Steph3n

Hopefully at least i get a casket if I get bumped off

nsr

4 years ago it was $700 in vouchers good on CO.com only. In practice they are worth less, since most often you can find a cheaper flight than what CO.com has to offer. They were looking for volunteers at check-in.

joshwex90

I'm pretty sure that the origin or destination would need to be TLV, but I could be wrong. The reason I assume so is that few if any use LY as a connecting airline as the only airport to connect at wuold be TLV, and it's not the most conducive to connecting; furthermore, you'd only conect continuing to and coming from the Far East, but due to LY's circuitous routes to the Far East, connecting would be a hassle. However, the free r/t is for any point in the LY system to TLV and back (or TLV to any point in the system and back) for as long as you want, with the departure within the next year. Still, a great deal. No negotiation neccesary!

craz

Welcome to FT

No Carrier will give you anything that can be used on anything but their own metal! thusly if U have no plans to fly to the US again within a yr then dont Vol!

No way will CO give you anything but a voucher good on CO, also CO is never short of people willing to Vol so the sec you tell them what you will accept you will be told to put your bags on the scale You wont be used.Thats if they need you the TLV-EWR & EWR-TLV are known to have many no shows so even thou it may be oversold most times they wont need any vols

standard fare for TLV-EWR is a Hotel room, confirmed space on the next available CO Flight ONLY and a $500 voucher (thats not cash but CO money that can be used ONLY on a CO flight, not any other carrier even a CO code share flight is a NO-GO

channa

This isn't exactly correct. CO (and US for that matter) allow their vouchers to be used on codeshares. That may not solve the poster's predicament, but you can certainly use them on non-CO metal.


This is also not exactly true -- CO has one of the highest IDB rates in the industry, so they do have a tough time getting volunteers (not sure if it's because their compensation is not generous enough, or they can't or won't reroute people in a reasonable manner, who knows).

In the last reported quarter, the only mainline carrier that did worse than CO is US. Everyone else did better, including most express carriers.

ijgordon

I assume craz was talking specifically about the TLV-EWR route, where it seems based on his anecdotal experience, that there are always plenty of (1) volunteers and (2) no-shows (so they often don't even need the vols).

joshwex90

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9700/5.0.0.442 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/606)

There may be no-shows, but I can tell you from experience (I fly the TLV routes a lot) that it's usually packed anyways. I don't volunteer to be bumped because my flights are usually coordinated to be at specific times, but I imagine that they must have some amount bumped..

craz

yep I was referring to the OPs inquiry which was about being a Vol out of TLV

also at least in the past a EWR-TLV voucher was $700 while TLV-EWR never went over $500 to start to even ask about getting more and they simply will tell you Thanks but we dont need any Vols. I guess it will go up only if they cant get any Vols but once you have given in your bags No VDB for U!

Im not saying it Never happened but in all my yrs of flying this Route I never heard of a single IDB. Out of EWR yes as many people traveling to be in Israel for a Holiday wont be Vols no matter the amount of the voucher if it means they wont be able to arrive hours before the start of the Holiday.This applys to the non-religious as well who are Traditional and want to be with their family for the Holiday

this doesnt occur as much flying out of TLV as most people want to be there and not over here for the Holidays, but may close to Passover when many students and young married couples wish to be back in the US with their familys, but not nearly as much as the traffic heading to TLV, since those flying from TLV dont wait till a couple of days before to tarvel while heading to TLV is last min travel (time wise not booking wise).

craz

when CO 1st started up it was Great VDBs for days on end around Holiday time, then they set their rev dept to task and boy do they ahve it down to a science where they know which flight will have how many no-shows and last min bookings

So in the past couiple of yrs the VDB % is way down and hardly occurs any longer on the EWR-TLV & TLV-EWR flights. So much so they can tell someone who wants to SBY if they will or wont get on hours before the flight.

Yissr

I know someone who received 500 TLV-EWR and 800 EWR-TLV all in travel vouchers valid for a year with no residual value.

craz

Thanks for confirming what I said TLV-EWR is usually never over $500 and EWR-TLV is usually more then $500

Dont know when the person you know scored them but I never said its IMPOSSIBLE , only that its alot harder today then when CO started up the route and that CO has given out alot fewer as the yrs pass as they finally got the route down pat.

Also they oversell alot of their flights since they know the no-show % is very high = just cause a flight is 0ed out doesnt mean they will end up needing any Vols, its always good to do yur homework and have alternate flights in hand just in case, but with to/from TLV actually ending up needed is getting to be very rare

FTMucGer

if you have the time and are looking for it, go for anything they offer. if it is more than the amount you value your time you will be dalyed, even better. you can try to bargain, but you never know how far you'll be able to go.

sbm12

All CO TCVs have residual value these days. It isn't possible for an agent to issue one otherwise AFAIK.

channa

Perhaps the no residual language is still on the T&Cs that are printed.

captain_starwood

I just took a voluntary bump from DCA-IAH. Here's what I got:

$300 CO certificate.

Confirmed next day business class (upgrade) flight from IAH to SJO.

Standby on the afternoon IAH-SJO (likely not to clear)

Hotel night in IAH, if needed.

An $8.00 meal certificate.