I would have liked him even more if he had Googled the maximum amount the gate agent can authorize without needing to call a supervisor, but at least he anchored relatively high.
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Oh there might be folks who don’t know what is happening here. Airlines typically overbook flights, selling more seats than physically exist such that the flight flies full even when some folks miss it. Sometimes more people show up than can physically board. Then this happens:
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1) The airline asks for volunteers for folks who will board a later flight, in return for “compensation of the airline’s choosing.” 2) If they can’t get all the seats they need from #1, they have to involuntarily deny boarding. This is regulated: https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/bumping-oversales …
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Business practices for #1 differ, but at the airlines I use, the usual mechanism is to conduct a reverse auction at the gate: offering (depends on airline) a voucher for future travel or a generally-useful gift card at lowest prices required to induce volunteers.
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Because the damage to an airline from a delay is far greater than the prices typically discussed here, the gate agent generally has discretionary authority up to
$X, for a higher X than most people would believe they can negotiate in two sentences.Show this thread -
At the risk of stating the obvious: gate agents don’t give a fig what the company spends to buy those last N seats back. It isn’t their money. This is an edge case and they are not compensated on cost control. Also stating obvious: of course there is a spreadsheet here.
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My experience is that what they offer you to not take the flight is much lower than the cost of waiting for another flight once you factor in the value of your time.
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The capitalist in me says that this is why the auction is such a good mechanism, because the cost of your time is plausibly much more than that of other people on the same plane. I’ve happily taken the deal before, as a poor student or a single entrepreneur indifferent to time.
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Oh man, they're underselling. $1000 cash domestic, $2000 international. Add $500 if they insist on vouchers.
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I got $6000 in Amex gift cards last week to take a later flight the same day on a domestic US air carrier.
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