security to get rid of passengers after you have squeezed them out of a flight they have paid for seems like an easy way for the gate agent to get rid of their problem.

My issue is that the police turn up to help the airline out of a tight spot.
 
cremeegg said:
Calling security to get rid of passengers after you have squeezed them out of a flight they have paid for seems like an easy way for the gate agent to get rid of their problem.

My issue is that the police turn up to help the airline out of a tight spot.
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That struck me as well, reading the original article.

You can understand someone getting irate in the circumstances and it seems the Ryanair ground staff couldn’t handle it.

If the irate customer is termed aggressive by the airline, there’s only going to be one outcome. The police won’t seek to establish whether the alleged offender really was aggressive.
 
I got asked one night in London City if I'd "step aside" as the plane was overbooked. I was told I'd be put up in a hotel for the night etc. I refused as I was just there for the day for work but I presume they found someone else.
 
Salvadore said:
That struck me as well, reading the original article.
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There are so many gaps and elisions in the story it’s hard to tell who was justified.

The author and his unnamed companion do seem to have been young and able-bodied as was the other passenger mentioned. I suspect Ryanair prioritised older people and those with young kids which was indeed the right thing to do.
 
Dr Strangelove said:
I suspect Ryanair prioritised older people and those with young kids which was indeed the right thing to do.
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I doubt it.

When people buy a ticket, they are given the option of choosing a seat.

If you have chosen a seat which no longer exists, I suspect you go on the "to be allocated list".

The first inkling of our impending misery was at breakfast time in Porto, when we checked in for our 4.35pm flight. Our boarding pass gave us seat numbers “00” and stated that our seats would be “assigned at gate”.

If you are ever given a “00” seat on Ryanair, be very afraid.
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So he checked in that morning for a 16.45 flight that afternoon. I suspect that he did not buy a seat and then checked in quite late.

So, if you are worried about this happening to you, either buy a seat when buying the ticket, or check in early - he could have checked in at 16.45 the previous day.

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
I spoke to a friend of mine who makes multiple flights a year on Lufthansa between Frankfurt and Dublin and has never experienced it.

Brendan
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Hi Brendan,

I’ve seen it a few times - most recently a few weeks ago. (On a Sunday morning flight)

Not that uncommon for the last flight out of Dublin of an evening….

Best, Opus2018
 
Very interesting

"Unlike other airlines, Ryanair does not overbook flights," a spokesman told The Irish Times. When he was referring to other airlines, he might have had Aer Lingus in mind because it does allow for overbooking although a spokeswoman assured us that it was "rare".

“As with all other airlines our flights can be overbooked from time to time,” she said. “This can result from operational disruption where a lower capacity aircraft is substituted for the one originally planned or sometimes, where a particular route has a high level of no-shows, bookings may exceed the number of seats available.”
 
thedaddyman said:
I got asked one night in London City if I'd "step aside" as the plane was overbooked.
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Ah yes, I used to fly that route weekly in my much younger days, and it was common enough back then. Like my employer, lots of companies that used the route had flexi tickets - if I was booked on the early evening flight home, I could change to the later flight up to 30 minutes before departure. Luckily I never got bumped, but my colleagues used to compare the treatment they'd get when they did, which hotels to refuse, etc.

With budget airlines it's usually just the wrong plane being available which seems to be what happened in this case. Remember the publicity Aer Lingus got when 2 Leinster fans missed the Champions Cup:
m.independent.ie

Leinster fans stranded in Dublin after being forced to give up seats on oversold flight to Bilbao

Two Leinster fans have been denied a dream trip to watch their team in the Champions Cup final in Bilbao after being forced to give up their seats on an oversold Aer Lingus flight.
m.independent.ie m.independent.ie
 
cremeegg said:
It seems fairly clear that Ryanair did not deliberately overbook the flight, that there was a problem with the scheduled plane and Ryanair had to replace it with a slightly smaller one.
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I thought that Ryanair only fly the Boeing 737 planes. I am not sure where they would get a smaller plane or what type.

I was on a Ryanair flight this year when a man boarded. His seat was Row 1, seat A. We were flying on one of the new Boeing737 Max planes and there is no Seat A in row 1. This has been removed so there are only two seats in this row.

I am not sure where the man ended up sitting but I do know that row 1 is the most expensive row to book a seat.
 
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