Texts: A Boeing 767-300 airplane has 213 seats. When someone buys a ticket for a flight, there is a 0.0995 probability that the person will NOT show up (based on data from an IBM research paper by Lawrence, Hong, and Cherrier). Certainly, it isn't efficient for a plane to fly with empty seats. Thus, many airlines overbook flights. In fact, 229 reservations should be accepted for such a flight for there to be at least a 0.95 probability that all reservation holders who show up will have a seat.
1. What do you think of overbooking policies from a consumer's point of view?
2. Is there real justification for overbooking from an airline's perspective?