Southwest Airlines Promises to Stop Overbooking Flights
Skift Take
Overbooking has gotten a lot of attention in the past three weeks, but, most of the time, it's not a big deal. Airlines know passengers won't show up, so they sell a few more tickets than they have seats. What's the harm in that? Airlines might want to reduce the number of extra seats they sell, but they don't need to retire the practice.
Southwest Airlines will no longer sell more tickets than it has seats, a move it had been considering before an April 9 United Airlines incident highlighted problems with overbooking, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said Thursday.
"We have been challenging ourselves to make the travel experience better for our customers and just make the service better for our employees to deliver," Kelly said on Southwest's first quarter earnings call. "That's one of the pain points that we would like to eliminate."
Except for JetBlue Airways, U.S. airlines tend to overbook popular flights by several passengers, and even after the United incident, most carriers likely will continue the practice. Air
