Procter

We are about to take a late night flight from HNL back to Portland tomorrow. Just did online check in and was notified that the flight was oversold and volunteers were needed. I assume the oversold one is from HNL to mainland, while we'll have two connection flights to get us home.

My question is if we took the chance to be volunteer, would Delta take care of the rest of our connection flights as well, or it's just too much hassle for them to take us as volunteers? The flight from HNL to mainland is a red-eye flight departing at about 10pm, so I guess there would be none flight left for tomorrow and they would have to provide accommodation as well.

We only had volunteer experience with US airways once and it was the last connection flight which directly sent us home.

Would it be worth the hassle for us? Thanks.

MikeMpls

Yes, they will take care of the connections and, if necessary, the overnight accommodations. We've been put up overnight on several occasions as part of being bumped.

dd1612

Delta will take care of all the necessities if one volunteers:
- Hotels, Meals, Transportation to the hotel and back to the airport, and new flights (including direct flights if possible, instead of connections), and if you are lucky you maybe booked into First.
- Additionally Delta will also give you a VDB voucher for a certain amount - in your case it could be $400 or $600 per person.

kaszeta

As the others say, if you are a VDB they will take care of the hotel, transport, and connections.

There's always a risk for hassle, though. It's worth seeing if you can find out the details of the rescheduled flight before agreeing. I recall a DL flight from LAN->CVG->SLC->GEG several years ago where I VDBed the CVG->SLC flight, and they "rerouted me through SEA" instead. Sounded simple, but the resulting itinerary was VCG->SEA->PDX->GEG with looong layovers at each stop. I still think someone was smoking crack when they made that one.

AllanJ

Ask when volunteering.

If there are lots of folks on the volunteer list and only a few volunteers get chosen, the volunteers may be given only what that gate agent announced would be the compensation. Your continuing tickets will still be honored and rebooked to next stopover (or final destination) in available seats not necessarily on the same routing. Hotel and meals and necessities applies only at the bump location unless otherwise agreed upon. (For those going to the destination of the bump flight segment, they get the replacement flight, if any, announced by the GA).

Now you can volunteer quickly to secure your place on the list, then mull things over, observe how many others volunteer, turn on your wifi equipped laptop to peek at and hand pick connection possibilities and choices, and then change your mind about volunteering simultaneously with going back to the GA to inquire about downstream connections, etc.

Sez_Who

A couple more things...

The meal vouchers are not overly generous. Don't expect a night on the town, rather barely enough to get something to eat.

Look at your new connection times. Usually you will stay at a nearby airport that offers a shuttle service but I have had a few flts where I needed to be back at the airport before the shuttle service began. That usually means a taxi on your own dime.

Check out the proposed replacement itinerary before agreeing to take a bump, making sure the new schedule is something you will be comfortable with. Note you may be routed through diffferent connecting cities.

dream7

They will rebook you on flights to your final destination. There may be different connections than in your original flight plan. You can also request an upgrade, which is at the discretion of the agent.

Procter

Normally how much compensation would it be for a flight from HNL to mainland? And how early should we get to the airport and get our names on the list.

I'm sitting in OGG right now waiting for the interisland flight to HNL and will spend the last day of our trip there. So if we need to get to airport earlier than usual, we'll need to look into our schedule.

Thank you all for the useful information.

jjglaze77

As long as you are there when the gate opens for the flight, you'll be fine. Domestically, I try to be at the gate 1:15 prior to flight if I want a bump. Gates open 1 hour prior to departure on the mainland. I've started actually lining up as soon as I arrive because more and more people are looking for bumps. I recently lost out on a bump because I stood back a ways from the gate waiting for a GA. When she arrived, someone jumped in front of me and she ended up only needing his 2 seats ISO mine

Perhaps someone with more extensive HNL experience can comment as to when gates open in HNL?

Italy98

Yes, DL will take care of your connections to your destination. Just check what they are giving you before they finalize the tickets so you can see about changes while the work is in progress.

You should receive meal tickets (IIRC approx $7 each per meal) which are redeemable in the airport. I am not aware of any certs that are good outside of the airport. If the airlines are putting in a hotel for the night ensure that the hotel has shuttle service that meets your needs without having to pay for a cab. If not then ask is there is a different hotel available or if the airline will pay for the cab due to no hotel shuttle.

romeoguy

You were notified ONLINE that volunteers were needed? Were you given an option to volunteer online? I have not heard of such notifications being given online. My impression was that GAs make the decision to take on volunteers at the gate after it opens.

sethb

I've been notified at check-in that a flight was oversold. Once, it asked for offers (how little money I'd take to VDB). Other times, it just said to talk to the GA.

Sez_Who

I have also seen the volunteer question popped at the kiosk. However, the SC told me it was simply an inquiry, not necessarily a chance to take a bump right from the kiosk. Still need to go to the gate.

Procter

Yes, actually twice in this trip. SFO-LAX-HNL, and HNL-PDX-MSP-RDU, when checking in online, I saw this notice that “flight oversold, talk to GA". However, I did not check the seat count, so I have no idea which leg is actually oversold since both times I talked to the GA in first legs (SFO-LAX, HNL-PDX), they said no volunteer needed, but each time we arrived pretty close to the boarding time, so maybe they already got volunteers.

Yesterday, we had a pretty short layover at PDX, so when we got off the first plane and ran to the gate they already started boarding zone 4 passengers (we were zone 3, and checked in online with confirmed seats). When we handed over the printed-out BPs, it did not go through and the GA manually did sth at the machine and printed out new BPs with different seats (actually one row ahead of our original seats). Did it mean that they cross our names off first and took the seats for others at first?

MSPDeltaDude

Has anyone ever added a extra segment to the end of there orginal interairty? I fly SFO-MSP often and seems about half the time I fly it they our looking for VBD's. I just might next time if they let me add another segment at the end of MSP on another Delta flight...It's only another 120 miles, but it would save me two hours drivin....