I haven’t carried out an entry on this sequence for a very long time, and actually once I acquired this e mail from a reader, I didn’t suppose I’d be doing it right here both. However then, it seems, the reply is way extra attention-grabbing than I anticipated.
Let’s begin with the query from William…
I haven’t seen this earlier than. Has Southwest quietly modified its overbooking coverage? I’m at all times recreation for a voluntary bump, however there’s no approach I’ll do that for $30. May they provide that quantity to me in rolled up pennies as a substitute, possibly? I assume Southwest is searching for individuals who wished to alter, however the fares had been too excessive.
He included a screenshot of an e mail the place certainly he was supplied $30 if he wished to alter his flight. I’ve seen different airways do that, however I, like William, assumed Southwest wouldn’t do that because it doesn’t overbook. My guess on the time was that he was simply downgauged from a B737-800/-8 to a B737-700, so that they needed to offload some passengers. However then I acquired the identical e mail.
To be honest, this wasn’t the very same e mail. Mine was solely $20 as a substitute of $30. However I used to be at all times scheduled on a B737-700, so this couldn’t have been a downgauge. Is Southwest overbooking once more? No. No it’s not.
The dots lastly linked when this press launch from Volantio got here out on October 15. Apparently, Southwest will ship emails to clients on high-demand flights to attempt to get them to maneuver on to a special choice. That is what Volantio apparently calls “Publish-Reserving Income Administration.” Possibly that’s an business time period and I’m simply not conscious of it, but it surely does make sense.
As I see it, the thought is that inside per week of journey, Southwest could have regrets. If it offered low cost seats and demand stays sturdy, it may have offered these seats for extra money. So, it would open up flexibility for vacationers. Not solely will it enable them to alter free of charge, however they’ll throw a small enticement in. In my case, it was $20 in future credit score. In William’s case, it was $30.
I can’t think about any traveler being swayed by the small quantity of credit score. That is extra about discovering the traveler who possibly wished to change anyway. In that case, it needs to be a no brainer… if it was carried out higher. As you see in that e mail, for those who swap, you’ll lose any upgraded/EarlyBird boarding that you just bought. You don’t even get your a refund. You simply lose.
It is a non permanent concern, in fact, since assigned seating is available in January. However I’m quite curious to see how they determine to deal with it when individuals have paid for Additional Legroom seating when the time comes.
For me, this was a non-starter anyway. I didn’t have flexibility on time. However Southwest did give me three choices in case I did. The primary two had been ridiculous since they had been two full days earlier, however the third was only a morning flight that very same day. I can see that being interesting to some individuals.
On this case, I paid someplace round $170 a technique. Proper now, the most cost effective ticket on that flight is promoting for $240. If I can transfer to a special flight, even for those who rely the $20 credit score as money, they nonetheless stand to make an additional $50 if they’ll resell it.
This requires the system to be moderately good at predicting if a seat will be resold or not, however that is additionally not new know-how. There’s a observe document. I used to be supplied the identical factor by Alaska earlier this yr. I simply assumed it was associated to overbooking, however there’s no cause it needs to be.
This appears like a pleasant little alternative to juice income only a bit by providing one thing that ought to solely be considered as a profit to the client. I say it “ought to” be considered that approach, as a result of the present implementation that takes away your precedence boarding has an absolute draw back. Hopefully that may change in January. If the mathematics works proper, the upside is there for the airline.
So, that’s the reply, William. Thanks for main me to be taught extra about precisely what was occurring right here.
