Airlines fund company addressing overbooking

Following the case of David

Dao, the Kentucky doctor who was dragged from an overbooked United Airlines flight, the U.S. airline industry vowed to fix the problem of oversold planes.

Now some airlines seem to be backing up their promises with money.

The parent company of British Airways and the venture arms for Jetblue and Qantas recently offered $2.6 million in financing to Volantio, an Atlanta-based startup that has created software designed to end the drama and frustration that comes from overbooked flights.

The software contacts passengers via a mobile device days before their flight to ask if they would be willing The rate of passengers involuntarily booted has dropped dramatically since a doctor was dragged from an overbooked United flight.

to accept offers of upgrades, vouchers and frequent-flyer points to give up their seat in the case of overbooking. If the airlines need to unseat a passenger, the software automatically contacts those passengers willing to give up their seats and rebooks them on a later flight.

Volantio’s software is already being used by Qantas, Iberia, Alaska Airlines, Volaris and several other carriers.

“We view the funding as a strong vote of confidence that we are on the right track with what we are building, and that the industry believes we have a leading solution,” said Azim Barodawala, chief executive officer of Volantio.

Among the latest investors in Volantio are the International Airlines Group, the parent company of Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and Vueling. Also offering financing is Qantas Ventures, the venture capital arm of the flag carrier of Australia, Qantas, and Jetblue Technology, the subsidiary of the New York-based Jetblue.

The rate of passengers involuntarily booted from planes has dropped dramatically since the Dao incident, as some airlines have changed policies and increased the amount they will offer to get fliers to voluntarily give up their seats to as much as $10,000.