Airlines Bumping

[safetymom]

I think you will be good. I like to allow extra time at the airport but then I am a geek when it comes to airport, planes, etc. I enjoy spending time in airports.

 

[G00fyDad]

I think you will be good. I like to allow extra time at the airport but then I am a geek when it comes to airport, planes, etc. I enjoy spending time in airports.

I think it will be a neat expearience for my kids. I'm the only one in the household to have ever been on a plane. Quite a few times actually. I have just never encountered being bumped or being asked to. I have flown close to 15 or 16 times and haven't noticed this yet.

I have another question here... I have never used curbside checkin either but I understand that the person there has my boarding pass. Do they have to go to a pc outside there and print it out or do I need to call ahead and have them get it ready? Sorry to sound so stupid here but I have never needed to use this service before.

DD is gonna love the airport.

 

[gw_lit]

Most airlines will continue to bump up the compensation until they get the required number of volunteers. The last resort is to pull people from the flight involuntarily. Even though Airlines have to report IDB (involuntary denied boardings) and VDB (voluntary denied boardings) to the Department of Transportation, the airlines are ranked only on IDB's so, obviously, they want to keep that number as low as possible.

Information on cancelled and delayed flights, denied boardings, and mishandled baggage can all be found in the DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report found at http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/reports/index.htm. It can be pretty interesting reading.

 

[safetymom]

You can print your boarding passes at home for the trip down. When you are at MCO returning home and won't have a printer you just show ID for those requiring it and they will print the boarding passes for you then.

It's all very quick and easy and then you won't need to visit the ticket counter inside.

 

[gw_lit]

I have another question here... I have never used curbside checkin either but I understand that the person there has my boarding pass. Do they have to go to a pc outside there and print it out or do I need to call ahead and have them get it ready? Sorry to sound so stupid here but I have never needed to use this service before.

DD is gonna love the airport.

There is a PC at curbside check-in, you'll have to show your ID, they'll pull up your reservation and print you your boarding passes and luggage claim checks right there. I'd bring a printed copy of your itinerary just in case.

 

[G00fyDad]

Information on cancelled and delayed flights, denied boardings, and mishandled baggage can all be found in the DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report found at http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/reports/index.htm. It can be pretty interesting reading.

That is very interesting. Delta has the highest number of bumped passengers of any other airline.

 

[ducklite]

We're 4 of us. as long as arrive within a short time we can managed being bumped 2 x 2. I'm just wondering if any tickets offered would be YUL-LGA-MCO or just LGA-MCO?

This is a great web site.
Thanks a lot

They generally won't break up a family.

Anne

 

[ducklite]

I fly back and forth to MCO very regularly. I PURPOSELY book the flights that I KNOW are always oversold.

Then I get a voucher for a free r/t ticket anywhere in the US, and get a first class seat on the first flight the next morning. The gate agent down there knows me, knows I'm always looking to take the bump, and knows that I won't need a hotel, so he's often got it all ready for me before I even get there if he thinks he'll need the seat Of course when DH has to turn around and come back to the airport to get me he's not always too happy about it...

Anne

 

[Chicago526]

I fly back and forth to MCO very regularly. I PURPOSELY book the flights that I KNOW are always oversold.

Then I get a voucher for a free r/t ticket anywhere in the US, and get a first class seat on the first flight the next morning. The gate agent down there knows me, knows I'm always looking to take the bump, and knows that I won't need a hotel, so he's often got it all ready for me before I even get there if he thinks he'll need the seat Of course when DH has to turn around and come back to the airport to get me he's not always too happy about it...

Anne

I was about to suggest this! If you do get bumped (voluntary or otherwise) ask if they can put you in first class on the next flight (in addition to whatever comp they are offering). The gate agents often do it if there is space, just because they are happy you aren't screaming at them!

 

[G00fyDad]

But I wanna scream.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Just wanted to chime in that this was a very informative thread. I never even thought of taking a cash voucher instead of round trip tickets but it makes sense. Thank you everyone!!

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

Sadly, the airline seat maps really don't mean anything, because there are some seats that are blocked, that will show up as unavailable on the seat map, even though the flight may not be sold out.

What matters is a string that looks somewhat like this:
UA#### MCO ORD 32S 0 Y9 B9 M9 H9 E9 U9 Q9 V9 W9 S8 T0 K9 L0 G0

I looked at the seat map for this flight, and it showed no available seats, yet, by looking at this line above (usually used by travel agents and airline employees), I can tell that there are at least 9 seats left to be sold on this plane (possibly more, as the system won't show a # greater than 9)

(I have a friend that's a travel agent, and they pulled this sample flight data for me ... happens to be a flight I'm booked on in April)

 

[seashoreCM]

Most of the time there are more volunteers than they need.

Some airlines including United even give the most frequent fliers priority for volunteering, using a computer controlled volunteer list.

Some airlines including American and Delta are more likely to bump passengers who did not succeed in selecting seats in advance.

A family with two parents traveling can attempt to volunteer by signing up consecutively and having one parent sign up first and the other sign up last, so they can accept any number of bump slots from one up to the family size and not leave any kids traveling alone.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[rsschneck]

This past March (2004) we were able to get bumped not once but twice! We are a family of three and I let them know if the flight was full we would volunteer to bump.

This was with Delta (our favorite). The first bump landed us $400 checks each person. The second bump landed us $400 travel vouchers each person. We pocketed the cash and went to Disney World and Grandma's house this past Christmas.

We will take a bump just about any time. Be prepared to take whatever flight they give you and it could be the next day. If there are two adults bring cell phones in case 1 person bumps and the other person flys. Your checked bags are going on without you so have toiletries and clean undies with you!

 

[smilingmouse]

My family and I were bumped on one of our flights down to MCO in 1/05. We all got !$300.00 to use on a future flight and a bump to 1st class on the next flight....We were VERY happy

 

[G00fyDad]

Wow. I really cant wrap my mind around this concept.

(before anyone goes off on me, just know that I am not critisizing ANYONE. I think it is great that you all want to be bumped.)

I just cannot understand what would make a person want to be bumped. I know that you get money or vouchers but I still dont get it. I mean, maybe it is just that this trip is: A) our 1st real family vacation B) our first trip to the World C) something so special for us we couldnt bear to miss even a day of the trip we have planned and D) this trip has been in planning for about a year so far and we still have 7 1/2 months to go.

I guess I can just hope that there are a bunch of you on my flight.

 

[safetymom]

I travel quite a bit and usually when the flight is overbooked I really need to be where I am flying. It never seems to happen when it doesn't matter to me when I fly.

Free tickets are always good though. But if I was going to WDW I wouldn't want to miss a minute of the fun.

 

[ducklite]

I have a home near Orlando and a home in Central NJ. I fly back and forth between them regularly. Although we call the FL house a "vacation home", it's really more of a second home. It requires upkeep, I actually spend a good deal of the time I'm there cleaning it, pruning the shrubs, fertilizing the gardenia's, same stuff I do at the other house. At any rate, when I'm there, I'm not really on vacation. Which house I sleep in that night doesn't really matter to me--I even have the same mattress and box spring set in both!

So I try to book my flights to be the ones that are always oversold. Then I use the free ticket vouchers to travel to other places--a couple weeks ago we went to Detroit to visit friends for the weekend--a trip which would have been relatively expensive (the plane tickets were over $400 each if I had paid cash) too much for a weekend in Detroit!

If I were going on the vacation of a lifetime, or a one time deal, I would feel like you do. But keep in mind a lot of people aren't really in a big hurry to get where they are going, so to them getting a free r/t ticket and first class seat out of it is a really good deal!

Anne

 

[Chicago526]

Wow. I really cant wrap my mind around this concept.

(before anyone goes off on me, just know that I am not critisizing ANYONE. I think it is great that you all want to be bumped.)

I just cannot understand what would make a person want to be bumped. I know that you get money or vouchers but I still dont get it. I mean, maybe it is just that this trip is: A) our 1st real family vacation B) our first trip to the World C) something so special for us we couldnt bear to miss even a day of the trip we have planned and D) this trip has been in planning for about a year so far and we still have 7 1/2 months to go.

I guess I can just hope that there are a bunch of you on my flight.

I feel like you do, most of the time. I just want to get there! But if I was ever not in a hurry, and if they could guarantee the next flight (or at least that I'd get there the same day and not be stuck overnight), I might do it if the comp was good enough AND they could put me in first.

 

[gw_lit]

I just cannot understand what would make a person want to be bumped.

I guess I can just hope that there are a bunch of you on my flight.

Like others, if were heading to Orlando (or anywhere for that matter) on a family vacation, I doubt that I'd volunteer to be bumped unless it was to a flight a couple hours later and the compensation was worthwhile. Now, if we were returning home and had some flexibility, I'll volunteer every time.

Don't stress over it, even though Delta has the highest number of IDB's, its only 1.12 people that are bumped involuntarily out of every 10,000 travelling. (Of course, I'd have issues if they bumped .12 of me... but I could stand to lose the weight.) Get checked in and get to the airport early and you shouldn't have problems. And as was mentioned earlier, don't worry about the seat map too much, there could be quite a few seats that are only available to be assigned at the airport.