Which airlines flying to Las Vegas bump passengers the most?

Anyone who has been “bumped” from a flight knows how aggravating it can be.

Your ticket has been bought; hotel reservations have been made; plans to meet up with friends and family are on the calendar — and suddenly, the airline taking you to your destination won’t let you on the plane because the flight has been oversold.

While the U.S. Department of Transportation doesn’t track which airports are most likely to experience involuntary boarding, it does monitor which airlines are most likely to bump a passenger.

Fortunately for Las Vegans, only five of the top 10 airlines that deny boarding in oversell situations fly to Harry Reid International Airport.

Marc Porcar, CEO of QRFY, a Spanish software company based in Barcelona, analyzed Department of Transportation data and determined which airlines are most likely to deny passengers to board flights, voluntarily or involuntarily.

“Many airlines in America engage in the practice of overselling flights to maximize profits,” Porcar said. “They assume that not all booked passengers will show up, so they sell more tickets than there are seats available. While this approach can reduce the number of empty seats and help maintain low fares, it often leads to significant problems for some travelers and can cause frustration and stress for some passengers.”

QRFY researchers gathered Department of Transportation data from January 2023 to March 2024 and calculated the most denied boardings per 10,000 passengers.

Here are the five that fly to and from Las Vegas:

-Frontier Airlines (No. 3 nationwide). It denies 6.47 passengers per 10,000. In total, 23,044 people were denied boarding. 11,806 were denied boarding voluntarily, and 11,238 were involuntarily denied, the highest of any airline.

-Spirit Airlines (No. 4). There were 6.41 passengers denied boarding per 10,000 enplaned. In total, 17,382 were denied boarding, with 1,171 of those being involuntary. Over the period analyzed, 27,126,769 passengers were boarded.

-Delta Air Lines (No. 5). Delta is one of the U.S.’s largest airlines, with 183,183,512 enplaned passengers from January 2023 to March 2024; 6.32 per 10,000 of those were denied boarding due to oversold flights. All of the 115,827 passengers denied boarding Delta flights were voluntary.

-Alaska Airlines (No. 9). Alaska denied 2.83 passengers per 10,000. In total, 11,563 passengers were denied boarding, with only 231 of those being involuntary. In total, 40,794,050 passengers were enplaned over the period analyzed.

-Southwest Airlines (No. 10). Records showed Southwest denied 2.42 passengers per 10,000. Reid International’s busiest carrier enplaned 210,863,151 and of those, 50,951 were denied boarding due to the overselling of flights.

“Although this practice has many negatives, this strategy helps ensure that planes fly at full capacity, which is more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly,” Porcar said. “It also helps airlines manage the costs of operating flights, allowing them to offer lower ticket prices to consumers. In some cases, when flights are oversold, airlines offer generous compensation to passengers who volunteer to take a later flight, including vouchers, cash incentives and hotel accommodations, which can be beneficial for flexible travelers.”

The QRFY report also showed Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air is the carrier that is least likely to bump a passenger.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.