Delta increases number of overbookings - what are your rights if you are bumped off a flight?

Delta Air Lines is set to bump more passengers off flights as it increases the number of flights it oversells - but it could earn customers as much as $10,000. 

President Glen Hauenstein said in an earnings call earlier this month that the firm - which posted a pre-tax income of $2.7 billion last year - was planning to 'turn up' overbookings 'slightly' after seeing a spike in passengers failing to turn up for flights.

Selling more tickets than available seats is common practice among airlines. The idea is to ensure planes are as full as possible - with firms assuming a certain number of passengers will miss the flight or change their travel plans.  

If every passenger turns up, crew members will ask for volunteers to give up their seats in exchange for compensation, which in some cases has been up to $10,000. 

But if no volunteers come forward airlines can involuntarily bump passengers - though Delta says it rarely comes to this.

President Glen Hauenstein told an earnings call Delta was planning to 'turn up slightly' overbookings after seeing a spike in passengers failing to turn up for flights

Airlines use an algorithm to determine which journeys to oversell and by how much. 

Delta is thought to experience a higher rate of passengers not turning up for flights after it axed its change and cancellation fees on its domestic flights in 2020. 

It means customers can change or cancel their flight for free within 24 hours of booking.

In an earnings call from April 13, Hauenstein explained: 'I think what we've seen is travel patterns changing and shifting a little bit more than they did pre-pandemic. 

'We had a lot of stability pre-pandemic and we're adjusting here into what I would call a new normal.'

He added it meant 'book to flown' ratios had gone down in the first three months of the year - meaning fewer passengers were turning up for flights booked.

'That's really easy to accommodate as we just turn up slightly our overbooking levels to make sure that we capture the higher load factor.'

Later in the call Hauenstein explained that the rate of overbookings would be increased gradually.

'If you were at 103% on average and you have 2 extra points, you just go to 105% in terms of what your ability to take is,' he said. 

'There's a little bit of risk in that, and so we probably won't go to 105% right away. We go to 104%, see how that works, 104.5%.'

He added: 'We don't want to overshoot and cause a disruption, so we're going to be a little bit more careful on getting that real-time.'

Last July Delta offered $10,000 to each passenger who volunteered to be bumped from an oversold flight from Michigan to Minnesota.

Originally passengers were offered $5,000 but the rate was doubled after nobody expressed interest.

In April 2017, the firm circulated an internal memo announcing staff could offer up to $9,950 to travelers who agree to give up their seats on overbooked flights.

Airlines have come under fire in recent months for increasing costs at the same time customer service standards plummet.

A recent report by the American Automobile Association (AAA) found that the price of an international airline ticket from the US had soared 30 percent in the last year. 

Meanwhile, last week Dailymail.com revealed that flight delays had soared to a decade high, with a fifth of flights landed late in the last 12 months. 

The issue is particularly contentious among consumers after the airline industry received $50 billion relief during the pandemic when air travel all but ground to a halt overnight. 

Airlines have come under fire in recent months for increasing costs at the same time customer service standards plummet

While airlines took a hammering in profits in 2021 and 2020, most have recovered since life returned to normal.

In 2022, Delta recorded a pre-tax income of $2.7 billion, up from $398 million in 2021. 

The airline posted a wider loss than expected for the first three months of the year,  reporting a net loss of $363 million. 

But the firm shook off the loss as execs predicted sales in the current quarter would rise by between 15 to 17 percent compared to last year.

It comes as President Joe Biden pledged a crackdown on so-called 'junk fees' imposed by airlines.

The Department of Transport has proposed a rule which would require airlines and booking platforms to show a total ticket price upfront.

It would stop firms from adding on hidden fees to the advertised cost.

Dailymail.com has reached out to Delta Airlines for comment.