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So united was begging for volunteers to get on the next flight because THEY OVERSOLD. $600 voucher and next flight. I said to the ticket agent make it $2,000 cash and an exit row seat and you have a deal. No deal. We'll see if they drag anyone off. I'm boarding group 2, so it won't be me.
Screw these greedy little pricks.
If I didn't have anything else going on, I would have taken the deal, flying with a family of 4 gets expensive, and $600 would have helped significantly.
I would have taken the deal, then used the credit to the United corporate office to complain.
They're always overbooked. Flew to NC last month, was overbooked both ways! Vouchers went up to $1200.
I’d be all over that.Quote:
Originally Posted by DEAGLER
Anyone know how long those vouchers are good?
The credit Alaskan gave me for temporarily losing my luggage was only good for a year. I'm flying WestJet this year so won't get to use it.
Happens a decent bit but moreso in the summer. They have historical data and use a matrix that shows how many people typically don’t show up, don’t make the flight due to weather or other connection delays, show up early and get on an earlier flight etc.
They won’t drag anyone off again you can count on that. They will keep offering more until someone bites and takes the deal.
Most Airlines I’m familiar with are one year. I do think you can combine and transfer them though. I’m pretty sure my buddy took his family on a trip they took the deal, the. His wife and him used all the vouchers to go to Hawaii and got the flights for free.Quote:
Originally Posted by Little Dutch
^ LOL
Got Dao'ed. :)
I used to fly a lot for my work doing last minute service calls. On the way back from service visits I would take advantage of these flight bump vouchers whenever I could. My best "Voucher Rake" was on a flight from Chicago to Denver (going home) the day before Thanksgiving. My flight was first thing in the morning at 6AM and they needed a bump for $500. I took it and they booked me on the next flight at 10AM. The 10AM flight was overbooked as well and they needed a bump again for $500 so I took it again. They booked me on the next flight at 3PM and that one was also overbooked and they needed a bump for $750, I took that too. They booked me on the last flight of the day at 9PM. What do you know, overbooked again and bump needed for $1000 for a guaranteed seat the next morning. They also comped Hotel and Dinner that night for the over night stay. The next morning I got on the flight with an extra $2750 in flight vouchers in my pocket.
I got on the plane. Dont know who was bumped, but they were still pleading when I went down the jetway.
How did you spend them? Don't they restrict you to using $50-$75 per segment per ticket on booked travel? Time limited as well?Quote:
Originally Posted by CHA-LEE
Just repeating what I've heard, never actually took one myself, always HAD to be somewhere when the opportunity arose.
Wow, that's better than anything I've gotten. I think my best bump was SBA-LAX, $800 and I got the next flight down, about 90 mins later, still got home that night.
I was working on a project in Palm Springs some years back and I would fly through either LAX or Ontario. I would fly every other week or so in the fall for a coupe months then the spring for a couple months and an occasional week in the summer. The flights between LA and Palm Springs were always over sold for the early morning flights. I would get in to LA between 8 and 9 AM and like clockwork they would be looking for people to bump to the next available flight which was usually about 45 minutes later. I pretty much always took it and I flew on a lot of vacations for free during that 2 year period.
I also used to fly a lot between Denver and Minneapolis which is a busy route for all of the airlines out of Denver. I run in to over bookings around the holidays on this route all the time. I haven't done it for the last couple years but I used to plan my travel around this as well and take the next flight out along with a voucher for future travel.
Take advantage of it if you can be flexible with your time/travel.
I went for the deal once, $500 and the next flight. They misspoke, they meant to say the next available flight that had seats open which in my case was the last flight out that night. Went from a 10 AM flight to a 9:30 PM flight. I signed up for standby on every flight before that and never made it. I will probably not ever do that again. The voucher expired after 6 months so never got to use that. Jet Blue.
Yeah, you need to get the details from the gate agent. Each time I have done this I have made sure that I knew when the next flight was and that I had a seating assignment before taking the deal.Quote:
Originally Posted by wctriumph
One time I was flying back from the Cayman Islands (another work trip) on XMas Eve day and the flight from Miami to Denver was overbooked and I didn't have a seat assignment. I was sure I would be stuck in Miami for XMas as the airport was packed. They were asking for people to give up seats and offering some pretty good vouchers. As they were boarding the plane they called my name and I went up to the counter and they had a seat for me.. Ended up being first row 1st class, I won the Lotto on that one!
These were United Airlines vouchers and I spent them on travel to several competition events with my family. They did have a 1 year expiration but I used them all up before they expired. They didn't have any spending restrictions other than the voucher not covering the taxes of the new flights. I think I milked 5 - 6 trips out of those vouchers while only paying taxes on the fairs. Granted this all happened about 10 years ago so who knows what the policies are today as that stuff seems to change quite often.Quote:
Originally Posted by brutal
Yup, $1200 gift cards to target and such. Wasn’t worth it missing one day to see my family.Quote:
Originally Posted by vossman
I know last week or so that a few flights out of COS they paid $1500 because the 60+ seat aircraft could only take 39 because of the heat.
Given that so many flights are overbooked and the chances of getting on many flights paid for by a voucher, I normally will take the sure seat over the promises from the same airline screwing customers today that they will take care of me later.
Whenever possible I drive but I’m sort of a control freak. I just got off of a two hour flight (the least painful type of commercial flight) and the best thing I can say is that I’m not dreading the flight home in two days.
Same here, and it drives my wife crazy.Quote:
Originally Posted by cstone
Since 2005 I have driven to all my U.S. vacation destinations and my wife has flown the day I arrive. I pick her up at the airport on my way to our vacation rental.
That way I see the country, listen to some books, and have my vehicle on my vacation.
My wife gets to walk on the plane with no luggage and just chill out.
The life of a retiree that likes to drive.
My last trip - last week - was in/out of Ontario.Quote:
Originally Posted by def90
When your company wants to fly in a bunch of people for 2 days for a pow-wow, it's a pretty cheap destination.
Hated the hotel, Doubletree by the airport.
Only saving grace was the easy in/out at the airport. I have Pre so I got to keep my shoes on but had to unload electronics gear like all the common folk. Four of us at security when I went through and two others were coworkers.
The way things actually work:
VDB - voluntarily denied boarding. They offered up a voucher, you accepted. They can limit the voucher to travel on their airline, put expiration dates on it, etc. They try really hard to get you (or someone, anyone) to accept VDB and booking on the next flight.
IDB - involuntarily denied boarding. If no one, or not enough someones, take their offer(s) you are entitled to CASH money as a fine for them not honoring your ticket, in addition to whatever they may have given or promised you in relation to booking or upgrades on later flights and vouchers.
If you fly a particular airline enough to make use of vouchers, and your plans have enough flexibility, then it's OK to take their bump offers. If you gotta be there, or don't like their voucher game, remember that if they "randomly" select you for IDB, you get CASH in addition to any other stuff. Not cash as in money in your hand before you get on the plane, but cash as in an eventual cashable check not tied to future travel on their airline or partner carriers.
If you find yourself in an IDB situation, consult the DOT regs and complaint pages online and flyertalk.com for your options.