Voluntarily gave up seat..Now can fly for free

[Tigger2ntinkerbell]

We voluntarily gave up seats, Airtran gave me and my DH 2 free RT tickets to any where, Airtran Flies (national /international).


Anyone else every get these. Did you have any trouble trying to book anything.



I would like to go back to WDW. But my DH said we just left, and lets go somewhere else(shame shame shame).



SO what would you do??.



All the best,


tigger2ntinkerbell

 

[houseful of boys]

We had this very thing happen a few years ago with AirTran. We got 5 tickets. There are some restrictions as to dates you can use so we called and knew the time period we wanted to take our next vacation and then booked tickets for the dates they told us were available. We took our whole family to Puerto Rico for a week and had a fabulous time!! Then on the way home, we had a layover in Atlanta and the second leg of our trip was cancelled at the last minute and AirTran put us up in a hotel for a night and gave us 5 MORE free tickets. So the following year we all went to California and went to Disneyland! It was amazing. Hope you have fun no matter what you decide!

 

[wendylovesdisney]

How do you know anymore when they need your seat? Do they announce it?

 

[Orlando Vic]

How do you know anymore when they need your seat? Do they announce it?

Before you get to the airport, you ask if your flight is oversold. Then, at the boarding gate, ask the agent is they will be asking for volunteers to give up their seats. If you wait for an announcement, you may be too late. Other, more savvy passengers may have already taken the initiative.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I recently flew RT from IAD-LHR. When I checked in, I was offered a $600 voucher to give up my seat and take a later flight (this was on United). No way!

It can be really hard to use vouchers. I would never accept one, I hold out for cash. Unlike the advice given by an earlier poster, if you volunteer right away, you will get less compensation than when the airline is really desperate for your seat. Personally, it's just not worth it to me to change my travel plans unless I got a first or business class seat on the next flight and a lot of money.

 

[seashoreCM]

On some airlines the "free trip" can be redeemed for a particular flight only if the lower priced tiers of seats have not yet sold out. Some "expert" travelers wait for a dollar value voucher to be offered as opposed to a free trip voucher. Dollar value vouchers can be applied to any trip you can book for money.

 

[DebbieB]

I think a dollar voucher is better than a round trip ticket. I got a $100 voucher from Southwest when our flight was delayed over 3 hours earlier this month, the only restriction I see is travel must be complete by one year.

 

[ToddyLu]

Gave up my seat for a soldier one time. I had to take the voucher to the airport airline desk to use it...that was the only hang up.

 

[Jillpie]

We got the same offer two years ago, and it was a fantastic experience!! They put us up at the Hyatt at the airport, gave us dinner and breakfast vouchers and upgraded us to business class on the flight the next morning. I had no problems using our flight vouchers the next year, there were some black out dates but they didn't affect us. The only thing I would warn the OP, is to ask AirTran how the merge with Southwest will affect your vouchers. If there is no problem booking with Southwest, then you're good to go! Way to score these vouchers, I'm psyched for you!!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

We just got $600 from SWA in Feb and no there are not black out dates for these tickets.. We have been bumped from many flights and have never had issues using our flight money. We usually plan to fly during holidays so that we can get a bump and have never had issues used flight vochures to book these flights.

If they only need one volunteer we will split up and fly seperately. Better to have some flight money for our next trip then none at all.

 

[dontthrowsand]

Being Canadian, I rarely qualify for any of the bonuses for giving up your seat so I never volunteer. I have never had a problem with overbooking when I fly domestically

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I think I'd take two RT tickets over a $600 voucher. $6K is only one RT ticket these days, after all. Yes, there are usually restrictions, but they're not so hard to work around.

Either way, you're taking a small amount of rescheduling for a good bit of money, so it's totally worth it to me.

When I travelled more and the computer systems were less efficient, I would have several vouchers stacked up on my desk, waiting to be used. Those were the days!

 

[keishashadow]

OPwonderful! I always check when we get to airport to see if flight is full. Only once when I checked back with gate desk was an offer available. There were no takers until they upped the offer to point where flight cost was refunded and vouchers (good on continental US flights via SWA) issued. Still kicking myself for passing but I didn't want to do alternative connecting flight with long layover.