Getting 'bumped' from a flight ???

[Heidi]

Last month on the way home they were asking for people to voluntere to get bumped. The flight ws overbooked. I had purchaced 6 round trip tickets and was only using 4 on the return flight. My DS and DD stayed for the rest of the summer in Florida. Anyway, even though you have paid for a ticket, if the person is not there and traveling, you loose it. On top of that I feel like they are saving $$ by getting those two seats and not having to componsate other passengers. OH, and even though my 60 lb little boy had the seat next to me, they replaced his ticket with a person that weighed about 300 lbs!!! In talking to this person she had been bumped the evening prior along with her family and lets just say they will be able to get alot of flights out of there vouchers.

OK - I must tell you now that I KNEW this is how bumping worked. What I think REALY got me was the stewardess decided to start crap with me and would not stop. The ENTIRE plane heard it!!!! I am not a confrontational person, and flat out asked her to 'stop it!!!'. She didnt. Basicaly she was mad because we were using the overhead and not under our seat. Well, we did not have excess, and if you COULD count the other ticks I PAID for then we had WAY under. DUring the flight she approched me and asked me if I would like a drink, appologizing for 'getting off on the wrong foot'. I declined, politely. (I dont appreciate being asked to put my stuff under my seat if I dont want to. I ALWAYS do put it under the seat. I was not feeling well and wanted my foot space!!!)

OK. Let me get to the point. Next week my kids are returning on the same air carrier. I was able to get a good price on a round trip flight. They will only be coming home and we will again forfiet the return flight. When I booked the flight there were only about 4 seats left for there return flight. I live VERY close to the airport. I am seriously considering bringing them to the airport, checking in, and putting there names on the bump list. Can anyone give me a good reason NOT to do this??? Or tell me of any probelms I am not for-seeing.

Thanks!!!
Heidi

 

[ducklite]

Heidi-

1. If they volunteer, will they get on the spot confirmed seats on the next flight? Or on any flight? If they get on another flight, is it direct? (With kids this could be a MAJOR issue)

2. Are you in a rush to get them someplace?

3. What type of compensation are they offering?

If they can't offer confirmed seats WITH BOARDING PASSES ON THE SPOT for the next flight, I'd be wary...

Also, what looks like a full flight on the web site sometimes isn't. THere are seats held for medallion/platinum/elite frequent fliers, and the seats by the center of the plane exit rows are not assigned until the gate, but these will all show as booked. Also, there are always no shows and people who change plans. So the flight might not be sold out...

Anne

 

[Beverly Lynn]

you have to get a res agt to look upand see how booked the flt is. they only allow a certain nbr of seats to be seen and booked ...they hold back a certain allotment for assignment for day of departure. I say go for it. if you can get them a round trip for free on top take it. and if you don't use the seat you bought then you pretty much lose it. if you have the tkts with you you can go see a sup and tell them that since you paid for that seat you still want it and not to have anyone else sitting in it. they may allow it and then again they may not. we had one gentleman ask us if he could purchase the seat next to him so that no one would sit next to him and we allowed it. as long as they got the revenue for that seat they might do it. it never hurts to ask. and remember that direct flights are ones that make one or more stops along the way but no change of aircrafts is invlolved. try to get the kids on a non-stop flight.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

I think Heidi means that the kids will be home already & will not be using the Florida bound portion of the round trip tickets. She wants to try to check in for the unused flight to try to get bumped, get vouchers as compensation, and then go home without getting on the rescheduled flight. Am I understanding this correctly?

Don't know the answer to your question, Heidi. But it might be a long wait ('til boarding) and a waste of time if they don't get bumped.

Do you get frequent flyer miles for your "half" flights? I would be afraid to since the airline might freeze my account if I skip the return flight. Am I being paranoid?

Beverly, do the airlines crack down or even care about people purchasing round trip tickets for one way trips? Might be something for me to check out if I don't get into serious "trouble!"

 

[Heidi]

Grace - you are correct in what I was trying to explain. The kids will be home and will not be going back on the return flight.

I live about 5 miles from the airport. And we could plan on having diner there. So I am not worried about wasting my time. I guess I am a little worried about the airline knowing what I am doing. But not very much. Like I said, they had no problem with selling seats I had paid for!!!! And I think it should be a little different in the situation I was in than if NOBODY from the party showed up. I, the paying costomer, was there and feel that perhaps they should have compensated me for selling a seat I had paid for. But Im not worried about that.

Thanks DISers!!!
Heidi

 

[EAJ1071]

In theory it is a good idea but please realize if you check in and are not offered a chance to get bumped that it is quite likely you will delay the planes departure because if you check in and do not board they have to confirm that you have not checked any luggage and then they are required to remain at the departure gate (because they have to make sure you are not lolly gagging etc) until the actual departure time versus boarding everyone a little early and pulling out early in an attempt to get you to your destination either a little early or on time. We were able to depart almost 15 minutes ahead of schedule on our recent trip to WDW, because everyone was checked in and seated 20 minutes before our scheduled departure. If you are able to go hang out at the gate and wait to see if they offer any incentives not to fly, and then tell the gate agent that you are not flying it may not cause much of a problem but would be a major PIA.

Just out of curiousity, why did you buy two sets of round trip tickets versus buying the children RT's with a different return date? And as far as the flight attendant I would have told her that you are asked to store things on the overhead compartment or securely under the seat in front of you, no where does it say you must cram everything in any and all available foot space.

Liz

 

[AllanJ]

If you fail to show up for your return flight, the airline reserves the right to charge you (or your travel agent) for the one way fare which is usually more than your super saver round trip!.

The airline might not do it all the time, but if you check in to a flight just to see if you get bumped and then you take the vouchers and don't fly the rescheduled flight, then the airline may examine your situation closely.

The jury is still out as to whether you can purchase a second seat so you have more room to yourself. Usually you can, but the second seat is definitely not yours to keep when it is in a child's name and the child occupies it going one way.

If someone in your party does not show up for their seat, the airline may give the seat to someone else, but may not give away part of your seat so the someone else can be a large person. In the latter instance, you should ask the flight attendant to deplane some standby passenger so you can exchange seats with that person.

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[Beverly Lynn]

when they do the accounting portion of the flights they can pick it up that you didn't take the return portion of the flight. at that time they can go ahead and charge you for a one way fare.
they aren't going out of their way looking for it but when they catch it they will act upon it.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

I guess that's what I was getting at. The airlines can (but not necessarily do) crack down on passengers buying round trip tickets for one way trips.

However, if you try to get frequent flyer miles for the flight flown, wouldn't that be a red flag for them to start examining your flight patterns?

Let's say you get sick and don't use the return ticket - don't think they really care. But I heard from travel agents that airlines frown upon the practice of buying 2 roundtrip tickets and using them as 2 one way tickets. They lose a lot of revenue from business travelers that do this. Most discounted rd trip fares require a Sat nite stay. Most business travelers fly out Mon & back Fri. They get around this by buying 2 rd trip tickets - one flying from city A on Mon & back after Sat and one flying from city B on Fri and back after Sat.

I think the airlines have the "right" to cancel the second flight if they discover that you didn't complete the first round-trip. However, they rarely enforce this policy. After all, how many John Smiths are there that fly and how do they know it's not two different people. The TA's advice in how to avoid raising any red flags if you do decide to do this or something similar is: 1-don't use your ff# to get mileage; 2-try to use different carriers for your 2 tickets; 3-if you do use the same airline, try to buy your tickets so that the return flight of the first ticket is AFTER the outbound flight of the second ticket so they won't know you skipped the return flight until after you're home.

These are precautions of the paranoid (like me ). I don't know if the airlines really do crack down on this or not. It's just what I've been told. Another urban legend? All I know is I don't want to left standing at the gate when they do decide to get strict!

 

[ducklite]

Just remember, if you buy back-to-backs, do it on two different carriers, prefreably ones that don't code share. It's a lot harder for them to catch you that way.

Anne

(Who thinks that Back-to-backs are your business, not the airlines--they're getting their money!)

 

[Heidi]

The reason I purchaced the round trip tickets for the trip from DFW to MCO is we thought at that time the kids would be returing with us. Then after we got home they would fly back shortly after. Simply, my mother did not want to 'mess' with getting them from Orlando. However, later it was decided to fly them from MCO to FLL (Ft.Lauderdale). So we purchaced one way tickets for that flight. (actualy, the airline appreciated it when I told them I had two in my party that would not be flying so they could fill those seats. Why wouldnt they be happy??? That is two less passengers that would offer to get bumped that they would have to componsate for)

Also, you cant get round trip tickets if you leave and dont return for two months. They wont sell a round trip ticket with that long of a time difference.

Until recently it was ALWAYS cheaper to buy a roundtrip than a one way. Something I could never understand. So every summer we would purchace a round trip ticket for my DD to go visit the Grandparents. Then a roundtrip for the return.

I dont understand why the airlines would care if a roundtrip was paid for and not used. It seems like a win win situation to me. They got my money, then they had a seet they could sell if they needed to, or to give to a person flying standby. And especialy if they overbooked they had one less 'voucher' or whatever they would have to give to a passenger that would otherwise be bumped.

BTW - we are not using frequent flyer miles on any of these trips.

I dont know. I have never had an airline contact me wanting to know why we did not use the ticket. I dont think I understand what ya'll are saying about them 'checking and cracking down'.

Also, why would anyone pay more for a one way if they could get a round trip cheaper??? Like I said, one ways used to always cost more, but not necessarily true now. But on the tickets I just purchaced, it was cheaper to get the roundtrip.

IF a airline were to offer a roundtrip ticket as compistation to get bumped....I take it....and basicaly tell them not to reschedule them for the trip they were bumped for....well, why would they care? It seems to me that they get there money, and possibly get it again from someone else. Or at least they do not have to componsate another person for a flight they have overbooked. And that I know is a common practice of airlines - overbooking flights.

Very interesting replies on this post, and I appreciate it very much!!! But I am a little confused on how the airline itself is out ANYTHING when a passenger does not show for a flight.


Heidi

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Who understands those airlines?

Heidi, in your situation I would buy the cheaper rd trip tickets too.