What to do if an airline bumps you from an overbooked flight

10.08.2023 - 22:21 / insider.com / Airlines

Getting bumped from a flight can either be an easy way to make some cash ($10,000 in one rare case!) — or a nightmare scenario that ruins your vacation. 

Either way, there are a few things you should know if you're bumped from an oversold flight. 

Being denied boarding from a flight, otherwise known as "bumping," happens when airlines overbook a flight, meaning there are more passengers than available seats. If this happens, airlines are required to ask for volunteers to take a different flight in exchange for compensation, according to the US Department of Transportation. 

This is where the prisoner's dilemma of bumping kicks in. According to the DOT, there is no limit to the amount of money or vouchers that airlines can offer up as compensation, and passengers are allowed to negotiate with the airlines. But, if you wait too long to volunteer in hopes that the airline will up the ante, other passengers might take your spot. 

If you accept the airline's compensation to give up your seat and take a later flight, the DOT recommends asking these questions to make sure you are aware of any restrictions: 

If not enough volunteers raise their hands, the airline will involuntarily bump people, which most of the time occurs before the plane is boarded.

In this case, airlines must provide compensation for bumped passengers, albeit with a few exceptions, according to the DOT. The exceptions include:

If none of these apply and you have a confirmed ticket, checked in on time, were at the gate on time, and the airline could not get you to your final destination within an hour of your original arrival time, then you are entitled to denied boarding compensation, or DBC, the Transportation Department says in its rules.

The DBC is based on the value of your ticket, the length of your delay that resulted from the involuntarily denied boarding, and if your flight was domestic or international.

For domestic flights that arrive one to two hours later than scheduled, passengers receive 200% of their one-way fare, which can be capped at $775. Anything over two hours is 400%, which can be capped at $1,550.

For international flights that arrive one to four hours later than scheduled, passengers receive 200% of their one-way fare, and anything over four hours is 400%. The caps still apply, which is up to the discretion of the airline.

Passengers who booked a higher fare class, like business, but were downgraded to a cheaper cabin must be given a refund for the difference in price.

There's nothing you can do to guarantee you won't get bumped from an overbooked flight, as one traveler who said he was an American Airlines customer learned the hard way when he was bumped from a flight. 

But there are some things you can do to