In April 2017, a passenger was injured while being forcibly removed from a fully-boarded, sold out domestic United Airlines flight. The incident was recorded on video and subsequently went viral, leading to widespread criticism of United Airlines and a decline in the company's stock price. It also highlighted the industry's practice of "bumping" passengers in order to accommodate deadheading airline employees needing to travel to certain destinations. As Thanksgiving, Christmas and America's peak travel season approach, has the shocking incident led to a reduction in the practice and which airlines are the most likely to still carry it out?
An analysis of U.S. Department of Transportation data carried out by website Upgraded Points found that bumping rates reached an all-time high in the second half of 2016 when 6.93 passengers per 100,000 were involuntarily denied boarding. The United Airlines incident has had a profound impact on bumping, however, and the rate plummeted to 2.08 instances per 100,000 passengers in the third quarter of 2017. Since then, it has risen slightly, standing at 3.06 involuntary denied boardings per 100,000 passengers in the second quarter of this year, making it an extremely rare phenomenon for American travelers.
Despite the unlikeliness of anybody ever experiencing it, the analysis found that Frontier Airlines had the highest bumping rate in 2018 with 6.28 instances per 100,000 passengers. Spirit came second on the list with 5.57 while there was a considerable gap back to Alaska Airlines in third place with 2.30. United Airlines certainly seems to have learned its lesson since April 2017 and it comes 12th on the list with its bumping rate declining to just 0.09 per 100,000 passengers. Elsewhere, 1.95 passengers per 100,000 were bumped on American Airlines while Delta's only had 0.02 per 100,000 passengers.
*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)
Involuntary denied boardings per 100,000 passengers in 2018
