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

Several reasons.

1. People late-cancel or no-show flights all the time. On many routes, Airlines intentionally oversell by a couple of seats. If no one cancels or no-shows, they end up in a bind.

2. If a flight gets canceled, passengers need to be rerouted. Many times, an airline would like to prioritize their first class or frequent flyers, so they announce an ovesell and offer cash for some peasant (/s) to take a later flight.

3. If the airline needs to move a flight crew from one hub to another, so that a later flight can depart on time, they may bump passengers.

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