Overbooking is an airline practice of selling more tickets than seats available. Are you going on vacation by plane? You may be affected by this practice and be denied boarding. In this case, what are your rights?
Overbooking is an authorized practice. However, on some flights, European law guarantees you assistance and financial compensation if the airline denies you boarding for this reason.
Soon the holidays and the realization of your desires of escape by an air trip, but be careful, buying a plane ticket does not guarantee a place on a flight ... The fault of overbooking or overbooking, a practice used by all airlines.
The technique of overbooking - or overbooking - consists of selling more tickets than seats available on the plane. Airlines have calculated statistically that on each flight, a small percentage of passengers do not show up at the boarding gate on the day of departure (nearly 5% of passengers cancel a trip each year).
Counting on these cancellations, airlines use overbooking, more or less depending on the time of day, in order to optimize the filling of the aircraft and thus recoup their costs.
Overbooking is completely legal and used by all airlines, but on condition that users' rights are respected, resulting from regulation n ° 261/204 of the European Parliament of 11 February 2004 which strictly regulates this practice and provides for the compensation of passengers.
In the event of overbooking, airlines must seek volunteers who agree to waive their reservation in exchange for certain services, according to terms to be agreed between the passengers concerned and the operating air carrier. You can accept, or not, the conditions offered by the company.
If you are not voluntary and cannot board, you are entitled to compensation (between € 250 and € 600) depending on the distance of the flight and the delays suffered before the rerouting. The airline must also provide you with the necessary assistance: refreshments, meals, telephone, hotel accommodation, transport from the airport to the place of accommodation, ...
When you are denied boarding due to overbooking, you have two options. You can decide to wait for another flight to the same destination or to forgo your flight.
Do you decide to wait for another flight? Saudi Airlines must then offer you a flight to the same destination, under equivalent conditions (same class ...) and without additional payment and provide you with free refreshments and catering within the waiting period, guarantee you accommodation and transport between the airport and place of accommodation if it is not possible to take another flight on the same day, and also offer you two telephone calls, telex, faxes or emails
Saudi Airlines must offer you a full refund of your ticket within 7 clear days. To obtain this refund, you do not have to take any additional steps. And know that this does not prevent you from claiming compensation from your carrier.
The amount of compensation to which you may be entitled is calculated according to the total delay on arrival and the length of the planned journey: for all flights up to 1,500 km: compensation is € 250 (125 € if the delay does not exceed 2 hours)
For flights within the European Union of more than 1,500 km: compensation is € 400 (€ 200 if the delay does not exceed 3 hours)
For all flights between 1,500 km and 3,500 km: compensation is € 400 (€ 200 if the delay does not exceed 3 hours).
For all flights between the European Union and another country outside the European Union over 3,500 km: compensation is € 600 (€ 300 if the delay does not exceed 4 hours).
Support and compensation cannot be effective if the denied boarding is attributable to you, that is to say, for example, if you do not have your papers or tickets, or if you arrive late. Only certain flights are affected by the right to assistance and compensation. Quite simply, flights that are scheduled from airports located in one of the EU countries such as France, Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden and Ireland, Germany and Austria, … y including Switzerland and Iceland.