American Airlines has added a new feature to its smartphone app, allowing passengers to be notified in advance when a flight is overbooked and to volunteer to be bumped for compensation. The feature went live on May 3.
That’s actually playing catch-up to United and Delta, which already have a volunteer option—but American is beta-testing another feature that will up the ante: dynamic rebooking offers, which could be accepted with a click.
For example, a passenger flying LAX to Boston via DFW might receive an offer for a LAX-ORD-BOS ticket instead, with, say $100 as compensation. The offer would be bookable with a click. The advantage to the passenger would be the cash and time to adjust plans; the AAdvantage to AA would be smoother gate operations, and likely lower compensation totals.
