“I went to Italy last week,” writes Angela C. “The flight seemed to have been overbooked on both journeys. Outbound, six people were taken off the flight. Coming back, it seemed to be about 20 were not allowed to travel. Is this the new normal?”
Even during a week in which easyJet asked 19 volunteers to leave an overweight aircraft in Lanzarote, that doesn’t sound very normal. Yet selling more tickets than there are seats on board the plane is not malpractice. When overbooking is practised properly, everyone benefits. Almost every airline does it. One notable exception is Ryanair – and I wish Europe’s biggest budget airline did.
