Bumped from a flight? What airlines owe you, and why it may be nothing | Cruising Altitude

When does a ticket to fly not actually let you fly? If an airline oversells your flight, you may be in the unfortunate category of passengers who experience “involuntary denied boarding,” which is exactly what it sounds like. The airline has the ability, even if you’ve purchased a ticket, to tell you that you can’t get on the plane.

But that doesn’t mean those companies have carte blanche.

If you get bumped from a flight, you likely have some rights to compensation, to rebooking, and at the very least, to an explanation of why it’s happening.

As the holiday travel season nears (can you believe it?) here’s what you need to know.

Voluntary versus involuntary bumping

There’s more than one way to get bumped from a flight.

An airline may have to reduce the number of passengers for a variety of reasons, including unexpected weight restrictions, an equipment change to a smaller plane, or, most commonly, the carrier overselling the flight.

In any of these cases, an airline typically looks for volunteers to move to a later flight first – voluntary bumping. If the carrier can’t get enough people to accept a voucher to change their plans, they may have to take more drastic action and prohibit people from boarding.

What you’re entitled to if you’re bumped

If you volunteer to get bumped, you give up any rights to further compensation after accepting the airline’s offer.

But if you’re involuntarily bumped, your rights are pretty specifically outlined by the Department of Transportation.

“The business practice of bumping is not illegal. Airlines oversell their scheduled flights to a certain extent in order to compensate for 'no-shows.' Most of the time, airlines correctly predict the 'no shows' and everything goes smoothly.  But sometimes, passengers are bumped as a result of oversales practices,” the Transportation Department’s website says.

According to the department, passengers who are involuntarily bumped have a right to receive a written explanation for why they’re being denied boarding and are entitled to compensation up to $1,550, depending on the length of delay caused by the itinerary change and whether the flight is domestic or international.

“It’s important to know that there are cases where even if you are involuntarily bumped, you may not be eligible for compensation,” John Breyault, an aviation expert at the National Consumer League, told me.

The Transportation Department gives airlines a pass on bumping compensation for the following reasons:

• Aircraft changes that affect capacity.

• Weight and balance restrictions.

• Charter flights.

• Flights departing a foreign location, which are instead covered by the departure country’s regulations.

Small aircraft that seat fewer than 30 passengers are also exempt from bumping compensation, and passengers who are downgraded to a lower class of service are entitled only to a refund of the fare difference.

“If you are due compensation, the airlines have to offer you compensation at the airport on the same day,” Breyault said.

How common is bumping?

According to the Transportation Department’s own data, involuntary bumping is exceedingly rare.

Across the 10 biggest airlines in the U.S. just 0.33 passengers in every 10,000 were involuntarily bumped from April to June this year.

Even Frontier Airlines, which had the highest rate of involuntary bumping of major U.S. airlines by far, denied boarding to only 3.43 passengers per 10,000 in that time.

“Fortunately for most consumers being bumped, whether it’s voluntarily or involuntary, is a very unlikely scenario,” Breyault said. “Your chances of being in a situation where that’s the case is very small.”

But, he warned, some factors make it slightly more likely for you to get bumped.

“If you don’t have status, if you haven’t purchased a business class seat, if you are traveling alone, the different carriers have different criteria they use for determining who gets bumped involuntarily,” he said. “As a passenger, if you fall into one of those categories, like you don’t have status, you’re buying the cheapest fare class, that might be a bigger consideration than if you’re a frequent flyer on that carrier.”

What other recourse do you have?

There’s not a lot you can do if you get bumped from a flight, but there are some tactics you can use to hedge your chances.

“Definitely I would file a complaint with the DOT on the website,” Eric Napoli, chief legal officer at AirHelp, a company that helps get passengers compensation they’re owed by airlines, told me. “If we want consumers to be respected, we have to raise our hands when we’re consumers and we’re not happy with the service.”

Napoli said passengers can also pad their schedules if they have flexibility in their travel dates to make the prospect of getting bumped less stressful.

“If you can go a day earlier, stay a day later, those kind of things,” he said.

The Transportation Department also is considering implementing new rules that would provide for more passenger compensation when flights get disrupted, similar to what authorities in Europe already require.

“The Department of Transportation under Secretary Buttigieg has talked a lot about the importance of passenger rights,” Napoli said.

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in New York. You can reach him at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Denied boarding a flight? Here's what you're owed | Cruising Altitude