A new European Regulation 261/2004 on compensation and assistance in the event of denied boarding, cancellation or long delay of flights, extends the rights of air passengers

摘要

Overbooking is a normal business practice in which airlines become engaged in, using statistical precision. The amount of passengers that fall victim to this practice depends on the safety margins taken into account when calculating the degree to which the airline believes it can overbook a certain flight. Profits of airlines are marginal. Understandably an airline will try everything to optimize its revenue. However, less understandable is the attitude of airlines when they have miscalculated the expected no-shows, and passengers are left stranded. The airline sector then often fails to meet the passengers' expectations and when this happens passengers do not know how to obtain satisfaction.