HOUSTON, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Southwest Airlines, a major U.S. airline and the world's largest low-cost carrier, said on Thursday that it intends to end the practice of overbooking flights.
Gary Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of the airline, said on Thursday that the Texas-based Southwest Airlines, which bumped 15,000 passengers off flights last year, had been thinking about ending overbooking for some time because of fewer no-shows.
This issue became more urgent after the United Airlines incident in which a passenger was violently dragged off an overbooked United flight at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on April 9, he added.
The airline did not give an exact date when it will end overbooking flights, but a spokeswoman for the airline gave details on Thursday that the airline will no longer need to overbook after better forecasting tools and a new reservations system come online next month.
The practice of overbooking flights in the United States has existed for some time as carriers say that they sell more tickets than available seats because some passengers often fail to show up.
Except JetBlue, which is the only major U.S. airline with a policy that bans overbooking, major airlines in the country like United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and American Airlines have maintain the policy.
United Airlines, which on Thursday reached a settlement with the passenger dragged off his flight, said on Thursday that it will not ban overbooking but seek to reduce it.
