What are you talking about? Every US ticket I've bought has been non-refundable. I even tried notifying one that I wouldn't be using it as a courtesy and they were like "why are you calling? You can't get a refund and we don't care that you're not coming."

And of course there's a middle ground: being upfront about which seats are really reserved, and what you can expect for not-really-reserved seats on overbooking. None of this "oh you should have done research to realize what your rights and minimumn payment are and that this voucher is worthless".

Eliminating overbooking is overkill and some people are in fact confused on that matter. But please don't pretend the only alternative is some apocalypse.

I don't know which tickets you are buying, but I fly ~ 150,000 miles per year, all on non-refundable tickets. I change my plans ALL THE TIME, and those tickets are always credited to my account. I have to re-use them within 12 months, and the airline deducts a change fee from the value before making the deposit.

My work travel system even has a built-in tracking and reminder system for ticket vouchers that will nudge me to fly on a particular airline if I have a credit with them.

And, I will say this -- in nearly all situations, if an airline thinks they may need to involuntarily bump you, they won't assign you a seat. Once you have picked a seat on their reservation system, you have a very low chance of being bumped involuntarily. Once you have a boarding pass with a seat number on it, I'd guess that the odds are 100,000:1 that you're not going to get on board (unless you volunteer to take a voucher). All the more reason that the infamous United dragging incident was some kind of anti-unicorn (which wasn't about over-sold seats, after all -- it was about needing to accommodate a non-revenue flight crew).

So you're saying an airline that you fly 150,000 miles a year on treats you like a valuable customer? It works a little differently for the average Joe without elite status.

I go years and years between flights, and I had the same experience when I canceled. 80% of the ticket price was credited to me as long as I used it within a year.

No, I'm not saying that at all. First of all, I fly across many airlines, some of which I only fly once per year. Second, the ability to bank my un-used tickets has nothing to do with my frequent flier status, it's available to any passenger -- and I have used it on airlines that I have flown very infrequently (one in particular that I flew once and only once because they pissed me off so much that I let the credit lapse rather than fly them again, but that's a longer story), so I'm sure this is true.

Do I get special treatment on the airline I fly most? Yes, I do. I've been able to change tickets on that airline without a change fee as a courtesy on multiple occasions, in contradiction to their printed policies.

Airlines have been sneaking in newer lower tier ticket levels that exclude any sort of refunds or changes. You probably don't run into these through corporate travel, but if you have a basic fare your ticket is use it or lose it.

Yes, true, but those have all come online within the past 6 months or so (led, I think, by United, and then quickly copied by the other major carriers), and are still relatively rare even for leisure travel, at least in my experience. Unfortunately, I fear that you are right that they will take over the lowest end of the market.

I can't/won't book these for leisure travel, because they don't even allow you to sit with your family members.

Honestly, the recent penetration of basic economy into the US market is something I'm much more concerned about than involuntary bumping. If the airlines are successful, then they're just going to re-set the baseline for standard economy up by $100 or so a ticket. Planes were already full, it's not like they are going to increase revenue by offering cheaper tickets, they're just going to get away by giving you less for your money.

Regular airlines offering ultra-low fare deals (such as those offered by Spirit Airlines) is a new trend.

Not being able to cancel / refund your ticket is NOT a new trend.

Other than Southwest most airlines would not let you change your tickets without paying a fee, and this has been the case since quite a few years.

> Other than Southwest most airlines would not let you change your tickets without paying a fee, and this has been the case since quite a few years.

The new bit is you can't even pay a fee with the new basic fares--it's use it or lose it.

I agree, and I never said differently. Almost all US tickets are non-refundable, and have been forever. Likewise, almost all US tickets are changeable FOR A FEE, which I said pretty high up in the thread -- and the airlines are pretty flexible on what constitutes a change (you can pretty much book a new ticket for yourself within a year, after they deduct the fee).

Please tell me which US airline other than Southwest gives a full refund (even if it's in the form of airline credit) on a no-frills basic economy ticket to a passenger without special status after 24 hrs of booking the ticket.

The last I checked most of them charge change fee to the tune of 150-200 dollars. Moreover, if you get it in the form of airline credits it's further restricted in the sense that the credit is available only to the person under whose name the ticket was booked. So if I book tickets for my daughter and pay for them and have to cancel them, I can't use that money other than to buy a ticket for my daughter on the same airline in the next 12 months.

In the comment you are replying to, I specifically said "I have to re-use them within 12 months, and the airline deducts a change fee from the value before making the deposit." Changeable with a fee is not the same as non-changeable. Yes, there's a penalty, but if the original ticket was $500, you can still re-use more than half of the value.

Even on fully changeable tickets, with no fee, you can't assign them to another passenger. You'd have to have a refundable ticket, get the refund, and then buy another ticket.

But I don't think I ever implied differently?

> In the USA, nearly all airfares are changeable, even those that are sold as "non-changeable".

The vast majority of tickets sold in the USA have restrictions on changes.

> An airline industry that didn't overbook would be one where either everyone pays significantly more for their tickets, or where most tickets become truly non-changeable, as in you have to buy a totally new ticket if you change your travel date or time.

This is a legacy from time long past and it wasn't the best decision back then. If you put a little thought into most airline policies you can come up with something that is both more effective and provides a better customer experience while reducing costs or increasing profits.

There is simply not enough competition in the industry to force change.

And those "change fees" are $200, more than many shorter one-way economy fares.

to be fair those change fees only apply to the discount economy fares - you can pay more to have schedule flexibility with a flexible/refundable fair

I've never heard a rational justification for overbooking except that it allows airlines to sell more tickets than they have seats. On most airlines non-refundable fares have a change fee which cover the fuel costs in the event of a no-show. Southwest is the only one that does it right- their refundable fares have enough margin built in to cover no-show costs without change fees.

There is nothing inherently wrong with the idea of overbooking as it allows for more efficient use of planes, but if the airlines screws up and has too many passengers at the time the flight is to leave, involuntary bumping should not be allowed - it is the airline's responsibility to fulfill their contract. If they think paying people to give up their seat would be too expensive, they shouldn't overbook.

I agree the system in the article sounds like a good start - making more efficient use of planes is better for everyone.