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Travel & Airport English vocabulary · Delays, Cancellations & Connections

Overbooked

Meaning in travel & airport english, with examples

/ˌoʊvərˈbʊkt/adjectiveCommon term

In travel & airport english, overbooked means: Describes a flight or hotel that has sold more seats or rooms than it actually has, expecting that some customers will not show up.

In Turkish: kapasitesinden fazla satılmış, overbook olmuş

How it is used

When a flight is overbooked, staff first ask for volunteers to take a later flight in exchange for money or vouchers. If there are not enough, some passengers are denied boarding (informally, bumped) and may be entitled to compensation.

Example sentences

  1. The flight is overbooked. Would anyone be willing to fly tomorrow for 300 euros?

  2. The hotel was overbooked, so they moved us to their sister hotel.

Common collocations

  • overbooked flight
  • denied boarding
  • bumped from a flight
  • ask for volunteers
  • compensationMoney or something else of value given to a passenger because of a problem such as a long delay, a cancellation, denied boarding or damaged bags.
  • rebookTo book again, especially to move a passenger to a different flight, train or date after a cancellation, delay or missed connection.
  • boardTo get on a plane, ship, train or bus at the start of a journey; at airports it also describes the time when passengers are let on.
  • upgradeA move to a better class, seat, room or car than the one you booked, sometimes free and sometimes for an extra payment.

More terms: Delays, Cancellations & Connections

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