It's vacation time, and airlines are likely to "do the bump."
No, not the 1970s dance craze. "Bumping" is the practice of forcing passengers with tickets off an overbooked flight.
While only a fraction of air travelers ever face the problem, peak travel periods such as summer and Christmas are when overbooked flights are most likely.
On average, about 50,000 passengers are involuntarily bumped by the nation's 10 largest airlines each year, according to Department of Transportation statistics.
Airlines intentionally overbook flights because some passengers with reservations, usually business people, won't show up. But when everyone does show up, something has to give.
Airlines hate bumping -- it's bad public relations. But it's )R permissible under federal rules -- which also ensure that passengers will be compensated in most cases for their inconvenience.
The first step is for airlines to offer vouchers for future flights to entice passengers to voluntarily give up their seats. The more overbooked the flight, the more airlines offer. This can range from a ticket on the next flight plus a $150 voucher for future travel to two free first-class tickets.
More than 900,000 passengers on the 10 biggest airlines took the bait last year and gave up their overbooked seats.
If there aren't enough volunteers, the airline tells people who will fly and who will stay.
Most airlines still honor tickets according to the order in which you check in at the airport: The early birds get the seats. But with business fliers with expensive tickets grousing about service, more airlines are starting to give full-fare passengers first dibs on the seats. The less you paid, the less likely you will fly.
If you are bumped, know your rights:
* Airlines must provide a written explanation of passengers' rights, including what the government calls Denied Boarding Compensation.
* No compensation is due if the airline finds substitute transportation that gets you to your destination within one hour of your original arrival time.
* If the airline arranges another flight more than one hour but less than two hours after your original arrival time, the airline must pay an amount equal to the one-way fare to your final destination, up to $200. If the new flight makes you more than two hours late, or if the airline can't arrange a flight at all, compensation doubles to twice the amount of the one-way fare, $400 maximum.
