【Editor’s Take】What happens when flights oversell tickets? Do they really draw lots at random to kick passengers off the plane?

You book a flight for your trip, but then can’t get on board? What could be the reason? And how should you handle or resolve such a situation? Yesterday, a shocking incident occurred on a United Airlines flight departing from Chicago — the plane was fully booked, and one passenger was forcibly dragged off the aircraft by aviation police, even suffering a bloody lip, which was truly alarming.

Why did such an incident happen? To understand this, we need to start with the concept of “overselling.” So-called “overselling” means that an airline sells more tickets than there are available seats — for example, an economy class with 4,000 seats might have 4,100 tickets sold. The extra tickets may go unused (No Show), or passengers may receive complimentary seat upgrades or compensation in exchange for vacating their seats. However, the United Airlines incident was a bit different from typical overbooking scenarios because all passengers had already boarded the plane. The issue arose when four crew members needed seats, prompting the airline to ask already-boarded passengers to disembark — which ultimately led to a passenger being dragged off. So beyond “overselling,” this case also involved major problems with Crew Control and Seat Control.

According to regulations by the U.S. Department of Transportation, airlines must first seek volunteers willing to give up their seats and provide compensation, and they cannot deny boarding against a passenger’s will. But how is it decided who has to disembark? Each airline has its own priority order. Generally speaking, airline VIPs, members, or passengers traveling on group tickets from travel agencies are less likely to be asked to leave. For example, here’s what EVA Air, which also flies to the U.S., states:

If there aren’t enough volunteers, passengers may be involuntarily denied boarding in the following order:

• Passengers holding promotional or discounted tickets not issued by EVA Air.
• Passengers holding promotional or discounted tickets issued by EVA Air.
• Passengers holding promotional or discounted tickets not issued by the airline, except for government inspection officers.
• Regular passengers (not volunteers), with priority given to those holding the lowest fare types.

According to Hong Kong’s Trade Descriptions Ordinance, although the clause on “improper acceptance of payment” can regulate airline overbooking, the law also allows airlines to offer equivalent services, arrange refunds, or cite reasonable timeframes as grounds for exemption. That’s why we sometimes hear about airlines handling overbooking by offering refunds, rebooking on other flights, plus compensation. Whether to accept such arrangements depends on your urgency and whether the compensation is reasonable.

So why didn’t the passenger in this case volunteer to give up his seat? The next flight to his destination wasn’t until the afternoon of the following day, and United Airlines offered accommodation in Chicago on April 9 and cash compensation between $400 and $800. The passenger was a doctor, and according to his social media post, he needed to return to work in his city on April 10, so he was unwilling to give up his seat. This clearly shows that United Airlines handled the matter improperly and cannot shift the blame onto the passenger.

In reality, while airlines are certainly responsible for ticket overbooking, it’s even more crucial to communicate well with passengers before boarding and understand their needs. In this case, if the airline had communicated properly with the last few passengers to board, the forcible removal could have been avoided, and such a public relations disaster might have been prevented. After all, PR disasters stem not from PR itself, but from a company’s attitude and service — let this be a lesson for all.

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