[joezydeco]

I've flown a good number of transatlantic routes with my family, and I've also flown over alone.

From my anecdata, being single greatly increases your chances of being bumped off a full flight. And it's a lot cheaper and easier to compensate/redirect one person than a family of four.

[sidewndr46]

You aren't really "bumped". They are legally allowed to oversell the plane. You were never getting on the plane in the first place. They just use weasel wording language like the flight being "full" when they communicate it

I did once have an airline offer me something like $1500 USD and 50,000 bonus miles if I was willing to cancel my flight, but that was days in advance.

[nfriedly]

> You were never getting on the plane in the first place.

I'm not sure that's true. The airlines are gambling that at least one person will miss the flight for whatever reason, and they'll get away with overbooking.

But, of course, when they loose that gamble, it's really a passenger that looses. The house always wins.

[free652]

> You were never getting on the plane in the first place.

Not always the case, you could be physically removed from the plane because the flight is full:

https://www.flyertalk.com/articles/overbooked-united-flight-...