Airlines + Airports United Airlines United's New Way to Handle Overbooked Passengers Is a Bidding Scheme By Jess McHugh Jess McHugh Twitter Website Jess McHugh is a journalist, author, and researcher who has reported from North and South America, Europe, the Caribbean, and West Africa. She's written hundreds of stories, ranging from the fight to preserve world heritage in Palmyra, Syria, to the story of the first American dictionary. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, The Paris Review, Time, New York Magazine, The New Republic, Fortune, Village Voice, International Business Times, CNN, Avidly (Los Angeles Review of Books), AFP Services, The Believer, Lapham's Quarterly, Teen Vogue, Business Insider, InStyle, Dame, Thrillist, Man Repeller, and Travel + Leisure, among others. She can be found between New York City and Paris. * 8+ years of experience working as a writer and researcher * Author of "Americanon" (Dutton, Penguin-Random House, 2021) * Bilingual in French and English * Former staff reporter at Time Inc. and International Business Times. * Received a bachelor's degree in comparative literature from Yale University Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines Published on September 26, 2017 Share Tweet Pin Email United Airlines has a new solution to its overbooking problems: Put the passengers in a bidding war. Following a widely publicized incident earlier this year in which passenger David Dao was dragged off a flight to make room for a crew member, United has looked to revise their overbooking policy overall. The new system, which is still in a trial phase, would allow passengers to place bids on how much money they would be willing to accept to give up their seat on an overbooked flight. United would then select the passenger or passengers with the lowest bids, the Los Angeles Times reported. “As part of our commitment to further improve our customers’ travel experience with us, we plan to test an automated system that will offer customers an opportunity to voluntarily bid for a desired compensation amount in exchange for potentially changing travel plans if faced with an overbooked flight,” United Airlines said in a statement. The new system will begin in a trial phase next month in select airports, according to the Los Angeles Times. The policy is just the latest attempt to revise their overbooking policy following the dragging incident with David Dao. In April, just weeks after the dragging video went viral, the airline announced that they would offer up to $10,000 to passengers who gave up their seats on overbooked flights. Most airlines capped their offers of vouchers at $1,350, according to The New York Times, though many have revised their policies in the past five months. United put forth another plan in July, where they would inform passengers of their status on potentially overbooked flights up to five days ahead of their scheduled flight. These passengers would then have the opportunity to reschedule their flight within a 24-hour window of their original departure and receive a voucher. The plan supported the company’s bottom line as it would allow them to rebook passengers in advance and free up seats for last-minute travelers who might be willing to spend multiple times over what the original ticket was worth. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit