What are your rights in a case of Denied Boarding?

Have you ever been in a situation where you’re at the airport, in the boarding area, seconds away from getting on your flight, when you see someone in the airline’s uniform marching up to you, waving a coupon in their hands — a coupon to voluntarily give up your seat and to take another flight?

Well, guess what just happened there? The flight was overbooked. What Airlines do is, they overbook themselves to compensate for the “no-shows”. This is not illegal, but it’s a potentially disastrous situation when more than expected passengers show up. The airline now does not have enough seats to accommodate passengers. The hunt for volunteers who would give up their seats begins. If they run out of luck finding enough number of such ‘volunteers’, they start denying boarding to some passengers. This is exactly what happened in the recent United Airlines’ case where a doctor was denied boarding due to an overbooked flight.

What can you do when something like this happens?

Here are the three steps you can take:

1) Think before you accept that Airline Voucher: Once you accept it, it becomes a case of “voluntarily” giving up your seat and the airline does not owe you anything, except an alternate flight. If you do choose to take that coupon, make sure that the airline takes care of the food and other amenities in your alternate flight. Calculate your compensation, and accept the voucher accordingly.

2) If the airline does not let you fly with a valid ticket, it becomes a case of involuntary bumping. Here are your rights in a situation like this:

• You have a right to know why the airline is not allowing you to board and how it chose the passengers it did.
• You are entitled to get on-the-spot compensation for denied boarding. The amount depends on the price of your ticket and the length of the delay. This compensation is on top of your original ticket which you can use for the alternate flight. Also, if you want to make your own arrangements, you are entitled to a refund of the ticket. Always remember, your compensation is on top of the refund/alternate flight.
• About compensation: if the airline offers you a substitute transport that will make you reach your destination within an hour, unfortunately, there is no compensation. In the United States of America if you arrive your final destination between 1–2 hours after the original arrival time in case of domestic flight and 1–4 hours in case of international flights you get 200% of one way fare with a maximum of $675. This amount becomes 400% of one way fare if the delay is more than 2hrs in the case of domestic and four hours in case of international flights with a maximum of $1350.

3) Arrive on time: Apart from having a valid ticket to avail these rights, and you also should’ve arrived at the airport well in time (as required by the airline) for your check-in. Arriving in time is important! Remember, the passengers who come late, get bumped first.

4) Keep your papers handy and arrive on time: Never lose your boarding pass and receipt and ticket. They would be very important for availing your rights.

So, the next time you see that voucher coupon, be aware of your rights.