Knowing your rights when it comes to airline policies can seriously pay off.

Air travel has suffered over the last couple of years as COVID-19-era layoffs led to staffing shortages and an increase in flight cancelations. You may feel the impact of the struggling industry during your next vacation, but if you know what you’re entitled to, you can minimize the damage.

Imagine you’re at the airport, waiting to board your flight for a vacation you’ve been planning for months. You’ve got your ticket, your airplane snacks are in your carry-on, life is good. Then, you’re called up to the information desk where you’re told that you’ve been bumped from the flight. What? Is that even legal?

It turns out, bumping passengers involuntarily from flights IS legal, and it happens more often than you’d think. Here’s our complete guide to what it really means to be bumped from a flight and what compensation airlines are required by law to give you if it happens.

What It Means To Be “Bumped” From a Flight

Before we can get into details about what you’re entitled to, we need to define what it means to be bumped from a flight. The U.S. Dept. of Transportation (DOT) defines bumping as a passenger being denied boarding because “there are more passengers scheduled to fly on an airplane than available seats.” This practice is not illegal, but it does have some compensation requirements in certain situations.

Before an airline will bump passengers, they will usually ask passengers to give up their seats voluntarily (often in exchange for compensation). They may offer incentives like cash or flight vouchers. The DOT says that “there is no limit to the amount of money or vouchers that the airline may offer, and passengers are free to negotiate with the airline.”

If there are not enough volunteers to give up their seats on a flight, the airline may bump passengers, which is also known as “involuntary denied boarding.” Airlines MUST give all passengers who are bumped from a flight “a written statement describing their rights and explaining how the carrier decides who gets bumped.” If you are bumped from a flight and are not offered this statement, you can request it.

Note that there are some other reasons that passengers could be removed from a flight that do NOT count as bumping. Some of those reasons (as listed on the DOT website) include the following:

• Being intoxicated or under the influence of illegal drugs.
• Attempting to interfere with the duties of a flight crew member.
• Disrupting flight operations or engaging in unruly behavior.
• Having an offensive odor that is not caused by a disability or illness.
• Assaulting, threatening, intimidating, or interfering with a crewmember in the performance of the crewmember’s duties aboard an aircraft being operated

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Why Do Airlines Bump Passengers?

It might at first seem like there’s a simple solution that would prevent the need to bump any passengers: airlines should just not overbook flights. However, the practice of overbooking is common for airlines because it reduces the risk of losing profits due to “no-shows.”

Airlines use data from previous flights to calculate how much to overlook each flight, and most of the time they correctly predict how many people will miss or skip their flights. Sometimes, however, the past data does not correctly predict the future outcome, or the airline might find out last minute that they need to use a seat for a crewmember or other VIP passenger such as a Federal Air Marshall. In those cases, the airline will have to bump passengers.

So what happens if you get bumped from your flight? Let’s get into the details of what you’re entitled to receive as compensation.

You’re Entitled to Compensation

If you meet all of the following criteria, you are entitled to involuntary denied boarding compensation:

• An airline requires you to give up your seat on an oversold flight
• You have a confirmed reservation for that flight
• You checked into your flight on time
• You arrived at the departure gate on time
• The airline cannot get you to your destination within one hour of your flight’s original arrival time

If you meet those requirements, you qualify for compensation, which is calculated based on the inconvenience caused by the bumping. The airline is required to reimburse you for your ticket and pay additional compensation, which is based on how long you will be delayed.

For domestic flights, you are entitled to receive 200% of one-way fare (potentially capped at $775) if your arrival time is delayed by 1 to 2 hours; you are entitled to receive 400% of one-way fare (potentially capped at $1,550) if your arrival time is delayed by over 2 hours. Here’s a chart showing those numbers:

For international flights, you are entitled to receive 200% of one-way fare (potentially capped at $775) if your arrival time is delayed by 1 to 4 hours; you are entitled to receive 400% of one-way fare (potentially capped at $1,550) if your arrival time is delayed by over 4 hours. This chart shows the compensation for international flights:

The DOT states that “airlines must offer passengers compensation at the airport on the same day” as passengers are bumped from their flights. There is no limit to how much airlines may pay passengers for bumping them. The DOT established these compensation requirements as minimums, but “airlines are free to give you more money than is required if they want to.”

Some Exceptions Apply

Those compensation amounts apply to most situations, but there are a few instances in which a bumped passenger is not entitled to compensation. This includes an aircraft change (if a smaller plane is substituted for a larger one due to “operational or safety reasons”), weight and balance concerns, charter flights, and flights on small aircraft that hold fewer than 30 passengers.

Compensation for bumping passengers is also not required for flights departing a foreign location. Some airlines may still provide compensation, but it is not required when the flight is departing from a country other than the U.S.

The compensation requirements listed above also don’t apply to downgrading. If you’re downgraded from a higher class of seating to a lower one, you are entitled to “a refund for the difference in price,” but not to additional compensation.

Answers to Other FAQs

How do airlines decide who gets bumped?

According to the DOT, “it is legal for airlines to involuntarily bump passengers from an oversold flight,” but “it is the airline’s responsibility to determine its own fair boarding priorities.” Criteria for choosing who gets bumped may be based on passengers’ check-in times, how much each passenger paid for a ticket, or the frequent flyer status of travelers.

Note that “the criteria cannot subject a passenger to any unjust or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage.”

Can I be bumped from my flight after I’ve already boarded?

Under most conditions, you cannot be bumped if you’ve already boarded your flight. The DOT says, “airlines are not allowed to deny you permission to board, or remove you from the flight if you have already boarded the flight; you have checked-in for your flight before the check-in deadline set by the airlines; and a gate agent has accepted your paper boarding pass or electronically scanned your boarding pass and let you know that you may proceed to board.”

Note that passengers can still be removed from a flight they already boarded if they present a safety or health risk or display “behavior that is considered obscene, disruptive, or otherwise unlawful.”

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Stay tuned to DFB for more updates that could impact your upcoming Disney vacation.

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Have you ever been bumped from a flight? What was your experience like? Let us know in the comments.