Have Your Say

    Lemmy of Australia

    July 10, 2016

    Last Saturday morning, my wife had a confirmed ticket with an allocated seat on a Virgin Australia flight from Perth to Sydney. We arrived early and when I tried to use the machine to get a baggage tag and boarding pass, the seat allocation came up blank. We were directed to the International transfer queue (the only one operating) and after a long wait, I called a supervisor, who advised us that they had overbooked the flight, and she was now on the 4.30 pm flight! The ground staff were clearly embarrassed, and said that we should complain as it put them in a difficult situation. Apparently, they are able to do this as it is in their terms, but is it legal?
    After I made a huge fuss, they called their Brisbane base and authorised a transfer to a Qantas flight – and I hope they had to pay full fare!

    Editors' Comment

    As much as we don't agree with this it is pretty standard practice the world over. Flexible fares mean passengers can come and go as they wish and airlines can end up flying with empty seats that could have been sold. To overcome this they over sell flights to allow for the small percentage of passengers that often don't show up to their flight.