Mumbai: Due to overbooking, Air India flight going to Chicago offloaded 50 passengers at the Mumbai airport on Tuesday (8 Jan).

In the last three days, this is the second instance when Air India had to offload its riders owing to non-availability of seats.

Around 60 passengers were offloaded on Friday from an Air India aircraft destined for London, the sources said.

The riders with valid air tickets came to board the aircraft, on Tuesday morning, were denied entry into the aircraft as the flight was overbooked.

This was the tough time for riders as Air India officials told them they would only be able to board another flight on the next day (Wednesday).

A representative told that airline offered hotel accommodation to all the offloaded passengers.

Sudhakar Reddy, president of Air Passengers Association of India said, “There seems to be either an error made by the booking agent or officer or there is something wrong with the computer system,”

“The computer itself does not accept any allotment beyond the standard norm,” Mr. Reddy added.

International airlines frequently overbook tickets with the intention that none of its seats remain unfilled, and in this case passengers have to suffer.

While explicating that overbooking of flights is an industry wide practice, Air India said that it feel sad about the hassle caused to its passengers.

Although the majority of airlines book more tickets than the aircraft capacity, Mr. Reddy said the rule does not let international flights to overbook beyond 10% extra.

The percentage is even smaller for domestic flights, he said.

Overbooking is common with airlines, mainly during the peak traffic season. In such circumstances, when passengers are offloaded, the airlines provide compensatory benefits.