These are the airlines most likely to bump you from flights
- Frontier Airlines bumped the biggest proportion of passengers of the 15 largest US carriers in early 2023.
- Of every 10,000 Frontier passengers, 3.73 were involuntarily denied boarding due to oversales, the DOT said.
Frontier Airlines was the most likely of the 15 largest US carriers to bump people from flights in early 2023.
Of every 10,000 tickets sold for Frontier flights in the first three months of the year, 3.73 passengers were involuntarily denied boarding or "bumped" from the flight due to oversales, according to the latest Air Travel Consumer Report from the Department of Transportation's Office of Aviation Consumer Protection.
In that time period, just over 6.5 million passengers flew on Frontier flights, per the data included in June's Air Travel Consumer Report. A further 3,395 were voluntarily denied boarding and 2,442 were involuntarily denied boarding.
The data covers domestic US flights and international flights that departed from the US, and doesn't include passengers who were involuntarily denied boarding for other reasons.
Some airlines oversell tickets for their flights to compensate for no-shows. When airlines don't correctly predict how many people will actually turn up for a flight, some passengers have to be denied boarding.
Airlines first have to ask passengers to give up their seats voluntarily, often in exchange for a free or discounted flight, money, or vouchers, the DOT says. If there aren't enough volunteers then airlines are allowed to involuntarily deny boarding to some passengers.
Frontier is followed by Envoy Air, which in the quarter bumped 0.45 passengers per 10,000, per the ATCR. Frontier bumped more than eight times the percentage of passengers as Envoy.
At the other end of the list of the 15 largest US carriers are Allegiant Air, Delta Air Lines, Endeavor Air, and Hawaiian Airlines, which all didn't bump any passengers in the quarter, according to the ATCR.
In total, over the three months, the 15 carriers named in the report enplaned more than 192 million passengers and bumped 5,329, or around 0.28 per 10,000 passengers. This is significantly lower than the 0.44 per 10,000 bumped in the same quarter in 2022.
These are how the 15 carriers rank in terms of the proportion of passengers involuntarily bumped, per ATCR data:
- Frontier Airlines
- Envoy Air
- Spirit Airlines
- PSA Airlines
- American Airlines
- Skywest Airlines
- Republic Airways
- Southwest Airlines
- Alaska Airlines
- Jetblue Airways
- United Airlines
- Hawaiian Airlines, Endeavor Air, Allegiant Air, Delta Air Lines
Frontier says on its website that in the event of an overbooked flight, passengers who volunteer to give up their seats get "alternative travel accommodations" as well as a Frontier voucher. If there aren't enough volunteers, the airline generally bumps the passengers who checked in last, it says.
"It is our goal to find enough volunteers so that no customers are denied boarding involuntarily," the airlines says.
Frontier did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, made outside of regular working hours, about its ranking in the ATCR.
Its up to each airline how they select passengers to be bumped, but they may take into account factors such as the passenger's check-in time, their fare, or their frequent flyer status.
If passengers had a confirmed reservation, checked in and arrived at their gate on time, and will be delayed by at least one hour due to rebooking, they're eligible for compensation, though the amount depends on the price of their ticket and the length of their delay.