Federal regulations enforced by the US Department of Transportation (DoT) require airline companies to generously compensate airline passengers that are bumped from flights in order to dissuade the airlines from intentionally bumping low-fare customers to provide seats to higher-paying travelers. While these are the rules, airlines do not always follow them as they know that most passengers are oblivious to them. This is exactly what United Airlines has been caught doing. However, one passenger successfully fought back which led to a $2,000 settlement in court and an article in the Wall Street Journal highlighting United’s less than honest practices with their customers.
According to DoT regulations, if a passenger is bumped from a flight where they have a reserved seat, typically due to airlines overbooking, that passenger is entitled to a cash payment amounting to 200% of their original fare (up to $675) if they are rebooked with only a delay of two hours, or 400% of their fare if it is longer than two hours.
In the case of this traveler, he paid $706 for two tickets for him and his wife, but when he was bumped from his flight due to overbooking and had to wait several hours, the United gate agent only offered them a total of $376. However, according to federal regulations, he should have been entitled to at least $1,400, but probably even more considering he was stuck at the airport for well over two hours only to ultimately abandon their trip entirely. This man then filed a suit in small claims court that United initially fought, but when he persisted and sought to take the case to a trial court, United eagerly sought to settle for $2,000, an offer that was accepted by the plaintiff.
This case highlights a lesson for many consumers, that many companies will not operate by the rules when they know that most of their customers are ignorant of those rules and where paying out legal settlements is still far cheaper than operating by the law. While United did have to pay a few hundred dollars more in this settlement than they would have if they paid him the legally mandated amount for bumping him from the flight, they are still making far more in revenue with overbooking flights and expecting bumped passengers to never be the wiser when they are offered a fraction of what they should be receiving, if anything at all.
In this rare case a customer fought back and won in what was an isolated instance of holding the airline to account. However, until better regulatory enforcement is in place to force compliance, United and many other American-based airlines will continue to ignore this regulation and will continue bumping paying customers from flights without fair compensation.
Source:
Scott McCartney, “When United Bumped this Flier, He Fought Back,” Wall Street Journal, November 9, 2016.
I did not know this – I don’t think I’ve ever actually gotten bumped but I have volunteered to get bumped a time or two. Good to know how much $$ I should expect.