Ever since we saw the harrowing footage of police violently dragging a doctor off of a United Airlines flight two years ago, many of us found ourselves wondering why overbooked flights are a modern reality.
In fact, it seems like a baffling business practice. Once you run out of seats, you stop selling them, right?
However, according to Vox, the logic behind it is that a flight with passenger cancellations costs the airline more than a flight without them. So when flights are overbooked, they still make a full cabin's worth even if not everyone shows up.
Done right, overbooking means a few passengers get bumped up to first class and everybody's happy. Done wrong, situations like that infamous United flight or one that split one Michigan family arise.
