A travel consultant has provided some tips to lessen the chance of being bumped off a flight. Photo / 123rf
A travel consultant has provided some tips to lessen the chance of being bumped off a flight. Photo / 123rf
A travel consultant has provided some inside knowledge and tips to lessen the chance of being bumped off a flight.
This comes after an Auckland couple Peter and Beth Chapman were forced to choose which off them got off a packed Air New Zealand flight to make room for a cabin crew member.
The consultant, who asked not to be named, works with corporate clients who frequently fly for important meetings, for example, within New Zealand.
She said the practice of airlines overbooking was much more common in overseas airlines, but it happened with all airlines around the world - including here.
The top tip was to check in as early as possible and to become a member of that particular airline's membership programme.
"It's not guaranteed you won't be off-loaded, but it lessens the chance,'' she said.
Organised passengers who booked flights months in advance - ensuring a cheaper fare, in many cases - were also more likely to be higher on the list of people to be asked to leave.
The consultant said airlines were more likely to ask a passenger on a cheaper fare to get off compared with a higher-paying passenger.
In saying that, she said, a number of clients they had worked with over the years had been bumped off.
"We're seeing it less, though.
"When we had five or six clients off-loaded...we sent out an email just to let people know [this could happen to them also]."
The consultant said airlines sometimes overbooked flights with the thought that a set number - which they have already come up with, based on research - of passengers will not turn up.
In New Zealand, it was less likely for airlines to overbook international flights.
However, that was not unheard of for flights to some places, including the Pacific Islands.
L-R: Nick, Rod, Jon and Andrea Witts were told they could not board a flight from Auckland to Queenstown because the flight was overbooked. Photo / Supplied
Family holiday disrupted
A family holiday around New Zealand was disrupted when an airline told the family they could not travel because the flight was overbooked.
A number of Weekend Herald readers have come forward to share their horror stories following Peter and Beth Chapman's story.
Among those is the Witts family, from Wales.
Andrea Witts said she and her husband and their two sons had been booked to fly on an Air NZ flight from Auckland to Queenstown in December 2014 when they were stopped at the gate.
"On the morning of our flight we tried to check in but we were refused.''
The family had booked months in advance - in April - and a later booking was made in July for the partner of their eldest son, who lives in New Zealand.
"We sought help and we were really shocked to be told that as a group of five people, four of us couldn't get on that flight.
"Yet the flight booked for [the partner] in July - she could board and travel.''
The family was told that the flight was overbooked.
They were offered flights via Wellington, but they would have to be separated.
The timing did not match the family's plans, Witts said, as they had already made a booking at a hotel and their rental car needed to be picked up before closing time in Queenstown.
In the end, they were offered free meals and were all put on the same flight to Queenstown several hours later.
Although the rest of their holiday in New Zealand went well, Witts said it had put them off using the airline in future.
An Air NZ spokeswoman acknowledged the family was disappointed by the experience.
