I agreed to a VDB today from YWG-MSP-ATL. I had a paid ticket in FC all the way. At baggage drop, the agent asked if I was interested in VDB and flying later. Offer was a $400 voucher. As I had enough time today, I agreed. Delat/unknown passengers had helped me in the past and I thought it good to return the favour. I assumed I would receive the same class of travel that I had paid for originally. When I looked at the new BP , I saw it was coach. It was too late to cancel as I had already phoned and cancelled my hotel in ATL and the US customs were not allowing any additional passengers to clear security and customs for my original flight.
Thinking about it now, it seems silly to give up a FC seat that cost me much more money, and only get $400 in return?
What are the rules as far as the class of travel on the re-booked flight? Are there any rules?
I won't do this again when I have paid for a FC seat out of my own pocket.
Lesson learnt. I'm only posting to find out if there are any Delta rules about this. If so , I can try and get some additional compensation perhaps.
With VDB everything is open for negotiation. Normally I do it the other way around - I am confirmed in Y and I negotiate for F on the rebooked flight. If it were me, I would check with DL agents at YWG and explain the situation. Depending on availability, they might rebook you into F.
My last VDB I was confirmed in Y and asked about F on the flight they rebooked me onto. The GA said F was full. She also said I needed to go to the ticketing agent in the lobby to get the ticket reissued. Before going there, I checked for myself and found F was indeed available on the flight I was rebooked onto. So at the ticketing counter I asked the agent about F availability, saying the GA said it would be possible if there was room and I thought there was. He graciously rebooked me. Not sure why the GA didn't give it to me (she was not dumb enough to truly think it was not available).
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Was the DL agent aware that you had a FC ticket? Perhaps he/she didn't notice the FC boarding passes or assumed that you had received free elite upgrades (in which case, rebooking in coach would have been SOP unless something otherwise had been negotiated as part of the VDB). I'm almost surprised that DL would ask a (paid) FC cusstomer to take a VDB unless there was a problem of being oversold in FC. I would assume that DL policy is to rebook a paid FC VDB into FC whenever F > 0 and otherwise to explicitly tell the passenger that the new flight will be coach and get agreement that this is understood and accepted as part of the VDB.
When you noticed the coach seat on your new boarding pass for tomorrow, did you try to ask the agent? Have you phoned DL about this if no agent is available? Waiting to fix it means that it is less likely that there will be a FC seat available on your new flight. How would you feel about staying in coach and getting a refund of the fare difference in addition to the $400 for the VDB? (Would you prefer this additional money to getting FC seat for the new flight?) However, be careful about how the fare difference will be calculated; it can amount to nothing.
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I had this experience just yesterday. I was flying out of LGA in paid F, and the VDB offer was $600 to take the next direct flight ~2 hours later. Gate agent needed 5 volunteers and looked desperate.
The next flight was F0, so I asked whether it was possible to get any additional compensation for giving up my first class seat. The GA called a supervisor and said the most they could do is give me an extra $50. I took the offer, and the GA rebooked me on a Y fare for the next flight. Luckily, F0 later became F4, and I was the only person on the upgrade list, so I made it back into F on the next flight.
tldr: if you can't get confirmed into F, you probably should be able to get slightly more compensation than the regular VDB offer -- but don't expect too much more.
I had this experience just yesterday. I was flying out of LGA in paid F, and the VDB offer was $600 to take the next direct flight ~2 hours later. Gate agent needed 5 volunteers and looked desperate.
The next flight was F0, so I asked whether it was possible to get any additional compensation for giving up my first class seat. The GA called a supervisor and said the most they could do is give me an extra $50. I took the offer, and the GA rebooked me on a Y fare for the next flight. Luckily, F0 later became F4, and I was the only person on the upgrade list, so I made it back into F on the next flight.
tldr: if you can't get confirmed into F, you probably should be able to get slightly more compensation than the regular VDB offer -- but don't expect too much more.
Was this a flight to Fort Myers or Orlando ? I flew out yesterday from LGA as well (to MCO) and they also needed volunteers. I declined though
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No, to DFW.
LGA was a real mess last night. Most flights oversold, plus weather delays, and several IDBs -- all observed firsthand at the gates around me. Pax were even yelling and cursing at poor GAs. Felt bad for the kettles who got IDBed, but it's not the GAs' fault!
LGA was a real mess last night. Most flights oversold, plus weather delays, and several IDBs -- all observed firsthand at the gates around me. Pax were even yelling and cursing at poor GAs. Felt bad for the kettles who got IDBed, but it's not the GAs' fault!
Yep I had a last minute trip to MSP. Flew LGA-MCO only for the delay on the ground at LGA to cause me to just miss my connection to MSP. Best part was the sky club in MCO thought it was a mileage run.
1. As a general matter, the emphasis is on the "V" part of VDB. You get whatever you negotiated and accepted. So, from an additional compensation standpoint, you won't likely see anything.
2. Not that it matters to the end result, but when you say you were in paid FC, were you on an F fare or were you on a coach fare which booked into a FC seat?
Not for OP because it's water under a bridge. But, when you VDB, don't take anything for granted and don't accept the deal until you've nailed down every piece of it.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by g2gtrading
Yep I had a last minute trip to MSP. Flew LGA-MCO only for the delay on the ground at LGA to cause me to just miss my connection to MSP. Best part was the sky club in MCO thought it was a mileage run.
I don't blame them -- LGA-MCO-MSP certainly looks like a mileage run. LGA-MCO is almost completely perpendicular to LGA-MSP!
Back to the original topic, it sounds like the agent never indicated the OP would be booked in a lower class of service. Although the OP should have asked for the details before accepting the VDB offer, I would argue that agents also have a responsibility to explain the major terms of any VDB offer before finalizing it with a passenger. Surely a downgrade from First to Economy qualifies as an important part of a VDB offer and one that should be mentioned to the customer.
If the OP can find an agent to help, I would plead this case and articulate how the VDB offer was not explained in full before acceptance. If F>0 on the OP's new flight, there is a chance the OP can still be booked into First. If not, additional compensation could be in the form of SkyPesos. Either way, I would expect something to come out of this if the OP decides to pursue it.
Every single time I've taken VDB (approximately a dozen times) I've always been booked in FC on the new flight in addition to the voucher... Even once to Tokyo on United (well, Business class in that case). I never asked for it, I was just handed a FC boarding pass each time. I just assumed that's the way it was done. Have I just been extremely lucky?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lamont2718
I had this experience just yesterday. I was flying out of LGA in paid F, and the VDB offer was $600 to take the next direct flight ~2 hours later. Gate agent needed 5 volunteers and looked desperate.
The next flight was F0, so I asked whether it was possible to get any additional compensation for giving up my first class seat. The GA called a supervisor and said the most they could do is give me an extra $50. I took the offer, and the GA rebooked me on a Y fare for the next flight. Luckily, F0 later became F4, and I was the only person on the upgrade list, so I made it back into F on the next flight.
tldr: if you can't get confirmed into F, you probably should be able to get slightly more compensation than the regular VDB offer -- but don't expect too much more.
A lot of bumps out of LGA yesterday. They were offering $400 for my flight to GSO. Was going to take it but they couldn't get me to GSO until 6 pm tonight. Flight next to me was going to BUF. They were offering $600 there. What surprised me was that GSO was only $400 while BUF was $600. Is it really that hard to convince people not to go to Buffalo?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamATL
Every single time I've taken VDB (approximately a dozen times) I've always been booked in FC on the new flight in addition to the voucher... Even once to Tokyo on United (well, Business class in that case). I never asked for it, I was just handed a FC boarding pass each time. I just assumed that's the way it was done. Have I just been extremely lucky?
In a word, yes. I'm surprised that the next flight was never F0 in your dozen experiences. Were you in FC prior to the VDB in most of these cases?
Quote:
Originally Posted by FlyDeltaJets87
What surprised me was that GSO was only $400 while BUF was $600. Is it really that hard to convince people not to go to Buffalo?
I think the amount of VDB compensation depends largely on the number of volunteers the GA needs to find. Possibly the GA for the LGA-GSO flight only needed a few, while the GA for the LGA-BUF flight needed several.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lamont2718
I think the amount of VDB compensation depends largely on the number of volunteers the GA needs to find. Possibly the GA for the LGA-GSO flight only needed a few, while the GA for the LGA-BUF flight needed several.
Part of it too, I imagine is the GAs start low and increase the amount if no one volunteers at the initial offer. I boarded soon after the announcement so I don't know if they got someone for $400 or if the GA had to increase the offer to get a taker. I know AA starts low ($200) and goes up from there.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FlyDeltaJets87
Part of it too, I imagine is the GAs start low and increase the amount if no one volunteers at the initial offer. I boarded soon after the announcement so I don't know if they got someone for $400 or if the GA had to increase the offer to get a taker. I know AA starts low ($200) and goes up from there.
Yes, that's right. Happened right in the middle of my VDB negotiations yesterday
