Flight disruption
After disruption: rebuild sellable inventory before revenue recovery
The immediate goal is not to restore the old forecast. First establish passenger disposition, real capacity, and seats that cannot be sold twice.
Build one passenger-disposition table
Each affected booking needs one current status: same-day alternative, next-day alternative, refund, pending confirmation, or not contacted. Timestamp and assign each status so one seat is not counted on both original and alternative flights.
| Status | Bookings |
|---|---|
| Same-day alternative | 58 |
| Next-day alternative | 23 |
| Refund selected | 9 |
| Pending at checkpoint | 6 |
| Total affected bookings | 96 |
All 96 bookings must reconcile
The example assigns 58 to same-day, 23 to next-day, nine to refund, and six to pending, totalling 96. If the total does not reconcile, do not reopen inventory; the gap may be a duplicate, split group, or unsynchronised refund.
Rebuild sellable capacity on alternatives
Physical empty seats on an alternative flight are not automatically sellable. Deduct confirmed reaccommodation, seats held for special assistance or crew, and promised arrangements not yet reflected in the system before reforecasting demand and fare availability.
Every inventory reopening needs a data timestamp. A 14:00 position cannot explain a 17:00 sales result without retaining the intervening passenger and capacity changes.
Passenger handling comes before revenue recovery
Safety, regulation, passenger rights, and operational feasibility come first. This note covers data hand-off and inventory reconstruction, not specific reaccommodation, compensation, refund, or sales rules.