A video showing Dr. David Dao being dragged off a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Louisville, Ky. has touched off a widespread conversation on the practice of overbooking, or selling more tickets on a plane than there are seats.
It’s a widespread, longtime practice within the aviation industry. But it’s one that’s receiving extra scrutiny now, after an incident that prompted an apology to Dao from United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz, who called his removal a “truly horrific event.”
United Airlines may be at the centre of the controversy, but the carrier didn’t bump more passengers than its competitors did last year, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Statistics contained in an “Air Travel Consumer Report” looked at passengers who held confirmed reservations but were denied boarding, or “bumped” from flights because they were overbooked.
It ranked U.S. carriers based on involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers.
In total, there were 475,054 denied boardings on U.S. airlines last year. Out of those, 434,425 denials were voluntary, and 40,629 were involuntary.
And that was out of just under 660 million passengers in total.
The average number of involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers was 0.54 across U.S. carriers.
READ MORE: What are your rights on an overbooked flight?
Those numbers were down from 2015.
Back then, there were 530,758 denied boardings, voluntarily and involuntary, due to oversales and that was with just over 601 million passengers in total — fewer than travelled in 2016.
The average involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 travellers was 0.69 that year.
United Airlines ranked in the bottom half of all U.S. carriers for overbookings last year; it was in the top half for 2015.
Airlines are, of course, allowed to bump passengers from flights when they overbook.
United Airlines warns passengers that all flights can be subject to overbooking, and that it retains the right to remove people.
New rules around overbooking may soon be coming to Canada: the federal government is preparing to introduce new legislation that will include bumping rules in an air passenger bill of rights.
READ MORE: Canada to unveil legislation to address overbooked flights
United Airlines may be the focus of a discussion around overbooking now.
But there are other U.S. airlines that are more likely to bump passengers against their will.
Here’s a list of U.S. carriers, ranked by involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers:
12) Hawaiian Airlines
Involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers: 0.05
11) Delta Air Lines
Involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers: 0.10
10) Virgin America
Involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers: 0.12
9) Alaska Airlines
Involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers: 0.40
8) United Airlines
Involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers: 0.43
7) Spirit Airlines
Involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers: 0.58
6) Frontier Airlines
Involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers: 0.58
5) American Airlines
Involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers: 0.64
4) JetBlue Airways
Involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers: 0.92
3) Skywest Airlines
Involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers: 0.98
2) Southwest Airlines
Involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers: 0.99
1) ExpressJet Airlines
Involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers: 1.51
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