I arrived just over an hour early for my flight with American Airlines and was at the gate at least 45 minutes before scheduled take-off. When I arrived they were shuffling people for the extremely late flight to Austin before ours and, of course, our flight was moved back as well (It was the night after the legendary New York Tornado and awful flooding).

They told me that I had been one of the last people to check-in and that the flight was oversold. She told me that if no one volunteered, I was automatically bumped and would be given a measly $250 voucher (not even enough for a free flight) and a hotel until the next morning.

I explained to her that I had a meeting the next morning and that when I signed up, I picked out two seats. One for me and one for my fiance. 4B and 4C are actually mine. If there is somebody else sitting in the those seats when we board, then they will know who to bump… She said it doesn’t work that way and that it goes by last to check-in. The easier system for American Airlines to manage not the fair system. I explained to her that I own those two seats on this flight, it has nothing to do with when I checked in. I picked them out, I paid for them, they are my condo for the next 1.5 hours to Cincinnati.

She proceeded to try scare tactics saying that the plane can only hold a certain amount of weight and that if we put too many people on, it will “fall from the sky.” She said this with a straight face. Perhaps somebody could explain this to her bosses who have put the system of “over-selling” flights in place.

It is illegal for me to advertise and take money for a product I do not have. How is it the airlines get away with this on a regular basis? I would appreciate a little honesty from an industry that is as messed up as the airlines are currently (especially in NYC). Perhaps if they switched to a system of stand-by or guaranteed stand-by where they are up-front with patrons about the sold-out status, doesn’t it seem like it would be cheaper in the end than lying to them and then denying them later with cash and a hotel?

Happy ending is that there were four volunteers who didn’t mind waiting and we were able to get on, but those volunteers don’t make up for American Airlines’ failed policy. I will be avoiding them from now on.

Funny thing is… we sat in 4B and 4C. That’s messed up.