vitus979 wrote:
And your prior comment about the fine print is largely irrelevant at least for a good number of passenger, who all know about overbooking and the slight possibility.
How do you figure? I figure most people know all about the possibility of getting bumped. It's still bullshit fine print, because it's not like a customer can do anything about it.
You currently pay a lower fare because of overbooking.
Yeah? How much lower? And I mean, are you sure? Because the price I pay for a given seat changes, literally, hour by hour. Quantify the discount I get by allowing the airlines to routinely sell and profit by selling more product than they have.
But basically what you're saying is that the airlines have, say, 300 seats, and if they sell those 300 seats to 320 customers, they can sell them a little cheaper, and hope that 20 people don't show up, right? Problem is when all 320 paying customers show up, of course.
And when that flight attendant or pilot cannot get to his or her job on time, you're going to have more than a single paying customer inconvenienced. Eh. I'm curious to see if these are four pilots or four flight attendants. They are not equally indispensable to air travel. And like I said, what happens if one of them has the flu? Not the airlines problem, I suppose?
How do I figure? The exact same way you did. Seems like we're in agreement on this point, that most people know about the possibility. If people know, then whether it's in the fine print or in bold is largely irrelevant.
Yes, it's hard to quantify. That doesn't mean it isn't there. Air fares are highly competitive, but that doesn't mean that airlines are purely price takers with no say in the price. They get to lower fares and compete by, among other things, overbooking. But to the extent it can't be quantified, then a simple solution is for airlines to offer passengers the ability to lock in their seat by paying a small premium.
And flight attendants and pilots can be equally indispensable to travel, as there are minimum requirements for the number of flight attendants that have to be on a flight.
Except as specified in § 121.393 and § 121.394, each certificate holder must provide at least the following flight attendants on board each passenger-carrying airplane when passengers are on board: - For airplanes having a maximum payload capacity of more than 7,500 pounds and having a seating capacity of more than 9 but less than 51 passengers—one flight attendant.
- For airplanes having a maximum payload capacity of 7,500 pounds or less and having a seating capacity of more than 19 but less than 51 passengers—one flight attendant.
- For airplanes having a seating capacity of more than 50 but less than 101 passengers—two flight attendants.
- For airplanes having a seating capacity of more than 100 passengers—two flight attendants plus one additional flight attendant for each unit (or part of a unit) of 50 passenger seats above a seating capacity of 100 passengers.