Delta Airlines provides travel services to over 160 million global customers.
How much could an airline pay for an overbooked flight? If flying Delta, you may soon be asked the question, asking you to name the price of your seat before your next flight.
Delta Air Lines is asking customers to name a price, and in some cases, the request is coming before they even arrive at the airport.
The way most airlines have handled overbooked flights in the past, is to ask volunteers to be bumped to a later flight in exchange for cash, hotel stays and vouchers good for travel at a later date. Some frequent flyers have turned ‘bumping’ and collecting the vouchers into something of a sport to try to win as much free travel as possible.
Delta is now going one-step further by asking customers to participate in an eBay-like seat auction that begins when travelers check-in.
If overbooked, customers checking-in for a Delta flight online or airport kiosk will be asked at the check-in terminal if they want to provide a bid for a travel voucher that they would be willing to accept if bumped from the flight. The airline makes it clear that it starts with the lower bids first.
The seat bidding system eliminates the amount of work and time involved by gate attendants finding someone willing to accept vouchers, which should speed up boarding and cut back on flight delays, said Delta representative Anthony Black.
“They can do all that in advance,” Black said. “Through technology we’re actually creating additional time for our gate agents to manage the process of boarding passengers … This is a big thing for the operation.”
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