Airlines Are Backing Volantio (YC W09), a Startup That Could Fix Overbooking

Re:Airlines Are Backing Volantio (YC W09), a Startup That Co... by ryanwaggoner on Saturday April 14, 2018 @05:59PM (#16839778)

If a significant fraction of people won’t show up AND a significant fraction of those who do show up will have flexible plans and be happy to take a later flight, “overbooking” seems a lot more reasonable.

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Re:Airlines Are Backing Volantio (YC W09), a Startup That Co... by bogomipz on Sunday April 15, 2018 @02:22AM (#16841510)

>"If a significant fraction of people won’t show up ."

I think its safe to say that there isn't a "significant fraction" of people who don't show up for their flights.

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Re:Airlines Are Backing Volantio (YC W09), a Startup That Co... by wpietri on Sunday April 15, 2018 @10:45AM (#16842855)

The fraction is obviously significant to the people trying to make sure airplanes are fully utilized, so this seems like a word game to me. People miss flights all the time.

A brief look for stats doesn't turn up hard data, but TechCrunch has it at ~5%:

https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/11/overbooking/

Someone who worked in ticketing for two airlines says it's 2% for flights to hubs, and 5-8% for flights from hubs, because of missed connections:

https://www.quora.com/What-percentage-of-people-who-check-in...

According to IATA, a good year for airline industry profits is circa 5%:

http://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/Pages/2016-12-08-01.aspx

So even if we take the lowest fraction, 2%, filling those seats represents 40% of the profit margin. That sounds pretty significant to me.

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Re:Airlines Are Backing Volantio (YC W09), a Startup That Co... by hueving on Sunday April 15, 2018 @06:36PM (#16845398)

I think it's safe to say you don't understand why the refundable fare class exists then.

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