Swiss Tony

So I'm on a flight ex HKG to Europe at the end of the week and it's zeroed out across the board.

I'm in the fortunate position of being able to be flexible, especially if there's a sensible incentive on the table.

Is there a best way to go about this, or should I just ask when I get to the airport (assuming they don't ask me first).

Only experience I have of this on CX was a decade back when they were very keen to get two of our party to sit in Y instead of J, with a HK$10k-plus payout (per person) on offer.

Many thanks

CXFlyerBoy

if you have a confirmed booking you should just show up at the airport, check-in and then wait for IDB to happen. No point asking and expecting that they will negotiate to compensate you

gpia

Suppose there's no harm in asking at check-in if they are looking for volunteers. Outport staff told me they don't usually approach elites (if you're one) for VDB, could be the same at HKG.

KLflyerRalph

FWIW, I was once on an overbooked flight from HKG to DPS. I was OWS in Y and the rest of my party OWR. At the Business Class counter they did ask us if we were interested in taking a later flight on Dragonair.

Swiss Tony

thanks. I'll go with this approach especially as flights a day later seem no better!'

cheers

tony

kaka

if you want to look for compensation you might as well let that though as early as possible since they are not interested in offering you in the first place

etkuo

I would second that.

Back in December 2015 and I was still a GO, I showed up to YYZ check-in. I was trying to ask and see whether there are seats available for PEY->J mileage upgrade, she told me unlikely, and after some hesitation, she turned her head to the manager behind her and whispered "should I ask him" while pointing at a paper. The manager thought for a second and replied to her "ya, give it a try". They then offered me $325CAD and an A-Card (one class upgrade voucher subject to seat availabilities at check-in for use within a year).

The offer is pretty weak by the way. Only $325 for PEY pax (they were offering ~$250 for for a daily 16 hour flight during Christmas peak season when everyone is trying to get back to Hong Kong to spend the holidays. The flight were departing at 0140 so it was already like 2230 at night, and the next flight doesn't go out until 24 hour later.

Anyways, I waited to see whether they would offer us more, since I believe the $325 is pretty weak and the A-Card is pretty hard to use anyways.

Over the next 1.5 hour the manager kept coming back to me to persuade me to give up my seat. Apparently the flight was overbooked by 17 people or so.

At the end she said she could also cover car rental and hotel up to $200CAD. I took the offer and the $325 and the A-Card.

The next night I came back and scored an op-up to J so I was happy.


That was my most recent experience for VDB offers.

Couple other data points when I used to be SL:

Back in maybe around year 2006 or 2008, I was ex-HKG to YYZ with my family (4 people together), we were booked in Y (back then there were no PEYs). We were offered J class to YVR and then they will put us on AC to fly us to YYZ, and along with an A-Card as well if I remember correctly.

And then in around 2010s I was again ex-HKG to YYZ and was offered some cash (forgot the amount) for a next day departure.