davetravels

Here's a recent post of mine:

benitovacation

I'm model minority type, at least in personal life. I'm not gonna hold two flights of folks late just to negotiate to my advantage for a possible remedial situation even in light of professional knowledge if you put me in the same situation again and again. SNA-ATL is 10 mins to ETA its GA complained late/taking fall and SNA-MSP I pretty sure they got serious hard time to find volunteer among biz travelers on Monday morning. STOP/ REVERSE the process is just not an option in common sense, though technically gain an advantage for something which expected barely and reasonably.

miraclebear2003

Would like to hear a tape of exactly what was said, but given where we are I'm not going to take sides.

Will relate what happened about two years ago. My wife and I were waiting in DFW for our flights to SLC and then MCO. GA called us up and asked if we wanted to take a direct flight home on AA and get home a couple of hours early. I'm not sure what she said about a voucher. We said sure and she made the arrangements and then gave us each a voucher for$800 which was a pleasant surprise. I was satisfied with the earlier arrival.

BTW we got credit (MQM) without even have to ask (which we would have requested) , maybe because they never switched our luggage to the AA flight.

javabytes

The red coat did a shady thing. Alternative flights and compensation amounts should be discussed with and accepted by the passenger before any change is made. The red coat put OP in an awful spot by taking him to another gate and just telling him to get on. The assertive among us would have put a stop to the process there, if not earlier. By silently boarding the plane, OP allowed the red coat to prevail, and implicitly agreed to no compensation. It's a shame to see unassertive passengers thoroughly taken advantage of, and this red coat is going to continue to pull the same garbage.

Oversold flights are the GA's problem, not yours. As much as you may want to help the GA or the other passengers speed up a departure, look out for your own interests because a harried employee may not. It is perfectly reasonable to force a discussion about alternative flights, seats, and compensation before giving up your seat, no matter how reluctant the GA may be. Trust me, when the GA wants to get the flight out quickly, you'd be surprised how quickly they can print you a voucher.

pgh234

I once had a sneaky $0 compensation VDB at IAD. We were flying IAD-JFK-Europe and they were practically begging for VDB's on the CRJ from IAD. They offered a few folks an "opportunity" to hop on AF IAD-CDG for "free" (that would not work for my itinerary) and then they still needed more.

So I go up to the podium and find an uncomfortably tight itinerary leaving DCA connecting to my original Europe flight in JFK. I would have to leave NOW to zoom out to DCA and get it though. I said it would be fine to do as long as I get a voucher and the luggage continues on its way to JFK.

They say "sounds great"...rebook me and say "this flight is actually unbalanced due to luggage so you will have to collect it at claim." I tell them I have severe doubts my luggage can get to baggage claim but she promises me it will. They tell me to hurry, and I ask them for my voucher before I go. They print out a Taxi (!!) voucher and then stare at me wondering why I have not left yet.

I make a big fuss, tell them I never accepted this, put me back on the flight, etc. The redcoat eventually gives me a $100 VDB, tells me my luggage will be at the baggage claim, and to get going.

Needless to say...the baggage never did show up at baggage claim, I was without clean clothes in Europe for three days, and I tipped the taxi driver $30 for his heroically fast drive down the Dulles Toll Road to DCA. We barely did make our DCA flight. Thanks DL.

btonkid12345

THIS ^

Ok. But then you came onto this forum and created this thread, presumably to indicate your dissatisfaction with what transpired, in hindsight.

So various solutions were provided. Mine is a valid one, and others agree with it too. You can't have your cake and eat it too - either you receive compensation and are satisfied, or the Red Coat rebooked you without compensation. Note it is possible for you to have received VDB compensation AND for the flight to have departed on time - they just had to be willing to do it.

jjmiller69

You still helped DL out and it should have been worth $400-600 in compensation.
In my case I would have said no VDB, I'll take my original flight I'm booked on.

benitovacation

Share and solicit knowledge of community. Sorry, never thought simply volunteer for a voucher could be such tricky battlefield. Live and learn.

Thank you all. Ill assertively make it cut and dried from the get-go on my next encounter

readywhenyouare

I'll take the side of the OP. He was given the worst possible seats in the reroute. He was due some sort of compensation.

danielonn

I got $850 for a 4 hour delay at SJC going to LAX on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend this past September with a meal voucher. Got access to the Club SJC on a promo $30 Groupon and put it towards my summer Europe trip plus had a S100 voucher for a mishap.

I was shocked at getting S850 as i paid for Comfort Plus and got a bulkhead. Delta paid me more than my S170 ticket. I was the only volunteer.

jdrtravel

As it should be. This is the "deal" we all make in permitting airlines to oversell flights...to sell a product that they actually don't have to offer you. Not cool when airlines don't hold up their end of the bargain.

Zeeb

I think this ones on Delta. OP should have been more assertive but if the redcoat really did toss him on a plane without explaining his full rerouting or going over seat availability with him that's bad service on their part.

SNA has mostly good agents but there are 1-2 that are really terrible to deal with. I'm always a little nervous when I see them working my flight because I know if anything is out of the ordinary they'll make it as painful as possible to get things going agian.

fti

This. But the OP admitted that even in the future he would not do that:

If this is your attitude then definitely you got what you deserved. I ALWAYS ask what the compensation would be and what my routing woudl be if I take a different flight. I also ask the GA when I volunteer to please protect my seat on the original flight until it is 100% sure I would be rebooked.

One time I arrived early to a gate that had an oversell. I asked about volunteering. The GA said there was a flight departing earlier that I could take, even printed a boarding pass for me. I said, "I will only take that flight if I get some sort of compensation." No compensation she said. I said then I want my original flight and seat back, which I got. It was not my final flight so it really didn't make sense to take an earlier flight just to wait at the connecting airport longer.

Often1

New Regulations? Gimme a break.

"Hi, I'd like a new regulation because DL got me to my destination without a delay and eliminated connection downtime I didn't like."

The past is a function of GA's doing what they wanted to get pax off their back. Clearly DL has cracked down. AA has done the same through QIK and UA has never been particularly generous.

I don't see it.

pfpdx

OP got taken by Delta. Yes sure he agreed to it, but they violated the spirit behind VDB and why airlines overbook in the first place.

They know that most of the time they can sell more tickets than seats and the math will work out for them. And because it works so well 99% of the time, the 1% it's worth paying people to volunteer to take a different flight. And way cheaper then IDBing people.

This 5 minute TED talk shows the nitty gritty math. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFNs...ature=youtu.be.

The key questions are to settle payment, route, and accommodations if it is overnight. Before agreeing. There will be pressure from the GA as they are trying to get the flight out on time and have to move on to other PAX if you end up not agreeing.

Rarely will someone be willing to do it for free, especially since almost everyone knows airlines start at 200+ to get things moving. People don't like uncertainty and changing flights creates uncertainty.