Korean carriers say ‘never’ to US overbooking fiasco

Full-service carriers in Korea said that an incident like the recent forced removal of a man from a United Airlines flight would never happen here.

Both Korean Air and Asiana Airlines told The Korea Herald that there were no concerns about the possibility of forcing passengers off of flights in Korea because of the protocol for handling overbooked situations.

Overbooking flights, a common practice among airlines to maximize seating on planes, became a particular point of attention following a viral video of a man being forcibly removed from a United Airlines plane.

According to industry officials, the United Airlines incident was not necessarily caused by overbooking passengers, but more by an unusual situation where flight crew members needed to board to get to their next assignment.

Still, the spread of the graphic video has stoked fears among some Korean passengers that they could be removed from an overbooked flight in a similar way.

Both full-service carriers confirmed that they overbook flights as part of revenue management strategies, but dismissed any concerns about the possibility of forcibly removing passengers from overbooked flights.

“We handle all of our overbooking rearrangements before boarding begins, by offering alternative flights or upgrading seats,” a spokesman for Korean Air said.

“If our seats cannot accommodate a passenger, the passenger would never get past the check-in counter,” a spokesman for Asiana Airlines said. “In our airline‘s history we have never pulled a passenger off a plane because of overbooking.”

Both spokesmen said that the airlines never had trouble finding passengers who were willing to give up their seat in exchange for compensation. They declined to comment on the extent to which flights were overbooked.

According to guidelines from the Transport Ministry, airlines must offer passengers an alternate flight and 20 percent or more of the flight’s price. If the airline cannot find a suitable alternate flight, they must refund the flight and pay for a different flight as well. A spokesman for Korean Air said that it was extremely rare for an overbooked passenger to request a full refund and compensation, because alternate flights and upgrades could cover nearly all overbooking issues. 

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)