Involuntary Denied Boarding.......Bumped from your Flight

Airlines over sell flights constantly to avoid going out with empty seats, when this occurs they are required to solicit for volunteers, most of the time if the compensation they are offering to some one to voluntarily give up their seat is accepted then this is not a problem, however occasionally there are no volunteers and those without seats are bumped other wise known as involuntarily denied boarding. Under these circumstances the passenger has rights mandated by The Department of Transportation and the Airline will in a form of a letter normally advise you of these rights which include monetary compensation which at writing amounts to up to twice the value of the one way ticket [ the segment you are being bumped from] not to exceed $1200. Under these rules the Airline has now satisfied its contractual obligation to you and is not required to get you to your destination, however most Airlines will put you on their next available flight to your original destination.