Overbooking ejects 60 from flight to US

Mumbai: Around 60 passengers, including students travelling to universities in the US, were stranded at the airport early this morning after Air India told them their valid tickets could not earn them a seat on the A-125 Mumbai-London-Chicago flight. The reason: the flight was overbooked.
“I was told one hour before the flight time that my seat was no longer valid. They told us we would be accommodated tomorrow. There was no explanation given. Here I am, left with dummy tickets,” said Vivek B., a student who had a valid ticket to Chicago.
Some agitated passengers had noisy fights with Air India officials when they were kept waiting in the queue while the boarding-pass counter was abruptly shut.
An Air India spokesperson said overbooking of flights was a global practice in the aviation industry to counter last-minute cancellations by passengers and dismissed it as a routine operational problem.
He said the incident happened at 7.30am when the airline discovered that all confirmed passengers had arrived on time, causing a problem.
08/01/08 The Telegraph

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Categories: Air India - International Jan 2008, Airports Jan 2008, Foreign Jan 2008, NACIL Jan 2008