Who is at fault when an airplane is at full capacity?

Question

Using SWA as an example for this question. An airline who is not cutting capacity but adding flights, who is at fault when the flight leaves the gate full? I ask this question because you see in the media complaints about full flights. I don't understand the reason behind the media making theses complaints.

Answer 1

Southwest is making progress on doing  up-to-capacity  flight booking sometime in the next several months. This is short for saying Pick your seat on all airlines besides Southwest which they have sooooooooooo many flights leaving per day, why complain over a overbooked flight if the next one arrives 20 minutes from now going to the same location? Southwest have a contract that is valid until I believe 2011 that gives Southwest a major discount on jet fuel. Compared to all the major airlines paying $150 a barrel on jet fuel, Southwest only pays $49 a barrel which makes Southwest along with Airtran as the only airlines that have not taken seats out of planes to save on fuel as they have been issued contracts based on their reflections on the U.S. Economy. Without those 2 airlines, We all would of seen a trip to Florida for a family taking their children on a vacation to Walt Disney World cost them about $2500 roundtrip for a family of 4 instead of a bargain of $700 for a family of 4 roundtrip.

Answer 2

A full flight is what the airlines want.  That means that they are getting the most revenue possible to fight fuel and other operating costs.  

To achieve this, most airlines oversell a flight segment by as much as 15% and hope for no-shows.  That is why solicit for volunteers to give up a seat and take a later flight.  They have to pay more in denied boarding compensation to the passenger who arrives at the gate and no seat is available than to volunteers.  They all do it, it is a numbers ad probability game.

Answer 3

A full flight means everyone is uncomfortable. Every middle seat is occupied, there aren't really enough restrooms, space for carry-on bags isn't enough, if meals are served (not the norm on SWA) then the flight attendants are pressed to distribute them in a timely manner, and so on.

The other compaint about "full" flights is that an aircraft leaving the gate at 100% capacity almost certainly means some passengers were "bumped".  Airlines routinely over-book many flights, using a formula that assumes there will always be a certain percentage of no-shows. Sometimes the formula is wrong.

Note that airlines (the businesses, not the flight crews) LOVE full flights because they maximize revenue.

Answer 4

This could be answered a whole bunch of ways. It could be the legacy carrier's fault for raising their fares and fees high enough that passengers are balking and headed for Southwest to save money. It could be the passengers fault for buying up all the tickets, because they need to get where they are going. It could be Southwest's fault for adding flights where they are needed and wanted. There isn't a simple answer for this. The aviation industry is in such turmoil that absolutely anything can happen and change within days. I, for one, am happy that the flights are full, because it means I'm still getting a steady paycheck with a company that is pushing through.