Why airlines overbook flights — and what to do if the problem comes to you

It’s the airport nightmare nobody wants to have (Picture: Shutterstock / Olena Yakobchuk)

It could be you. It could be any of us. You don’t even know there’s a problem, but there is. And you only find out when it’s too late to do much about it.

We are talking, of course, about the universally unpleasant experience of finding yourself on an overbooked flight. Picture this.

Your carrier sold 250 seats for the Boeing 737 you are due to fly on today, and 245 passengers have checked in.

The trouble is, there are only 230 seats on the plane, which means 15 will be denied boarding — or ‘bumped’, as airlines like to say.

You’re probably thinking, why me? Why, of the 245 people queued up at the check-in desk, did they decide that my jou...