What to do if you find yourself on an overbooked flight

It seems quite simple:

• You book your airline tickets
• You show up at the gate
• You pass airport security
• You are ready to board
• And….

You are informed that your flight is overbooked!

How is it possible that, having paid for your airline ticket and even checked in, there is no space for you? What happened to your seat? What will happen?

What happened is what airlines almost always do… Overselling… They sell more tickets than there are seats on the plane. However, when all passengers show up for the flight and things don't go as the airline expects, the flight is then considered overbooked.

Why do airlines overbook flights?

While it may sound a bit illogical, it nevertheless sounds reasonable to the companies. Airlines anticipate that a percentage of passengers will not show up at the gate to fly, and so they sell more airline tickets than available seats. Consequently, many times flights are overbooked as things do not turn out as they calculate.

However, even when there are several overbooked passengers that the airline will have to compensate, it certainly does not incur losses and has calculated everything correctly (see also: How much a flight costs an airline).

But what should you do?

The first and most important thing you should do is to know your rights when travelling. In the case of overbooked flights, the company will look for volunteers. What are volunteers on a flight? They are individuals who will agree, for a fee, not to fly on that particular flight and to depart for their destination on another flight, plus a fee and overnight accommodation if there is no other available flight on the same day.

For some who are not in a hurry and have the time to take another plane, this might even be an opportunity. For some, however, it is not. Especially when you are 100% aware of your rights in the EU when travelling by plane.

The law is clear. And because airlines know this, they usually offer you much less than you are entitled to if you don't fly on your booked flight.

More specifically, denied boarding and a flight delay of 1 to 2 hours are compensated at 200% of the fares you have paid. If it is a domestic flight and the delay is over 2 hours, then you are entitled to compensation of 400% of the fares, up to a maximum of €1300. Do you understand now that even if the company compensates you for your “volunteering”, it still profits?

What to do if your flight has no available seats and is overbooked.

If you have passed security control and are at the boarding gate, you have a few options for what to do if you have just discovered your flight is overbooked.

You can either volunteer and receive a voucher for a subsequent flight along with some standard compensation from the company, or wait for someone else to show interest and simply fly yourself.

Be careful, if you agree to volunteer, you do not then have the right to further compensation for denied boarding, as this happened with your consent.