The effort to keep flights running on time actually begins long before the day of departure.
At Frontier’s headquarters on Tower Road in Denver, the revenue management department’s responsibilities include deciding on fare levels for different flights and how much flights can be overbooked.
For early-morning departures, there are typically more no-shows than usual, so flights are more heavily oversold. The same applies for departures during afternoon rush hour, because some fliers get stuck in traffic and miss their flights.
“Overbooking is important, but we keep it minimal,” said Lauren Bankston, manager of revenue management, a department of a dozen analysts.
If passengers don’t show up for flights and there are empty seats, that’s a lost opportunity to maximize revenue.
But if a flight is oversold, passengers must be bumped and accommodated on Frontier or another airline – at Frontier’s cost.
Also, boarding could take longer and delay the overbooked flight.
“There’s always a battle between revenue management and air operations,” said Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas. Frontier has worked “to really fine- tune that formula.”
