CALIFORNIA, USA — Buckle up, It's going to be a bumpy ride. Of course, there's no need to buckle up if you're getting bumped off a flight.
In fact, in the first three months of the year, more than 100,000 passengers were bumped from flights on airlines based in the United States.
In those cases, it was because the airlines had overbooked the flight leaving a lot of travelers to ask why airlines overbook flights.
Sometimes, it’s because ticketed passengers don't show up for their flight. The airlines keep a close watch on which flights have the most no-shows. They use computer software to predict how many passengers are likely to skip a particular flight. If the computer forecasts perhaps a dozen no-shows, the airline will book accordingly to make sure the flight is full.
Travel experts say the software can predict no-shows with eerie accuracy, but sometimes the computer is wrong. If everyone shows up for an overbooked flight, the gate agents have to scramble. They'll offer travel vouchers, even cash in an attempt to get travelers to take another flight. If they can't get enough passengers to vacate voluntarily, they'll start bumping people.
The content creator of Airfare Watchdog says passengers who paid the most amount of money for a seat are the least likely to get bumped, along with unaccompanied minors and travelers with disabilities.
While getting bumped sounds bad, Delta revealed that out of 32 million passengers in the first part of 2019, only one person who wished to stay on the flight got bumped off.
Watch more on ABC10
