The standby list
William Lewis of Johns Island, South Carolina, and his wife missed their US Airways flight out of Los Angeles after their Thai Airways flight arrived late from Bangkok. William told ITN that they still would have caught their flight to Charleston if their luggage had not taken so long to unload because the “Priority” tags had been ripped off of all four bags. (The tags went missing on their outbound Thai Air flight as well.)
They spent the night at an airport hotel and went back to the US Air desk the next morning three hours before the next-available flight. They stood in a long line, and when they reached the desk they were told that the flight was overbooked — and also that they would have had a higher priority for standby seats if they had booked directly with the airline instead of booking through Travelocity. Mr. Lewis says that now he always books directly with the airline.
ITN wrote to US Airways to corroborate the statement about “priority” and received the following reply dated Feb. 5, 2008.
Our customers have every right to expect they will be boarded on the flights they have reserved. Most airlines overbook flights because a significant number of passengers fail to show up for their reserved seats. If flights were not overbooked, fares would have to be increased dramatically to cover the lost revenue.
The number of overbooked seats is based on careful historical analysis on the number of passengers who actually show up for a given flight. Occasionally, when too many passengers show up for a flight, volunteers are solicited to take a later flight in exchange for compensation. If there are too few volunteers to accommodate everyone, passengers who did not check in early may be denied boarding and compensated according to federal regulations.
I realize this explanation does not change the facts in Mr. Lewis’ situation; however, I wanted to let you know there is a method behind the setting of these levels.
Whether our customers are booked through Travelocity or any other travel agent, our procedure for handling check-in and boarding does not vary. Our customers are just that: our customers. They all are subject to our fair procedures, have the same “priority” and deserve the finest treatment.
When our ticket counter agents process someone for check-in, they are not easily able to tell by what means a customer booked his or her travel. Generally, in an overbooking situation, not only specific to travel agency bookings but also to US Airways bookings, a portion of our customers are put on a list that the gate agent will review at time of boarding.
When the number of passengers who fail to show up for their reserved seats is recognized, those seats go to the passengers on that list. The order is not decided by method of booking but, rather, (priority is given to) confirmed passengers of that flight and then passengers standing by who were confirmed on a different flight. Within those two categories, time of check-in is the deciding factor of the passenger’s priority. Again, there is a specific method in place for these situations.
I sincerely apologize that Mr. Lewis was unable to board his reaccommodated flight and regret the inconvenience this caused.
CARRIE ANN HERRERA, Executive Liaison, Customer Relations, US Airways, 4000 E. Sky Harbor Blvd., Phoenix, AZ 85034