eli5 How and why do airline flights get oversold?

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To the point at which they need to reject passengers ? I can only think that it’s due to poor management and organisation ? Does anyone have any legitimate reason ?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

This is what people need to remember about businesses that have an “audience” or passengers. Airlines, hotels, movie theaters, performances. They’re selling a **time-limited** product. They’re selling seats on a *particular* flight, rooms on a *particular* night, seats for a *specific* performance. When that time has passed, that inventory is gone forever and can never be sold again. So they’re interested in maximizing the number of seats sold on *every* flight. It’s a different revenue model than, say, a stuffed animal that can sit for weeks on the shelf of Wal-Mart and sell when it sells.

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