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Airline Overbooking: How to Turn a Bump into Big Compensation with These Tips

October 29, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

Overbooking, also known as over-reservation in France, is a practice used by airlines that involves selling more tickets than there are seats available on the plane. The principle rests on the assumption that a certain number of passengers will not show up for boarding. However, when all passengers do turn up, the airline is required to deny boarding to some travelers.

To avoid unpleasant surprises, our colleagues at the Washington Post advise checking that your plane ticket has been confirmed and that you are not on a waitlist. Check in as early as possible, typically 24 hours before departure. This signals to the airline that you intend to take the flight. Also arrive at the boarding gate well in advance. Late passengers, who risk missing the final call, may see their seats assigned to someone else.

In some cases, the airline may contact you directly to find out whether you would be willing to travel later or to offer compensation in exchange for giving up your seat.

How to obtain meaningful compensation once you have given up your seat?

In a full flight and overbooking scenario, the airline may first look for volunteers ready to relinquish their seats. While it is an inconvenience, the Washington Post notes that it can become an advantage for flexible travelers. “I got free purchases on Amazon for the rest of the year” shares with our colleagues Sally French, who agreed not to take her flight.

The travel writer at NerdWallet received 600 dollars in gift cards, as well as a seat on the next flight, which was scheduled only an hour and a half later. Another passenger interviewed explains that he received 1,000 dollars in travel credits, plus a hotel night and meal vouchers. Each airline seems to offer different forms of compensation, ranging from shopping vouchers to additional perks, including cash.

This option is mainly targeted at travelers without checked luggage and with a flexible schedule. Before agreeing, our colleagues remind you to check whether other flights to your destination are scheduled for the day and to negotiate the terms of compensation.

Denied boarding in France: what are your rights?

If you do not accept to give up your seat and the airline refuses you boarding due to lack of available seats, EU regulations provide assistance and financial compensation under certain conditions related notably to the route and the airline.

According to the Economy Ministry site, the amounts planned are 250 euros for flights of 1,500 km or less, 400 euros for certain flights over 1,500 km and up to 3,500 km, and 600 euros for international flights over 3,500 km. Compensation can be reduced by half if the arrival delay remains below certain thresholds.

Additionally, the airline must offer you a rerouting option to your destination as soon as possible, another flight on a later date, or a full refund if you decline the trip. If you take another flight, the airline must cover meals and refreshments, as well as accommodation in certain cases. The Public Service recommends keeping receipts and asking the airline for a written note outlining the steps to obtain the compensation.

If you have experienced a grievance and encounter difficulties in getting reimbursed certain expenses, file a complaint with the airline’s customer service. If there is no response, you can contact the Tourism and Travel Ombudsman.

Tahiti and Its Islands Turn the Off-Season into a Season of Abundance

October 26, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

Vaihere Lissant, directrice générale de Tahiti Tourisme : « Nous travaillons actuellement sur notre stratégie touristique à horizon 2035 » - Photo : AB

PONANT

In 2025, French Polynesia drew almost as many visitors as there are inhabitants. For the third consecutive year, Tahiti and its Islands shattered its attendance record.

In 2026, the outlook will be a little different. “It is a transitional year with 18% of the hotel stock undergoing major renovations. The figures also show a slight slowdown in visitation at the start of the year, partly linked to the Middle East conflict. We felt this hesitancy as tourism professionals were busy reorganizing Middle East bookings,” explains Vaihere Lissant, Chief Executive Officer of Tahiti Tourisme.

Nevertheless, with a rise in last-minute bookings, the peak season looks “quite good,” the DG cautiously anticipates, underscoring nonetheless “a truly marked return of seasonality.”

Read also: French Polynesia posts its tourism record in 2025

Attracting more visitors from November to March

While Tahiti Tourisme welcomes these encouraging signals, the destination’s marketing body Tahiti et Ses Îles also hopes to turn the tide during the off-season, from November to March.

“We are currently working on our tourism strategy with a horizon of 2035. Our goal is to continue developing a tourism that is more sustainable and more inclusive. And this means a better fill of mid and low seasons,” adds the DG.

Indeed, according to Tahiti Tourisme, on the French market, certain periods today display booking levels such that travelers must plan their trips up to a year in advance. The agency wants to shift the perception of the off-season, presenting it as a “season of abundance”, during which nature shows a different face: lush vegetation, flowering, an abundance of fruits, etc.

A period also marked by major cultural events – Hawaiki Nui Va’a, Hura Tapairu, Festival Tatau, Matari’i i Ni’a – which offer more availability and more favorable rates. “Matari’i i Ni’a, in the Polynesian calendar, is a very important period. It is the season of abundance. The abundance of fruits. The abundance of colors.

Hawaiki Nui Va’a is a major outrigger canoe race, Hura Tapairu is a Polynesian dance competition. There is also the tattoo festival around the same time,” explains Vaihere Lissant.

The destination also intends to encourage travelers to visit a greater number of islands.

Campaigns will be developed around these two objectives, complemented by a new training program for Tahiti specialists aimed at travel agents, key players in shaping the French market (see box below).

“There is real storytelling and marketing work to do around this period. We are working on it.

Of course, the climate is warmer and more humid, but that is where all of nature bursts forth. Matari’i i Ni’a, last year, became a public holiday for the first time, because there is a genuine will to emphasize culture.

Along the seafront in Papeete, a parade of flower-covered floats was organized on November 20. Across the islands, celebrations take place to mark what one could call Polynesian Christmas,” continues Vaihere Lissant.

The Polynesians at the heart of the tourism strategy

But this growth will not come at the expense of the Polynesians. “We want to keep the population at the center of this tourism development,” explains the DG.

For several months now, with our supervising ministry, we have been conducting consultations with the 24 islands, listening to the various stakeholders, municipal leaders, local tourism professionals, the population, environmental and cultural associations, etc.

The idea is truly to collect their vision of tourism for 2035. I repeat, we want the population to be an active driver of its own tourism development, because beyond our magnificent natural heritage, what draws the attention of visitors is the Polynesian hospitality. Hence the importance of ensuring that tourism development benefits residents first, even before visitors.”

2027, the return of capacities

The year 2027 will mark the return to the market of several renovated hotels (Te Moana in Tahiti, Sofitel in Moorea and the Conrad and InterContinental in Bora Bora) and the arrival of new capacity in cruising with the Wind Spirit, Windstar’s second vessel from March, the commissioning of the Aranoa alongside the Aranui, or even the Na Hiro E Pae for the Austral Islands.

“Cruising is often linked to large cruise ships, overtourism, and discharges, etc. In Polynesia, for 15 years we have been seeking ships of a size that fits our infrastructure; 80% of our port calls are on ships with fewer than 600 passengers.

The largest ships – carrying more than 3,600 passengers – that cross the Pacific cannot make technical stops on three islands. The advantage of smaller ships is that they will stay based year-round and implement multi-island itineraries.

They help distribute flows and the economic impact across the different archipelagos. Moreover, the cruise peak season aligns with our base season,” specifies Vaihere Lissant.

As for the air segment, Polynesia is served from France by Air Tahiti Nui, Air France and French Bee. “We have a genuine network that makes our destination accessible,” comments the Tahiti Tourisme DG, who does not forget emerging markets.

“Starting in December, the Sydney – Papeete route opens, operated by Air Tahiti Nui, which will allow us to diversify our markets, especially along the Pacific axis. This is important because we depend heavily on the United States and France, and we would like to seize opportunities in the Pacific, but also in Asia, notably given China and its capacity to evolve.”

These projects and this new momentum will be at the heart of the next Parau Parau Tahiti, a gathering of Polynesian professionals and international tour operators, scheduled for February 2027.

Tahiti Specialist Program gets a makeover

Tahiti Tourisme has redesigned its Tahiti Specialist Program, which now includes a three-tier progression system: Bronze, Silver, and Gold.

This new logic is intended to allow professionals to “progress at their own pace through various learning paths and progressively access benefits such as better visibility, privileged contacts, invitations to familiarization trips (FAM trips) or co-marketing opportunities,” says Tahiti Tourisme.

The new program also includes a dashboard that enables tracking of leads, bookings and performance. “Professionals will benefit from better visibility of their activities, while Tahiti Tourisme will be able to monitor journeys, commitments and market trends to tailor its actions,” explains the OT.

The platform has also been developed with a mobile-first approach, ensuring a smooth and consistent experience on desktop, tablet and smartphone.

Launched on August 10, the platform is gradually enriched with new features and content through the end of the year.

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Volotea: CEO’s Plan to Turn Things Around

October 17, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

Un avion Volotea. Crédit : Crédit depositphotos JFarquitectos

CroisiEurope

« Mom, I’m coming », peut-on lire sur les avions de la compagnie Volotea. Mais en ce moment, plusieurs mamans risquent d’attendre un peu leur progéniture si celles-ci voyagent sur Volotea.

Heurtée de plein fouet, comme les autres, par la hausse du carburant, la compagnie espagnole, déjà endettée par le Covid et la guerre en Ukraine, traverse une passe très difficile.

Les conséquences, nous l’avons vu : de nombreuses annulations de vols en France, des passagers sans vols et des tour-opérateurs dans la difficulté. Derrière cela, ne l’oublions pas, des salariés de la compagnie inquiets pour leur avenir.

Pour tenter de les rassurer, mais aussi pour, selon lui, les aider à faire le tri des informations « certaines exactes, d’autres non, certaines innocentes et d’autres plus mal intentionnées », Carlos Muñoz, le PDG, a détaillé dans un courrier que nous avons pu consulter son plan de sortie de crise, avec au passage un jugement sur cette guerre au Moyen-Orient « très mal avisée, cruelle et stupide ».

Volotea: restructuring the debt

Carloz Muñoz le PDG de Volotea. Photo : C.Hardin

Le message est lucide et empreint de gravité : « L’impact de la guerre pour cette année sera d’environ 150 millions d’euros, malgré les efforts de chacun et une couverture carburant correcte pour les premiers mois.

Si l’on ajoute à cela notre dette existante provenant des crises précédentes (COVID/Ukraine), nous n’avons pas d’autre alternative que de restructurer la dette, afin d’en sortir sous une forme beaucoup plus saine, plus légère et plus solide. »

Le plan que s’apprête à dévoiler Volotea vise une réduction de dette de 250 à 300 millions d’euros et repose sur quatre piliers principaux :

– réduire la dette financière auprès des banques et autres institutions financières ;

– travailler avec la SEPI (Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales), le principal prêteur public auprès duquel Volotea veut allonger la durée de sa dette ;

– travailler avec ses partenaires commerciaux, les fournisseurs, les aéroports, pour reporter et réduire leurs créances ;

– négocier avec les loueurs d’avions afin de réduire le coût de la flotte, tant en loyers qu’en provisions de maintenance.

Fewer aircraft and staff

Thus, a portion of this restructuring will involve a fleet reduction next year, by around 35, or 30 aircraft depending on the progress of negotiations with the lessors.

The CEO thus hopes to keep the best aircraft and to lean more toward the A320s rather than the A319s, and to focus on markets that yield better results, while canceling those that produce weaker results.

The strategy will also continue to privilege and develop markets with structural advantages, such as publicly subsidized service routes, those covered by bilateral agreements, very busy as those to Algeria, and finally those where competition with other low-cost carriers is limited, such as Florence where runway length prevents Ryanair’s 737 MAX from landing, Nantes where slots are saturated, or the new bases like Montpellier or Ancona in Italy.

Regarding base closures, Carlos Muñoz speaks rather of “hibernation.” This is the case, for example, in Brest for this winter.

With these base hibernations, the toughest part of the plan will also be a reduction of staff at the company’s headquarters in Barcelona. A necessity, according to Volotea’s chief, to adjust the cost structure to the new size of the company and the current volatility.

Restarting growth

Dans son message aux salariés, Carlos Muñoz veut cependant conclure avec de l’espoir. Il croit encore à la fiabilité de cette compagnie low cost avec sa stratégie différenciée « reliant des territoires qui en ont besoin ».

Et, en dépit des prévisions alarmistes sur 2027, il espère que le plan qui se déploie actuellement aura pour conséquence de faire commencer l’année prochaine dans une situation bien meilleure.

Si elle passe 2027, la compagnie espère reprendre sa croissance, faire sortir les bases de leur hibernation et atteindre de nouveau une taille plus importante au cours des 3 à 5 prochaines années.

Réduire impérativement sa dette dans une conjoncture d’incertitudes et de flambée des carburants. Volotea n’est pas la seule à être dans cette situation.

Published by Christophe Hardin Journalist AirMaG – TourMaG.com
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Characterful Hospitality: How to Turn Uniqueness into a Performance Driver [ABO]

August 25, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

L'hôtellerie de caractère gagne en performance le jour où elle transforme sa singularité subie en singularité assumée. Ici, l'établissement Relais & Châteaux de La Bretesche à Missillac, France - DepositPhotos.com, jqnoc

Costa Rica

In characterful establishments, from French castles to island lodges, including golf resorts and wine estates, it is not uncommon to hear the owner of a distinctive place speak of its particularities as much as an advantage as a challenge: a limited number of rooms to optimize, spaces that resemble one another little, and a heritage architectural fabric that complicates day-to-day operations.

These particularities, however, form the foundation of solid performance, capable of being structured around three levers that strengthen each other.

Pricing the Difference, Measuring Beyond the Room

The first lever touches the revenue strategy, and it rests on a widely documented conviction: in a competitive market, product differentiation yields more durable revenues than chasing the bottom prices.

The rarity and heterogeneity of the rooms become the arguments, since a restricted inventory, made up of spaces that stand out for their history, view, and size, allows a pricing grid where each room represents a product in its own right.

The value-creation phase is essential because the sector is gradually moving away from RevPAR, which centers on the room alone, in favor of indicators that incorporate the value created per guest and actual profitability, from TRevPAR to GOPPAR.

A characterful property, whose dining, experiences, and ancillary services often carry as much weight as the nightly rate, benefits from thinking this way, and its pricing grid is built as an overall strategy.

Consequently, hoteliers might place less emphasis on price based on sleep quality and more on the guest journey.

The service and the human, the most difficult advantage to copy

The second lever is the one that large brands find the hardest to replicate.

A small establishment potentially benefits from a higher personnel-to-guest ratio and a relational proximity that enables a level of attentiveness that mass scale dilutes.

Harvard Business School has formalized this mechanism under the name of the “service-profit chain”, where employee satisfaction fuels client satisfaction, which in turn underpins financial performance.

This effect of internal climate always translates into the client’s lived experience. The advantage of human intervention therefore bears fruit once organized, when training, the quality of procedures, and the smoothness of internal communication turn hospitality intentions into measurable loyalty.

In this era of AI, the quality of human service remains a condition for the value of hospitality, and we now have the tools to devote the necessary time to it.

The narrative, turning heritage into experience

The third lever extends the first two by giving them meaning.

The experience economy, theorized by Pine and Gilmore, established that travelers seek memorable moments and judge offerings by the level of authenticity they perceive.

For a characterful property, heritage and territory constitute an asset ready to become a story, because the history of a building, its regional anchoring, and local know-how form what luxury hospitality calls the soul of a house, a differentiating source that underpins loyalty as well as recognition.

The narrative proves its value when it leaves the brochure to take shape in lived experience, from a staged arrival to partnerships with regional artisans, and it fully aligns with the principles of regenerative tourism.

Tourism: After a Difficult May, Operators Turn to the Government for Support [ABO]

June 28, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

Laurent Abitbol : "Nous sommes plongés dans une crise psychologique" - Depositphotos @yellow_man

CroisiEurope

The months come and go, closely resembling one another for the tourism sector, or nearly so.

After turning red in March, the situation hardly improved in April and seems to continue its downward slide in May. Indicators are not favorable for a large portion of the industry, and even players who seemed to be navigating fairly well are starting to struggle.

It must be said that the month just ending was not particularly favorable for travel agencies.

“There were many long weekends this year and, to be honest, there weren’t many bookings in travel agencies.

After that, it should be noted that we now work on a 12-month basis rather than four months. July and August no longer really count as peak season in distribution.

The worry is there, always, but as long as the financial year isn’t over, no one can draw conclusions. We risk a strong rebound in June, because travel remains an imperative for the French,” explains, optimistically, Richard Vainopoulos.

In terms of departures, Tourcom will post a slight -2% compared to May 2025. It’s a not-too-bad outcome.

And while the network head concedes that there wasn’t much of a crowd in the agencies and that the training helped keep the staff busy, the profession appears, at least in part, to gaze with concern at a backorder that isn’t taking off and jeopardizes, or even erases outright, the head start gained at the beginning of the year.

Laurent Abitbol: “We are in the midst of a psychological crisis”

On Laurent Abitbol’s side, the slowdown in activity intensified again in May.

“The situation is even worse in May than in April. We are seeing a sales trend around -25%.

Unfortunately, there is no improvement. I am not worried because we are resilient, but it must not last too long.

We are in a real psychological crisis.

This war and its impacts don’t encourage consumption, due to the news and the rise in fuel prices. So imagine travel, it’s double trouble… people don’t want to leave, explains the head of the Marietton group.

Last week, the businessman explained observing a 24% drop in orders between March and May. A drop that nearly erases all the gains recorded by Selectour agencies since the start of the year.

And the situation does not seem much better elsewhere. Because when the leader of French distribution grimaces, usually the industry isn’t in a better position, with one exception…

“The month of May is always complicated, it looks to be worse than 2025.

After that, we have a cushion compared to the rest of France, because our companies are often on the border with Germany or Luxembourg. The impact is therefore smaller.

We have clients who work in these countries, with higher salaries. Moreover, we also work with tour operators such as Luxair, which decided not to implement a fuel surcharge, but also with German and Belgian players.

To tell you the truth, Fensch Voyages has been at -6% since March. It’s a bit the trend in the Grand Est, we are far from the figures of our peers,

“I think the summer is dead unfortunately”

A little further north, Abou Fall, owner of three franchised TUI agencies, also slightly stands out from the market.

“It’s not catastrophic, but the momentum isn’t great either.

I still have one agency growing and two others in the red. There is, of course, a bit of worry, because the decline has been steady since March at my points of sale in negative territory.

At the end of February, we were +12% ahead for my group and, to date, we have moved into the negative, he tempers, having previously served as France sales director for the TUI network of franchised agencies before opening his own agencies.

And here closes the rather optimistic parenthetical of this article. For the other messages sent and calls made have yielded responses that contrast with these last two testimonies.

“One boss explains that the figures of the next EDV barometer should be very poorly oriented compared with April, already unfavourable. Another major executive tells us that his numbers are very bad, while a third estimates that this crisis is even worse than the Covid one.”

The anxiety is palpable, without giving in to panic.

“There is growing concern within the profession.

For us, we had quickly taken precautions, so we are limiting the damage. But, like everyone, we would like this not to last too long.

Personally, and I hope to be mistaken, I think the summer is dead unfortunately. Unless there is a rapid improvement in the situation, but at this moment there are too many threats weighing on consumers,” estimates Grégory Monna, director of travel activities at Chauchard Évasion – Voyages Triangle.

This assessment is shared by other leaders, with a few nuances, except for Laurent Abitbol.

“Beaucoup d’acteurs sont en difficulté” et “l’activité partielle est refusée”… par l’État

Enfin, with one caveat, the Lyonnais believes that unblocking the Hormuz Strait might unlock everything.

“Leisure is in crisis, fortunately groups and business travel are holding up. As long as the strait remains closed and the war continues, it will be difficult to restart the engine.

We must wait for this to pass. We keep the back straight, it’s a long process.

We keep the teams occupied with training and other initiatives. For the moment, I am not overly worried about the profession. However, this could hurt the industry if it lasts over time.

And to restart activity, I oppose price cuts. Do not slash prices, nor advertise with such promotions, because that sends a bad message to customers. Then, we simply cannot sell at a loss,” argues the chair of the board of Selectour.

The solution lies in Donald Trump’s hands.

And while the American president seems to no longer know how to disentangle himself from this conflict, the Soccer World Cup is approaching rapidly. There is no doubt that a war between two participants in this very World Cup would be poorly viewed by the world press and could spoil the festivities.

Will this timing be favorable to a lasting peace between the United States and Iran? The days to come will tell us.

In the meantime, as sales begin to recover, professionals knock on the State’s door, which does not seem more concerned about the situation of travel agents.

“From what I hear in the sector, many players are in difficulty and some are extremely worried.”

And we are among them, because with such a May, we will not be able to cover the salaries of our employees. We are in a deep anxiety crisis, fueled by media coverage. There was the conflict in the Middle East, then the spike in oil prices, the fear of a kerosene shortage, the hantavirus on the cruise ship… and now, we are facing a heatwave.

Regarding partial unemployment, which is becoming a major topic of discussion, requests are refused within the industry, with only a few rare exceptions“, laments a business owner who preferred to remain anonymous.