Eleven Maltese passengers were stranded at Athens airport for hours yesterday because their Air Malta flight was overbooked.
Monica Micallef and her husband Paul were still in Greece last night and had been promised a connecting flight to London, hoping to arrive home tomorrow morning – almost 40 hours after their scheduled return.
“The tickets had been booked three months ago. I’m really angry at the situation,” Ms Micallef told Times of Malta.
The passengers found about the overbooking when they arrived at the airport at 7am to check in for their 8am flight, only to be told there were no empty seats on the plane.
An Air Malta spokesman confirmed that flight KM781 from Athens had been overbooked by 11 passengers and that the airline was doing “its utmost to reroute the affected passengers on to the first available flight with other airlines”.
As the hours passed, connecting flights were found for most of the passengers, with the exception of the Micallefs.
“So far, we have been told we might get back home on Sunday but that might change if they can get us out earlier in the day. However, details will come in tomorrow [Saturday],” Ms Micallef said.
The spokesman said overbooking was a “normal occurrence” in the airline industry and not particular to Air Malta.
Airlines overbook flights in anticipation of people booking a seat but not showing up at the check-in desks, he said.
“Not overbooking flights may result in many prospective passengers being denied an opportunity to fly because seats would otherwise remain unused,” the spokesman said.
Air Malta had a very low rate of denied boarding compared to the industry as a whole, he added.
When passengers were denied boarding, the airline did its utmost to re-accommodate them to their final destination as quickly as possible to minimise inconvenience or provide a full refund.
It also assisted with support on the ground and paid compensation in line with regulatory requirements.
“Air Malta sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused to these clients,” he said.