JetBlue Never Bumps Passengers. Maybe It Should

One of the financial tricks in an airline executive’s tool kit is to sell more tickets than there are seats on a plane. If there are 150 seats, sell 175 tickets—people miss flights for myriad reasons and gate agents can typically muster enough volunteers who will take a later flight for a discount voucher.

Yet this process doesn’t play out at JetBlue Airways, which has shunned “bumping” since its first flight 14 years ago. “Our traditional mission is to bring humanity back to air travel, and we feel that customers that purchase a seat should get a seat,” spokeswoman Tamara Young says, adding that not overbooking is part of the company’s culture. It seems like a kinder way to treat travelers, but it might not be a smart way to run an airline.