Unit 1 Booking Tickets Part B《民航服务英语口语》教学课件.pptx

Oral English for Civil Aviation Service民航服务英语口语 Part B Supplementary ReadingBooking TicketsUnit 1 Overbooked Flight Many passengers are surprised to see how often they book a ticket, and turn up at the airport only to find that they are not allowed to get on the aircraft because all the seats have already been taken. 1 When this happens, we say that the aircraft has been overbooked. Overbooking happens on both domestic flights and international flights, though it is less common on international flights. 2 Passengers often wonder what went wrong. Did the airline make a mistake? Did the computer go wrong? Many airlines regularly overbook busy routes by as much as 200 percent. 3 They routinely overbook flights to compensate for no shows4: people who reschedule or opt not to fly. Business travelers often cancel their trips at the last minute. An empty seat on a plane means a loss of revenue to an airline. But if everyone shows up, the overbooking will cause an over sale. Overbooked Flight Airlines may ask for volunteers to give away their seats, and / or refuse boarding to certain passengers, in exchange for a compensation that may include an additional free ticket or an upgrading in a later flight. 5 Thus, the airlines have to balance the risk of a no-show with the compensation they have to pay to bumped passengers. 6 They overbook according to a number of variables: whether it’s a holiday season, how the airline market is doing in general, and perhaps most important, a specific flight’s history of no-shows. 7 Some airlines do not overbook as a policy to avoid customer disappointment. They are able to do this and remain profitable as the majority of their customers are tourists, instead of business fliers, and their tickets are non-refundable. 8 Often, only economy class is overbooked while higher classes are not, allowing the airline to upgrade some passengers. Words and Phrasesoverbook [?uv?’buk]