Comments on: “No customer will be denied boarding until we have asked for others to volunteer”

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:22:11 +0000

I have not been involuntarily bumped from a flight yet, but I believe I came extremely close though. This was a flight I took in December of last year. I was flying back to LAX from New Orleans and the gate agent called my name and my brother’s though they pronounced our last name incorrectly. Being that this was the last flight of the day and year until January 2, 2009, I did not bother to go to the agent because I knew the agents wanted to take me and brother’s boarding pass away and tell us that we have been bumped from the flight and will have to wait 3-4 days to go on another flight. Though I was aware of the involuntarily bumping policy, I chose not to go through that path; even though me and my brother could have made some easy money.

I think the best advice if the gate agent calls your name on the PA is: ask the agent questions before handing over your boarding pass. If the agent refuses to answer anything until you hand over your boarding pass, just politely refuse that you won’t give them anything, and walk away. I don’t think the airline can force passengers to give their boarding pass unless it is for security reasons.

By: ajaynejr

ajaynejr — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:52:03 +0000

So far, experienced flyers have favored dollars-off vouchers over free-trip vouchers especially when the former can be used for booking anytime and the latter have restrictions on what flights and seat categories they can be used with.

You can (and I often do) offer to volunteer even before the gate agent asks for volunteers, of course asking in advance what compensation would be offered before handing over your boarding pass.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:13:04 +0000

check alaska airlines since they switched to the $200 voucher from the free round trip ticket in december 2008.. the amount of involuntary denied boardings is ridiculous

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:38:09 +0000

I remember encountering a similar event when flying back home. It was on a recent United Airlines trip and the flight was oversold. United began asking for volunteers to give up their seat in exchange for some amount in voucher, a 3 night hotel stay, and a flight on January 2 (crummy deal really). When I lined up to board, a gate agent called my last name and asked me to come to the front desk. I refused to do so because I didn’t want to get bumped, so I ignored it which was my response for saying no to the supposed bump. After a good 20 minutes of wondering whether the gate agent would come on board and deny me boarding, the plane pushed from the gate. To this day, I have no idea whether that call was for bumping or a free upgrade to economy plus. I don’t think I wanted to find out the hard way.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:25:29 +0000

US Airways is inducing another bancruptcy. Last time they did that they got tax cuts and billions of Tax money. They will blame it on fuel prices, even though they cut oversold flights. I hope somebody will go to jail this time!

By: Jack

Jack — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 04:46:01 +0000

I work for US Airways, and I can tell you this: US Airways flights are always oversold. They don’t care how many seats are available, they sell as much as 180 tickets for a 140 seater. US Airways reduced the Ticket price by 40% from 2000. They could double the ticket prices and solve the “always oversold” situation, but they chose not to do so. They loose thousands of dollars on every flight, considering the fuel price. Every normal business man would adjust the price of their product to avoid losses, specialy since there is more clients willing to buy the product than product availability. Not US Airways. They decided to cut down on the flights. They will cancel 20% of their oversold flights, to save 20% on their daily losses. I could put my 8-year old into charge of US Airways, and he could probably solve the problem without my help within 2 weeks. I am wondering how much the managers make for their retarded plans to save the Airline.

By: Susan Kunkler

Susan Kunkler — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:05:41 +0000

I don’t understand why the airlines think that they own the passengers. I am a paying CUSTOMER, not a piece of meat. I think suing is a good idea at this point.
I have voluntarily given up my seat to fly on the same flight the next day. I was given meal voutures, hotel accomodation, transportation to the hotel and a free roundtrip ticket to anywhere I wanted to go that Alaska Air could take me. I was happy ,the airline was happy, it was all good. Imagine if a restaurant bumped people, because they were too busy…

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 07 May 2008 08:05:47 +0000

i had one somewhat pleasant “involuntary” bumping experience…
i was flying internationally and when arriving for my flight was told that I was volunteered to move to another flight – one that departed two hours later than my original flight. however, this flight was non-stop as opposed to the other which included a 4 hour layover. This allowed me to arrive at my destination in los angeles with more time to clear customs and actually catch my connecting flight (with the option of going standy on one a few hours earlier), which would have been an extremely close call had i been on the original flight. It did create a slight hassle in that I had to communicate the change in arrangements to family on the other end so they knew when i would actually be arriving, but that was small compared to the quicker arrival at my final destination.

i will add however, that it would have been nice to be “asked” not “informed” as it did create some hassle but at least it was an overall positive experience.

By: Barbara Arbani

Barbara Arbani — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:14:00 +0000

The vouchers that USAirways issues for a bumped passenger can be used as $200 toward a purchased ticket. Since the inventory for mileage awards (the same inventory used for these vouchers) is usually small or non-existent, this is a good way to use those vouchers. At this time, the taxes on the $200 value are also subtracted from the ticket value, so another 10% is taken off of the purchased ticket. So, the pain of being bumped can be lessened a bit when the traveler knows he has a voucher worth about $220 in his pocket. I’m assuming with the new rules of $400 per bumped pax being instituted tomorrow (May 1), the value of the voucher will be $440 – but as with all things airline related in today’s world, I won’t count on it.

By: Where's Waldo

Where's Waldo — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:31:52 +0000

Like many others, I always take the voluntary bump if my schedule can accomodate it (I fly 4-5 flights a week due to work)— only take offers of money do not take the ticket vouchers as you will more than likely NEVER be able to redeem them due to the numerous restrictions.

My absolutely worst bumping experience was on US Air PHL to PHX. The flight was oversold and the gate agent asked for volunteers. I was the first one in line to offer my seat. She took my boarding pass wrote my name down and gave me the boarding pass back. She then asked me to step aside but remain near the counter and so I did… never once leaving her sight. She boarded the flight. I asked half way through the boarding process (no other passengers were around) if she was going to need my seat (I’m used to the bumping process and have always been given an answer prior to boarding). She told me to wait and she would let me know.

Well, the flight boarded… completely. She was finishing printing the manifest and I asked her again if she needed my seat. She looked at me and said “You should have already borded the airplane now I will have to reprint the manifest.” Not in the mood for a confrontation, I simply boarded.

Once I took my seat, the gate agent came on board the plane, involuntarily bumped a passenger in coach so that a F/A could reposition.

So, they had a volunteer and still involuntarily bumped someone.

By: CJ

CJ — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 21:47:30 +0000

I was involuntarily denied a seat on a US Airways flight out of LGA. They offered me a free round trip anywhere in the USA but the seats were limited to only those which were available to awards miles. It was pretty tough to use the free voucher when I wanted to. What burned me was that they would not put me on a JetBlue flight going to the same destination an hour later saying that they did not have an agreement with JetBlue. I had to wait 5 hours for another flight on US Airways to my destination.

By: Carver Farrow

Carver Farrow — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 06:25:55 +0000

I don’t see anything wrong with overselling. I think that it’s a proper and valuable business tool. i think we are confusing the legitimate business procedure of overselling with the problematic procedure of involuntary bumping.

The solution is to simply prohibit involuntary bumping, or create huge disincentives for an airline to involuntarily bump anyone who has complied with the check-in requirement.

That way the airline will be forced to sweeten its voluntary bumping deal until a sufficient number of passengers are happy to be bumped.

So simple.

By: Cari

Cari — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:05:56 +0000

So where does not paying full-fare fall into their list? They seemed to feel they had a justification, but I don’t see it. That said, with all the recent air delays it’s almost crazy to cut it so close in case of a problem.

By: Joe F.

Joe F. — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:55:28 +0000

David H. . . because money talks – it always has.

MarkA – I hope those were confirmed space tickets and not space available . . . .the airlines have a nasty habit of giving voluntary bumps space available.

I have, when I have time, ALWAYS walked up to the gate agent and made the follwing offer -when I have 2 or 3 seats available and there is a nonstop or some better flight to my destination . ..

“I have three seats and will accept your offer on one condition, confirmed first class seats on Flt XXX. ”

If they need more than three then they want my 3 seats which are usually together. They will jump through hoops to a) not raise the price of the seat auction and b) accommodate my first class request because it costs them zero.

When I lived in LA and the flights to LA were ALWAYS overbooked, and there were flt ops usually every 90 minutes or so to LA, well, I never made much of a sacrifice and I got to fly F when it was something.

Now I live in a marginal market in the northeast and fly out of BDL. Almost EVERY flight to a hub is a regional jet or has had first class removed. So, its kinda hard to make it work now.

By: MarkA

MarkA — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:35:56 +0000

I actually have a story that shows that maybe the “good ole days” aren’t completely gone. I was flying AirTran out of BWI to Portland, ME. They overbooked and asked for volunteers. The FIRST offer they made was for TWO round trip tickets anywhere AirTran flies. My plans were flexible, so I took it. Now, the subsequent flight delays on both ends (both due to “weather” and to AirTran’s status at Portland) made for a not-very-pleasant experience. But, that has nothing to do with their very generous offer for voluntary bumping. This happened less than six months ago, and I haven’t attempted to redeem the tickets yet. I guess we’ll see.