ohsostrange's Blog

I don't think the delays are "accidental" at all.  Every time I fly American with a connecting flight, the second flight is inevitably both "delayed" and overbooked.  They will always, but always announce that the plane is being worked on for "mechanical issues" and also that they need people to volunteer to be bumped to a later flight because they've overbooked. 

I'm convinced that the airline holds the planes up deliberately.  They wait until some of their fliers have either given up and gone home (maybe the flight delay means they have missed the meeting that was the point of the trip) or taken another flight from another airline, usually forfeiting at least part of what they paid for booking their original flight.  And then, once the flight "overbooking" has taken care of itself, the airline finally allows the plane to be boarded.

The airlines are so damned cheap that they would rather hold a flight for an hour or more than give out those vouchers as incentive for those who agree to be bumped.  They don't want to give up the extra money they've taken in from overbooking, either, if they can get people to give up and forfeit their prepaid seat instead. 

I honestly believe they're inconveniencing us on purpose in order to maximize their profits.  It cannot be coincidence that every flight I get to that's "overbooked" is also mysteriously "delayed" until the overbooking is no longer an issue for them.