Gotta love overbooked flights! feel good story

[funcinderella]

My Mom and brother booked a packge trip to Disney just yesterday. Their flight was supposed to be 11am this morning on Continental. It was overbooked, they asked about possible offers, but then never really followed up, and just got on the plane. The gate attendant came on the plane, basically chasing them down, offering them $400 credit each to take a 3:30 flight and get upgraded to 1st class. (mostly families with kids on the plane, so of course when you're there with kids, you don't want to get off.) By the time they got off, the offer was upped to $500 each. The people waiting to board were a family of 4, with two young girls, their first trip to Disney, and they were crying because they had no seats on the plane. My mom and brother getting off freed up the seats so that the whole family could get on. The Mom of the girls was crying, my Mom and brother were crying...so they REALLY felt good about getting off. Not only did they get $1000 total in free flights (and we travel all of the time, so they will definitely be used), a free lunch voucher, first class on a plane three hours later, but they also got to spread a bit of Disney magic to those girls. 3 hours is not a lot to adults but for two little girls going to Disney for the first time, it can seem like forever. Just had to share....

ETA: And some good advice to newbies flying, make sure you pick seats! I am sure that family booked their trip way ahead of time, but did not pick their seats; which left them in that dilemma. Guessing they were inexperienced flyers...

 

[SKWDW]

My Mom and brother booked a packge trip to Disney just yesterday. Their flight was supposed to be 11am this morning on Continental. It was overbooked, they asked about possible offers, but then never really followed up, and just got on the plane. The gate attendant came on the plane, basically chasing them down, offering them $400 credit each to take a 3:30 flight and get upgraded to 1st class. (mostly families with kids on the plane, so of course when you're there with kids, you don't want to get off.) By the time they got off, the offer was upped to $500 each. The people waiting to board were a family of 4, with two young girls, their first trip to Disney, and they were crying because they had no seats on the plane. My mom and brother getting off freed up the seats so that the whole family could get on. The Mom of the girls was crying, my Mom and brother were crying...so they REALLY felt good about getting off. Not only did they get $1000 total in free flights (and we travel all of the time, so they will definitely be used), a free lunch voucher, first class on a plane three hours later, but they also got to spread a bit of Disney magic to those girls. 3 hours is not a lot to adults but for two little girls going to Disney for the first time, it can seem like forever. Just had to share....

What a nice story.

 

[DebbieB]

ETA: And some good advice to newbies flying, make sure you pick seats! I am sure that family booked their trip way ahead of time, but did not pick their seats; which left them in that dilemma. Guessing they were inexperienced flyers...

Not all seat assignments are released in advance. It's possible there were no available seat assignments when they booked, or maybe none together. If you don't have seat assignments, best to check-in at 24 hours or get to the airport early to get them, maybe they did not know that.

That's a great deal for your mother & brother. It seems like anytime I am flying, the volunteer offer is to fly the next day.

 

[funcinderella]

Not all seat assignments are released in advance. It's possible there were no available seat assignments when they booked, or maybe none together. If you don't have seat assignments, best to check-in at 24 hours or get to the airport early to get them, maybe they did not know that.

.

Yes, you are probably right. My mom and bro booked within the 24 hr timeframe, so I guess whatever seats were released, they were able to pick.

yes, it was a good deal. I am waiting now to hear if they get to do it again on the 3:30 flight! lol although that's asking for a lot!

 

[OhioMom2Four]

Wow! That was so sweet of them! It's great because it makes things better for everyone if someone is willing to wait until the next flight. Your Mom and brother get some added bonuses and the kids get to Disney as scheduled! Sometimes, families with children are on a limited-time vacation and every hour counts.

My husband and I had a chance to do this on our honeymoon flight home. We didn't take it and now I kick myself for not doing it. The only thing I wanted to do though was see my kids. After being gone for 12 days, I NEEDED to see them and fast!

 

[donnaf516]

Great story!

 

[duffy]

I read a similar story in, I think Reader's Digest? Anyhow, here's the story, as close as I can remember: the last one to board a particular flight was a young man, and he was going to have to be bumped, because there were no volunteers, and the logic was, last one on, first one bumped. When he heard that, he gasped and started sobbing into his hands.

He explained quietly to the flight attendant that he was trying to get home for a short military leave. As it was, he'd only have something like 12 hours with his family, and now it would be down to 8 hours.

The attendant explained the situation to the cabin, and then asked again for a volunteer to be bumped, or else the soldier would be.

Everyone in the cabin raised their hand.

 

[seashoreCM]

My mom and brother getting off freed up the seats so that the whole family could get on. The Mom of the girls was crying, my Mom and brother were crying...so they REALLY felt good about getting off. Not only did they get $1000 total in free flights (and we travel all of the time, so they will definitely be used), a free lunch voucher, first class on a plane three hours later, but they also got to spread a bit of Disney magic to those girls....

Psst! Your mom and brother did not spread Disney magic. The airline did.

Your mom and brother would have spread Disney magic if they declined the compensation of $1000. in vouchers etc.

 

[newrygirl]

I wish some people on the dis boards could learn the age old motto "if you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all" even Thumper knows this one. To the op, what you did was truly Disney magic

 

[cm8]

Psst! Your mom and brother did not spread Disney magic. The airline did.

Your mom and brother would have spread Disney magic if they declined the compensation of $1000. in vouchers etc.

I'm thinking that all the magic I felt reading this has now faded
OP, I am glad that your family was able to be compensated for THEIR inconveniences and that another family was able to get on the flight and enjoy 3 more hours of DISNEY

 

[kaytieeldr]

Good for the OP's family! What a nice thing to do - for any reason. The compensation just makes it nicer (and first class doesnt hurt, either ).

 

[ratlenhum]

I have friends that actually flew around the world following a U2 tour, went to about 30 cities in the US, South America, Europe, Canada and Australia, and they only paid for 3 or 4 sets of tickets.

If you purposely book the busiest flights and can be flexible with your times you really make out on stuff like this. They were given free flight passes (plus money sometimes), food vouchers and bumped up to first or business class many times.

Between them and this story I'd be tempted too book a flight to FL and back over spring break just hoping to get bumped. LOL

 

[PatMcDuck]

My brother was a sports writer, covered professional basketball, and thus flew around the country often. Lots of flying stories, lol.

Once he took 3 bumps in a row, while trying to fly home. Got a RT ticket each time. He said he was offered to bump again, for a 4th time, but be declined, said even he had to get home eventually. It must have been a holiday or right before a holiday.

 

[Snickals]

What a wonderful story! And think of the extra cash as a good karma reward

 

[JennSaint]

Why someone would bother posting a negative response to this nice story is beyond me! Geez
To the OP thanks for sharing this really nice story!

 

[WDWisTheBest]

Good for the OP's family! What a nice thing to do - for any reason. The compensation just makes it nicer (and first class doesnt hurt, either ).

As you said, the compensation just made the gesture nicer.

 

[Missytara]

I read a similar story in, I think Reader's Digest? Anyhow, here's the story, as close as I can remember: the last one to board a particular flight was a young man, and he was going to have to be bumped, because there were no volunteers, and the logic was, last one on, first one bumped. When he heard that, he gasped and started sobbing into his hands.

He explained quietly to the flight attendant that he was trying to get home for a short military leave. As it was, he'd only have something like 12 hours with his family, and now it would be down to 8 hours.

The attendant explained the situation to the cabin, and then asked again for a volunteer to be bumped, or else the soldier would be.

Everyone in the cabin raised their hand.

I have a similar story I have posted here before.

My friend and her husband were due to fly out from PHL to Cincinnati and then onto Salt Lake City for a conference. They landed in Cincinnati and changed planes to go to Salt Lake City. Due to impending weather, the plane was going to have to fly a different flight pattern farther than expected and they needed to get weight off the plane. They weren't overbooked, just overweight for that particular route.

They asked for three volunteers to get off the plane. This was the last flight out of Cincinnati to Salt Lake City for the night. When no one volunteered, they said the last three people on the flight would have to be the first off the plane.

A young man seated near my friend and her husband gasped and began to cry. When the FA asked what was wrong, he replied that he was the last person on the plane, because he was late from his connecting flight from DC. He had spent about a week and a half trying to get home from Afghanistan and this was his last leg of his trip.

The FA got on the intercom and told his story; about 2/3 of the plane raised their hand and volunteered to go out the next day. My friend was one of them; she joined her husband at the conference the next day.

 

[trtl6941]

Psst! Your mom and brother did not spread Disney magic. The airline did.

Your mom and brother would have spread Disney magic if they declined the compensation of $1000. in vouchers etc.

OP - how great of them!!!!

 

[Microcell]

I would guess that OP's mom and brother would have done it for nothing.. they understood that it was more important to a kid to get to Disney! I think the money was icing on the cake! I think this is an excellent example of Disney Magic on the part of your mother and brother and PSSST negative poster, the airline caused the issue by overbooking!

 

[sam_gordon]

I'm sorry, I agree this was not Disney magic (at least not intentional). Were the OP's family members told BEFORE they agreed to be bumped about the family's situation? Or were they simply told "we need volunteers to take a later flight"? Did the "standby" families situation factor into the decision at all, or was it discovered AFTER the decision was made?