Beverly Lynn
comfortably numb
- Joined
- Oct 17, 1999
- Messages
- 1,337
Y mother, Susan Hagedorn, has honed flying free into an art form. Always looking for a deal, she figured out about 15 years ago that she could essentially sell her seat on certain flights, especially at certain times of the year for more than she paid. She simply approaches the ticket desk, asks to be put on the list of people willing to volunteer their seats, waits it out for a bit and walks away with flight vouchers, plus a trip out on the next flight.
"Airlines consistently overbook their flights by at least 20 percent to compensate for the volume of no-show reservations," said Linda Nelson, a former travel agent who now dispenses air travel advice for About.com.
Knowing that a certain percentage of passengers won't show up for a flight, the airlines hedge their bets. It's a risky endeavor, given the possibility that everyone will show up. Imagine 200 people with tickets lining up for a plane that can accommodate 185. It would be a recipe for rioting if it weren't for the system airlines have devised (with help, in the form of rules from the Department of Transportation) to buy seats back from ticket holders.
Most of the time it works rather well. The savvy know ahead of time that their flight is likely to be overbooked and will happily give up their seats for the right return. If there aren't enough such passengers, the agents will ask for volunteers. The rewards start out low, say a $200 flight voucher, and increase if necessary. Airlines have been known to pay up to $1,500 for a seat, said Terry Trippler, a former desk agent for Northwest, now an airline expert for Onetravel.com.
A recent Department of Transportation study shows that from January through March 2001 more than 250,000 people of the nearly 125 million traveling on the nation's top 11 airlines willingly gave up their seats for compensation. By contrast, in all of 1991 only about 576,000 people of the 404 million on the top nine airlines volunteered their seats. The reasons for the rise in voluntary bumping are twofold, said Mr. Trippler. "Airlines are overselling more heavily and the rewards for getting bumped are much more publicized. I'd guess there are two to three times as many people going to the airport today looking to be bumped as there were 10 years ago."
Tricks of the Trade
The first thing you have to do is decide whether you're willing to be bumped. Will you miss a meeting? A birthday? If you are traveling with someone, can he be accommodated too? If you decide the freebies are worth it, the next step is to find out when you will be able to leave. Can the airline give you a confirmed seat on the next flight? Otherwise you may be at the airport for a while.
There are passengers, my mother among them, who set out to be bumped. They reserve seats on oversold flights calling and asking the reservations agents, who are obligated to tell customers if a specific flight is overbooked and arrange their schedules accordingly. They will travel during peak times the day before Thanksgiving, the Sunday after Christmas, to the Caribbean in glacial winter weather.
The experts suggest the less dedicated skip the research but follow the other strategies this group of passengers uses. Mr. Trippler recommends arriving at least an hour and a half early, getting on the list as soon as possible and carrying a bag with a change of clothes, toothbrush and pajamas. Advising whoever is meeting your plane or expecting you of the chance you'll be bumped can save you trouble later.
As noted, the compensation for giving up your seat is often negotiable, and you should decide what is acceptable. This will depend on how late you will arrive, how big the sacrifice is and, of course, how desperate the airline is. If an overnight stay is involved, said Bob Jones, who seeks cheap flights for Onetravel.com, the passenger being bumped should request a hotel room, ground transportation and meals. If the delay is only a few hours, a food voucher and a pass to the V.I.P. lounge are not unreasonable requests.
The important thing to remember, said Ms. Nelson of About.com, is that added compensation is entirely at the agents' discretion. "If you're nice, the agents will often give you things out of courtesy, but legally you don't have any rights," she said. "The ones who get irate and start making demands usually lose out."
Note that travel vouchers often have to be used within a specified time and sometimes only by you. Be sure to ask what rules apply.
Against Your Will
If a flight is oversold and the airline can't persuade enough passengers to give up their seats, the poor souls who arrive last will usually be denied boarding, or involuntarily bumped (business- and first-class passengers will never be bumped to make room for a coach passenger). Some airlines also take into consideration how much you paid for your ticket and will oust discounted fares first regardless of what time they arrive, according to Bill Mosley, a D.O.T. spokesman.
The study mentioned above shows that the rate of passengers' being bumped against their wishes fell from 0.99 per 10,000 passengers from January through March 2000, to 0.86 per 10,000 for the same period in 2001. The number has dropped slightly over the years in 1991, more than 40,000 people flying the top nine carriers were involuntarily bumped, or 1.01 passengers per 10,000. The decrease in involuntary bumpings is directly related to the increase in voluntary bumpings more people are getting paid to give up their seats, said Mr. Trippler.
The compensation for being bumped involuntarily up to $200 if the airline gets you on a flight that is scheduled to arrive at your destination up to two hours after your original arrival time, or up to $400 for longer delays hasn't changed since 1978. In April, Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta ordered a review of airline oversales rules and amounts of denied boarding compensation. A bill to increase the compensation is pending in the Senate, and the Air Transport Association, the trade group for the country's major airlines, and passengers' rights groups favor the changes.
There are three circumstances in which the D.O.T. does not require airlines to compensate for bumping: when a passenger is accommodated on another flight scheduled to arrive within one hour of the original flight; when a passenger fails to comply with ticketing, check-in or reconfirmation procedures; and when an aircraft with fewer seats is substituted.
Clearly, it is better to give up your seat voluntarily than to lose it, but there are pitfalls to that too. If the flight is not full after all, the airline will put you wherever there's still room maybe in a middle seat between a shrieking baby and a woman wearing lots of perfume.
But sometimes the payoff is big. Mr. Trippler tells of friends who were bumped twice on the way to Hawaii last year and twice on the return trip: "They went back this year on the vouchers."
"Airlines consistently overbook their flights by at least 20 percent to compensate for the volume of no-show reservations," said Linda Nelson, a former travel agent who now dispenses air travel advice for About.com.
Knowing that a certain percentage of passengers won't show up for a flight, the airlines hedge their bets. It's a risky endeavor, given the possibility that everyone will show up. Imagine 200 people with tickets lining up for a plane that can accommodate 185. It would be a recipe for rioting if it weren't for the system airlines have devised (with help, in the form of rules from the Department of Transportation) to buy seats back from ticket holders.
Most of the time it works rather well. The savvy know ahead of time that their flight is likely to be overbooked and will happily give up their seats for the right return. If there aren't enough such passengers, the agents will ask for volunteers. The rewards start out low, say a $200 flight voucher, and increase if necessary. Airlines have been known to pay up to $1,500 for a seat, said Terry Trippler, a former desk agent for Northwest, now an airline expert for Onetravel.com.
A recent Department of Transportation study shows that from January through March 2001 more than 250,000 people of the nearly 125 million traveling on the nation's top 11 airlines willingly gave up their seats for compensation. By contrast, in all of 1991 only about 576,000 people of the 404 million on the top nine airlines volunteered their seats. The reasons for the rise in voluntary bumping are twofold, said Mr. Trippler. "Airlines are overselling more heavily and the rewards for getting bumped are much more publicized. I'd guess there are two to three times as many people going to the airport today looking to be bumped as there were 10 years ago."
Tricks of the Trade
The first thing you have to do is decide whether you're willing to be bumped. Will you miss a meeting? A birthday? If you are traveling with someone, can he be accommodated too? If you decide the freebies are worth it, the next step is to find out when you will be able to leave. Can the airline give you a confirmed seat on the next flight? Otherwise you may be at the airport for a while.
There are passengers, my mother among them, who set out to be bumped. They reserve seats on oversold flights calling and asking the reservations agents, who are obligated to tell customers if a specific flight is overbooked and arrange their schedules accordingly. They will travel during peak times the day before Thanksgiving, the Sunday after Christmas, to the Caribbean in glacial winter weather.
The experts suggest the less dedicated skip the research but follow the other strategies this group of passengers uses. Mr. Trippler recommends arriving at least an hour and a half early, getting on the list as soon as possible and carrying a bag with a change of clothes, toothbrush and pajamas. Advising whoever is meeting your plane or expecting you of the chance you'll be bumped can save you trouble later.
As noted, the compensation for giving up your seat is often negotiable, and you should decide what is acceptable. This will depend on how late you will arrive, how big the sacrifice is and, of course, how desperate the airline is. If an overnight stay is involved, said Bob Jones, who seeks cheap flights for Onetravel.com, the passenger being bumped should request a hotel room, ground transportation and meals. If the delay is only a few hours, a food voucher and a pass to the V.I.P. lounge are not unreasonable requests.
The important thing to remember, said Ms. Nelson of About.com, is that added compensation is entirely at the agents' discretion. "If you're nice, the agents will often give you things out of courtesy, but legally you don't have any rights," she said. "The ones who get irate and start making demands usually lose out."
Note that travel vouchers often have to be used within a specified time and sometimes only by you. Be sure to ask what rules apply.
Against Your Will
If a flight is oversold and the airline can't persuade enough passengers to give up their seats, the poor souls who arrive last will usually be denied boarding, or involuntarily bumped (business- and first-class passengers will never be bumped to make room for a coach passenger). Some airlines also take into consideration how much you paid for your ticket and will oust discounted fares first regardless of what time they arrive, according to Bill Mosley, a D.O.T. spokesman.
The study mentioned above shows that the rate of passengers' being bumped against their wishes fell from 0.99 per 10,000 passengers from January through March 2000, to 0.86 per 10,000 for the same period in 2001. The number has dropped slightly over the years in 1991, more than 40,000 people flying the top nine carriers were involuntarily bumped, or 1.01 passengers per 10,000. The decrease in involuntary bumpings is directly related to the increase in voluntary bumpings more people are getting paid to give up their seats, said Mr. Trippler.
The compensation for being bumped involuntarily up to $200 if the airline gets you on a flight that is scheduled to arrive at your destination up to two hours after your original arrival time, or up to $400 for longer delays hasn't changed since 1978. In April, Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta ordered a review of airline oversales rules and amounts of denied boarding compensation. A bill to increase the compensation is pending in the Senate, and the Air Transport Association, the trade group for the country's major airlines, and passengers' rights groups favor the changes.
There are three circumstances in which the D.O.T. does not require airlines to compensate for bumping: when a passenger is accommodated on another flight scheduled to arrive within one hour of the original flight; when a passenger fails to comply with ticketing, check-in or reconfirmation procedures; and when an aircraft with fewer seats is substituted.
Clearly, it is better to give up your seat voluntarily than to lose it, but there are pitfalls to that too. If the flight is not full after all, the airline will put you wherever there's still room maybe in a middle seat between a shrieking baby and a woman wearing lots of perfume.
But sometimes the payoff is big. Mr. Trippler tells of friends who were bumped twice on the way to Hawaii last year and twice on the return trip: "They went back this year on the vouchers."
