Getting Bumped Pres week

[Rpsemont]

Anyone fly Pres week and get bumped, particularly to/from BDL, Prov, Or MHT on SWA? I won't volunteer for a bump on the way down, but was thinking about pricelining a hotel at the airport for our return flight and volunteering for a bump. All flights on Fri, Sat, and Sun are sold out. If we didn't get bumped I'd have to just loose the cost of the priceline hotel since you have to bid by 6PM and our flight isn't until 7:30. ANy experiences?

 

[salmoneous]

SW seems to be one of the least overbooked airlines around. Best of luck, but I wouldn't count on it, and - me at least - there is no way I'd prepay a hotel room on the hopes of getting bumbed.

 

[CarolA]

If you get bumped the airline normally buys you a hotel room. So I would just wait and see..

 

[lovingthemouse]

Can't speak for SW as we have never been bumped from them - as the previous poster mentioned, they always seem to have enough seats. We have been bumped on other airlines traveling to Bradley, and they have provided a hotel room, meal vouchers and a ticket to use another time. Two weeks and counting...have a great time!

 

[lotsofkids]

I have a similar question. We are flying Song, MCO back to BDL on 2/25. Delta called last week and asked if we had any flexibility with our flight. They did not offer any incentives even after I asked. I didn't change anything. I am wondering if they will call back - and what to expect if they do. There are 7 of us flying. Any ideas?

 

[CarolA]

For 7, I would not be willing to accept much of a change. First you need to be kept together and they probably don't need 7 seats. Avg on DL right now is about $200 in DL Dollars. The big issue with the stupid DL DOllars is they can't currently be used for internet purchases which means an automatic $10 increase in the ticket price and a trip to the airport to buy the ticket!

Plus, if sitting together is important I don't recommend bumping. You may very easily get seats all over the plane...

 

[JennSaint]

I have a similar question. We are flying Song, MCO back to BDL on 2/25. Delta called last week and asked if we had any flexibility with our flight. They did not offer any incentives even after I asked. I didn't change anything. I am wondering if they will call back - and what to expect if they do. There are 7 of us flying. Any ideas?

I also received a phone call from Delta regarding our flight home on 2/25. Are you on the 6:55pm flight to Boston. That's our flight. They had very limited available flights to choose from. Only times I would have taken only had first class seats available and the agent said she wasn't authorized to put anyone is first class. So we decided to keep our original flight. I'd be willing to take a bump if they put us in a hotel on Saturday night and give us a decent flight on Sunday.

 

[HeatherC]

Oh Boy...don't you just love having flights switched around at the last minute when you have spent a year in planning? Guess that's the risk you take flying, right.

We, too, are flying home on the 25th to Boston. I wound up switching from Song to JetBlue going down. Song refunded all our money and JetBlue was the same price and time. But...coming home is another story. JetBlue was around $300 a person and I paid $79 each on Song...so we are stuck with that.

I just checked, though, and we still have our same seats and flight. We were originally booked on a 5:00 flight but it kept getting switched and we kept losing our seats. So I asked them to put us on the 11:40 flight which they did and which as of today we still have our seats for. So we'll see what happens.

I don't think anyone will really know until we show up to check in.

Hope everyone does have a wonderful trip though.

HeatherC

 

[PURTYPAT1]

My DD & myself usually get bumped every year on President's Week.

I make sure that we have no plans for the first day or second day down LGA to MCO. Coming home, I do the same, we are in no rush with no plans.

In Feb 2005 leaving with AA they asked for volunteers for our 4:30 PM flight. They were offering $250.00 in free tickets, hotel room with dinner & breakfast the next AM. Bus would bring us to our hotel & pick us early for our 8:00 AM flight. Besides us, they needed more volunteers, nobody wanted to stay the night. AA ended up offering $400.00 each in tickets. There were 4 families that volunteered, we had a blast. It really was a fun adventure. We stayed in a 5 star hotel in Long Island.

Last Nov 2005 Jersey week, we were flying back from MCO to LGA with Delta. As soon as we got to the airport (3 hours early), before check in, I asked, a Delta Agent, how the flights looked. She said they were overbooked & looking for volunteers. She was offering 200.00 & dinner plus breakfast. We would stay at the airport hotel, Holiday Inn. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, my flight was at 4pm & it was 12pm. Did I want to go with the deal that the agent offered, & I would be on the shuttle & in the pool within the hour, or stay at the airport till 4pm (knowing that they would offer much more $) & kill the beautiful,sunny day and be at the airport? I choose the 200.00 & DD & myself were in the pool within the hour. We had the best day. We were picked up the following morn, & on the 8:00 AM flight to New York. I met others on my flight that were bumped on my flight the day before, & they all received $400.00 plus dinner hotel & breakfast. If I had the choice again to do it over, I would choose the 200.00 & spend it the pool. It was magnificent.

We are flying in 2 weeks with AA Feb 18th. Our fight is also preety much booked. My DD & myself are not in a rush to get down. If they offer we will take. No hurry to get down. Coming home we are flying with Spirit, again not in a rush.

Any questions, ask away.

Hope this helps.

Patricia