I agree there is a misinterpretation of the term "bumped." The author of the Yahoo! article exacerbates this misinterpretation, IMO, by assuming the inexperienced traveling public knows the difference between volunteering and being involuntarily denied. The problem basically is the term "bumped" from a flight has a different meaning to the general public than it does to experienced travelers and airline employees and non-revs. To the general public, if they bought a ticket on a flight and then did not get on (assuming they met all the requirements such as being at the gate on time, etc) they call it "getting bumped." While in reality they either volunteered or were involuntarily denied boarding. The difference between volunteering and involuntarily denied boarding is what determines whether compensation is legally required. You and I know the difference as we are experienced travelers as do many other experienced travelers on this forum. The problem is going to be with the passengers who are not experienced and only travel a few times a year are going to expect something in a situation that they are not entitled to it because they don't know the difference. I got my info on this from the DOT's own website where I
searched the CFRs.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Butch Cassidy Slept Here
A basic characteristic of "bumping" is that the plane ALWAYS takes-off. Otherwise, you may be talking about "Denied Boarding."
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Whether the airplane you had a reservation on takes off or not has nothing to do with being bumped or denied boarding. The only time this would matter is if the flight was cancelled, in which case the airline is not legally obligated to give compensation other than rebooking or a full refund.
Just to tack on to the end... you can be denied boarding for many reasons and not be legally entitled to any compensation, ie: being intoxicated, being barefoot, having a communicable disease, etc. These requirements will all be in the airlines C.O.C.