The Southwest bump

[LdnCpl]

I was wondering if anyone who has flown Southwest has ever been bumped off their flight due to overbooking?(We're going DTW-BWI-MCO) I use to watch Airline on A@E and saw it done. Also, do they internet sale prices put you on the bottom of the pecking order(a little late to ask now,just curious) seeing as they're the lowest? One more thing, seeing as we have a 2 year old with us do we get pre board?

 

[dsneygirl]

I have flown SW probably 25 times at least and have never been bumped. I have actually only been on 1 flight when they announced it was overbooked and asked for volunteers to take the later flight. That was a leg from BUF-MDW 2 weeks ago. They were offering $100 plus the cost of your ticket refunded. Airline was based on drama so of course they focused on that.

Yes you can pre board with your 2 year old but make sure you have her BC as proof. I was asked to show proof for my 3 month old.

There would be no way of the ground crew knowing what you paid for your ticket so that has no bearing on whether you would be forcebly bumped. Now if you were the last to check in that may have an influence.

 

[tmli]

Also have never been bumped after numerous flights and have never been on an over sold flight.

 

[cabmom]

I've been on many oversold flights, however have not taken advantage of being bumped. They were offering $200 plus refund of ticket.

Marilynn

 

[canron]

we have never been bumped of our flight we do it 3 to 4 times a year and never been asked to or been bumped ever.its been 8 years now and no never bumped.we got on an earlier flight one year that was great got there 3 hours early same price

 

[blizzard]

The biggest thing to do is to check in early. Southwest has online check in, so take advantage of it.

Airlines will almost always go by time of check in if the flight is oversold. They can indeed though check to see what "fare class" or how much you paid for the ticket, however they will rarely use this to bump people unless the bottom of the list is a frequent flier/full fare person that they would have to bump otherwise.

If you are wanting to get bumped (some people have the time and use the credits for their next trip) pick flights that are almost sold out or are sure to sell out (holiday weekends etc.) Check in as close as possible to the cut off, however do not be late (they can cancel with no compensation if you miss the cut off). When you check in, ask if the flight is oversold and volunteer to be bumped at that point. Also when you get to the gate, tell the gate agent that you volunteer to be bumped if they need to. Volunteering will put you ahead of those who check in later.

 

[LdnCpl]

Well not looking to get bumped on purpose. We've never flown SW before and was a little concerned about it happening. Wouldn't be so bad getting bumped/volunteering if it was just the 2 of us but with a 2 year old son and 14 year old nephew it would make too long a day for all of us(esp me!).

 

[I'mNoPrince]

Even though you can preboard with DS still go ahead and on-line check-in then get your preboards when you arrive at the airport. This will stop you from being on the bottom of the list.

 

[dsneygirl]

Well not looking to get bumped on purpose. We've never flown SW before and was a little concerned about it happening. Wouldn't be so bad getting bumped/volunteering if it was just the 2 of us but with a 2 year old son and 14 year old nephew it would make too long a day for all of us(esp me!).

I really wouldn't let it bother you too much. As you can see many of us have numerous SW experiences and it has never been an issue.

 

[surfer_ed]

The one time this happended on a flight we were on we tried to get bumped and there were too many other volunteers. In that case we were not in a hurray so we thought why not.

 

[MECH8T7]

I really wouldn't let it bother you too much. As you can see many of us have numerous SW experiences and it has never been an issue.

We got bumped last year, AC not SW.

It was the last AC flight of the day going MCO-YYZ departing at 8 pm. I had called before heading to the airport and was told that the departure would be delayed for 3 hours to 11 pm because AC had to get another plane for the flight. Knowing that the airport would not be busy late at night, we didn't arrive at the airport until 9:30 pm. Got to the United/AC counter and the place was empty and the lone agent told us that the flight was "closed". United had essentially shut down their counter and told the baggage security that they could close down for the night. (I guess everybody else showed up at the airport for the regularly scheduled departure time. We have three young kids and didn't want to have to kill 5 to 6 hours in the terminal.)

My kids we bawling when the heard the agent tell us that they couldn't get us on the plane, even though we have a confirmed reservation and were at the airport in plenty of time to get on the plane. They tried to get volunteers but they couldn't get us all the seats we need -- after all, who would want to be bumped at that time of night; people just want to get home. So, they bumped us involuntarily. (They didn't actually follow the proper procedures but we probably would have been the first ones to be bumped because we were travelling on a discounted ticket and were the last ones to check in.)

Anyways, the point of this post is that, sometimes there are situations where not enough passengers are willing to be bumped and they might have to bump people involuntarily. Each airline has published guidelines about the protocol they use to bump passengers but I think the common theme is that people who check in latest on discounted tickets have the highest chance of being involuntarily bumped if there are not enough volunteers willing to give up their seats.