Ryanair flight overbooked, there is one too many passengers. The video: «Whoever gets off will have 250 euros and a free trip». A boy accepts

The plane is packed and the boy, backpack on his shoulder and bearing a remarkable resemblance to the comedian Alessandro Siani, crosses the aisle to applause. Someone shouts “well done!”, giving him a high five and along with the clapping also come sighs of relief: the Ryan flight from Bergamo to Palma de Mallorca is safe.

It happened the day before yesterday at Orio al Serio airport, a story told in two steps on Tik Tok by Yllylois (this is the nickname of the willing passenger) which narrates a bizarre but not uncommon situation: that of airline overbooking. Essentially airlines have the right to sell more tickets compared to the actual seats, using statistical data to calculate how many to sell, bearing in mind that, more often than not, there are so-called “no shows”: people who miss the plane for various reasons. Or he doesn’t take it at all (percentage ranging from 5% to 15%). In fact, booking the flight does not guarantee one hundred percent seat availability. And this is what the kind flight hostess says to the passengers already ready for take-off: «We are overbooked and there is a problem at the gate. There’s a decision to be made.”. That is, who remains on the ground? “The chosen passengers do not want to give up the trip, and we ask if there is a passenger who wants to do it.”

The first thing that the airline is required to do in these cases is in fact an appeal to “volunteers willing to give up the booking in exchange for benefits to be agreed between the passenger concerned and the operating air carrier” (pursuant to an European regulation). An inconvenience which, however, as the flight attendant is careful to announce, brings advantages: «He will receive 250 euros in compensation and a free flight for disembarkation». This is also a regulated aspect: the traveler who remains stranded has the right to financial compensation, the amount of which depends on the air route and the distance in kilometers covered by the flight (again pursuant to Article 7 of the aforementioned regulation). If the air route is intra-community and the distance is equal to or less than 1,500 kilometres, you are entitled to compensation of 250 euros. The amount that the hostess proposes. «If no one is found, in 20 minutes we will no longer be allowed to take off. It’s a decision that needs to be made quickly.” No sooner said than done, the sacrificial traveler sacrifices himself for the avian cause with a smile. Palma I arrive, but with the next flight.

The Irish company clarifies the dynamics of what happened and why, from his point of view (differently from what the hostess herself does) there should not be talk of overbooking: «The flight from Bergamo to Palma de Mallorca (on 12 June) – we read in the note from Ryanair – it was not “overbooked”: it was expected to operate with a 737-8200 aircraft (with 197 seats), but for operational reasons the original aircraft was replaced with a 737-800 (with 189 seats). As a result, a small number of passengers were transferred free of charge to the next available flights to Palma, departing later that day (12 June) or the following day (13 June). Ryanair sincerely apologizes to these passengers for any inconvenience caused as a result of this change of aircraft.”

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