US: Airlines bumped more travelers amid Boeing 737 Max grounding, report shows

Airlines denied boarding to more passengers in Q1 2019 compared to the same period last year amid the fallout from the Boeing 737 Max grounding in March, according to a new government report, with just two weeks of data included since the grounding began. The DoT revealed that in Q1 2019, the involuntary denied boarding rate, also known as "bumping," was 0.32 for every 10,000 passengers, which was more than double compared to the same period last year. The US grounded all Boeing 737 Max planes on March 13 after an Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 on board. "American Airlines and Southwest Airlines separately informed the Department that the grounding of the 737 MAX aircraft has negatively impacted their involuntary denied boarding statistics during this reporting period," according to the report. The DoT report only includes two weeks of data since the planes' grounding, which means possible ripple effects remain to be seen. The American Airlines Network (including partners) saw the highest number of bumped passengers: 3,533. Southwest Airlines had the second-most with 1,594 involuntarily denied. Overall, 6,175 were involuntarily denied,<br/>