Compromise: noun 1. a settlement of differences by mutual concessions; an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing claims, principles, etc., by reciprocal modification of demands. 2. something intermediate between different things: The split-level is a compromise between a ranch house and a multistoried house. A day booking hotel is a perfect compromise for stranded passengers due to overbooked airlines.

Alternative: adjective 1. affording a choice of two or more things, propositions, or courses of action; employing or following nontraditional or unconventional ideas, methods, etc.; existing outside the establishment: an alternative newspaper; alternative lifestyles.

If I were a United Airlines representative or UA flight 3411 passenger Dr. David Dao, I would be seeing some Apollo-propelled sun thundering through clouds of misery after violent events and plummeting stock values of last week. HotelsByDay offers an alternative compromise for anyone helplessly caught up in ruined travel plans. With HotelsByDay, passengers can look forward to a serendipitous layover and voluntarily give up a seat on an overbooked flight. We offer sanctuary at a day booking hotel, many with flexible check in check out times. A port in a storm in the midst of frustratingly changed travel arrangements turns into a place of solace.

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The Overbooking Heard Around the World

Eight days ago we witnessed an egregious unraveling of personal rights, money offered in reparation for violence, and suspicion of authorities we entrust to keep us safe.

You have, no doubt, heard about the incident which happened on a Republic Air/United Airlines Express flight last week. (Republic Airline was operating under United Air Express). The story of a coercively removed United Air Express flight 3411 passenger at 5.20 pm on April 9, 2017, raced to all corners of social media. United claimed to have needed to deplane four passengers as they had overbooked the journey from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to Louisville’s International Airport. They needed to make room for crew members bound for an unstaffed craft in Louisville.

Before the removal commenced, United management offered compensation to the passengers asked to deplane. They were first offered $400 in airline vouchers, a hotel stay and a spot on a plane departing 21 hours later. No passengers accepted. The airline raised the reparation to $800 in vouchers. No volunteers. A United manager then boarded and “involuntarily selected” four candidates for removal.

The Doctor Needs A Doctor

Three complied but 69-year-old Dr. Dao of Elizabethtown, Kentucky balked. Saying, “he needed to be at his clinic to see patients the next day.” Unfortunately for Dao, United sought help from Chicago’s Department of Aviation to remove him. Dr. Dao was forcibly removed from the Embraer 170 aircraft. He apparently hit his face on the armrest. He incurred two broken teeth and a bloody, broken nose before being dragged up the craft’s aisle in the mêlée that ensued. As Dao’s apparently unconscious body traveled up the aisle, four other passengers were so distressed they left the aircraft. 

Soon four Republic Airline crew members boarded. Then, Dao re-boarded the aircraft, saying, “I have to go home.” After he allegedly passed out in his seat, he was taken to the hospital. The flight left, after blood and remnants of the struggle were cleared away. The incident lasted two hours and was downplayed by the airlines.

Sold Out

There have been conflicting reports from UA saying the flight was either overbooked or merely sold out. Regardless of how we travelers feel, overbooking is a profession-wide business practice to oversell seats to compensate for travelers who don’t show for their flight. Most carriers seem to take this deregulated, capitalist approach because getting paying backsides into empty seats is more profitable than flying at less than maximum capacity. 

The Department of Transportation has “clear guidance about compensation due to fliers, involuntarily denied  boarding.” If the airline arranges substitute transportation that is scheduled to arrive at your destination between one and two hours after your original arrival time (between one and four hours on international flights), the airline must pay you an amount equal to 200% of your one-way fare to your final destination that day, with a $675 maximum. If the substitute transportation is scheduled to get you to your destination more than two hours later (four hours internationally), or if the airline does not make any substitute travel arrangements for you, the compensation doubles (400% of your one-way fare, $1350 maximum).

USA Today contributor Matt Glowicki adds that Ladd Sanger, a Dallas-based attorney said, “Technically, a passenger who refuses to get off a plane could be charged with violating federal law, even if the officials who removed them from the flight exercised their authority in an excessive situation where ‘the passenger almost always loses.’ Once the airline labels you as a disruptive passenger and that you pose any kind of a risk to the flight, then you have to go,” Sanger said. “You’re going to go voluntarily or you’re going to go in handcuffs, but you’re going.”

Day Booking Hotels: Cure for Overbooking Blues

Enter our silver lining: HotelsByDay has a beneficial alternative, a compromise upon which both parties could have circumvented this escalated episode. 

A day booking hotel from HotelsByDay offers the same exact hotel rooms one might book for an overnight stay. But with a flexible day-stay lower rate. Travelers unexpectedly bumped from overbooking, coming in on the red eye, loaded down with gear and children now have the perfect respite. Staying at a day booking hotel from HotelsByDay affords you all the benefits of a premier hotel while saving money.

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We offer folks stranded on long layovers or victims of overbooked flights a better choice. Once they check in, they are full guests of the hotel. Check-ins are usually 9 am-11am with checkouts around 8pm-11pm (stays required to be at least four hours). Arriving at odd hours in an airport, we’ve obliterated the anxiety of dragging around luggage and kids and laptops and thoughts of “Oh-no-my-mobile-is-at-2%-battery-life.”

Win-Win-Win

Travel Government informs us that, “Airlines may offer free tickets or dollar-amount vouchers for future flights in place of a check for denied boarding compensation…if you are bumped involuntarily you have the right to insist on a check if that is (your) preference.” 

Overbooking (which is not an illegal practice) has become more frequent with the rise in airlines and air patrons. The cash/voucher compensation plays into HotelsByDay perfectly. Simply accept the voucher and know that a day booking hotel awaits.

HotelsByDay has over 450 properties in more than 50 cities. The company has worked diligently to create a symbiotic relationship between hotels and travelers: the passengers find solace and the hotel is able to fill what would have been an empty room. Win. And. Win.

For guidelines about how day booking hotels from HotelsByDay works, please visit our comprehensive website.  

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Victoria Sangiovese