American Airlines Is the Worst for Bumping Passengers. Now It Says It Will Stop.
I find flying is bad for my "condition". I suffer from acute anxiety.
American Airlines Is the Worst for Bumping Passengers. Now It Says It Will Stop.
The carrier, which was responsible for 60% of fliers who were involuntarily removed from flights, says test programs worked to curb the practice
By Alison Sider and Rebecca Cadenhead, WSJ
Oct. 8, 2026 5:04 pm ET
American Airlines says it focusing on getting people to give up their seats voluntarily.
American Airlines says it will stop the practice of involuntarily bumping passengers from flights.
American Airlines, which was responsible for 60% of passengers who were involuntarily bumped from their flights last year, says it will stop the practice.
Arriving at an airport only to be turned away because there aren’t enough seats on the flight is one of the worst frustrations passengers can encounter. For years American had been one of the worst offenders. Rivals moved to curb the practice of bumping fliers years ago, spurred on by a high-profile 2017 incident in which airport police forcibly dragged a doctor off a United Express flight, igniting a firestorm of criticism.
Now, as American tries to improve its reputation with customers and better manage disruptions, the Fort Worth-based carrier is doing more to avoid those situations by focusing on getting people to give up their seats voluntarily.
“We’ve improved technology and improved process. And now I think we feel we’re to the point where we do not take an “involuntary denied” boarding,” Heather Garboden, American’s chief customer officer, said.
The new approach was first reported by View From the Wing, an aviation blog.
“This is a case of American doing what their rivals have already been doing,” said Bill McGee, a consumer advocate and senior fellow for aviation at American Economic Liberties Project.
The airline said it is being more proactive about asking volunteers to give up their seats on overbooked flights ahead of time, reaching out to travelers through the app and email notifications long before they arrive at their gates.
It is also making it clear to employees that eliminating bumping is now a requirement, not a goal, according to a memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Gate agents now start making announcements earlier when a flight is oversold, including explaining why and mentioning compensation options right away for volunteering to take a later flight.
Involuntary bumping is relatively rare—fewer than 25,000 people were involuntarily bumped last year on U.S. airlines out of the millions who flew. Most of the time, offers of cash, travel vouchers and accommodations can help persuade passengers with flexible plans to give up seats voluntarily.
But American became an outlier after other carriers managed to tamp down on the practice. Only budget carrier Frontier Airlines bumped passengers at a higher rate, which the carrier said is “something we are currently working on.”
American has instructed employees to keep trying to get customers to agree to an offer, even if it means a brief flight delay. Gate agents can guarantee volunteers a seat on the next flight to their destination—not just the next flight with empty seats. Local leadership can authorize a bigger payout without approval from another team at headquarters.
American said the changes have already started to work.
At airports where it tested out new technology and procedures this summer, involuntary bumping was eliminated. The airline has slashed its rate of involuntary bumping since the start of the year, reducing those situations by 55% in the second quarter from a year earlier, and 85% in the third quarter.
The company’s new approach comes as it tries to close a financial gap with its biggest competitors and burnish its premium travel bona fides with new lounges and more high-end seating. The airline announced Thursday that it plans to expand its rollout of Starlink internet to its entire mainline fleet, embracing the fast wi-fi that has become a popular passenger perk.
The carrier said it has also been trying to do a better job handling weather disruptions and has worked to address other practices that annoy customers, such as rolling delays.
Airlines have overbooked flights for decades. Some passengers simply don’t show up, and a seat that is empty when the plane takes off is one that could have been sold to another customer—perhaps one willing to pay a higher last-minute fare. And it’s not always the case that airlines have intentionally sold more tickets than seats. Planes are often substituted during disruptions. That can mean swapping in a smaller plane with fewer seats available. And unexpected weight restrictions can crop up due to weather, runway changes or fuel requirements.
The Department of Transportation requires airlines to compensate passengers who are bumped due to oversold flights. Airlines have to pay as much as $2,150 when bumped passengers face lengthy delays. But they can also offer more than that to encourage volunteers. Some travelers have reported offers worth thousands of dollars in recent years after carriers including United Airlines and Delta Air Lines boosted maximum payouts in the wake of the 2017 passenger-dragging incident.
Delta has also worked to eliminate involuntary bumping and bumps virtually no passengers, according to government data.
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