1P

Very useful to have this. Does anyone have the international tariff as mentioned?

FLIGHT PROTECTION COMPENSATION
[snip]
INTERNATIONAL VARIES SEE >S*UAL/INTL-COMPENSATION

It would be a great help.

ozstamps

Give it to a coach FA some time and ask if you can have 2 sips of beer for 50c.

FlyinHawaiian

Regarding protection on flights when taking a VDB, when does the clock start - the time the original (bumped) flight is scheduled to depart, or, in delayed flights, the time the flight pushes back (and, presumably, when the VDB is issued)?

I read elsewhere the clock ends at the time of the scheduled departure of the flight you are protected on. I wonder if this is true if the protected flight is delayed.

I am asking this because the UX flight I took my VDB on yesterday in SFO was scheduled to leave at 1055, pushed back at 1315. The UA flight I was protected on was scheduled to depart at 1830 and pushed back at 2100.

Am I right in thinking I should be able to write to Customer Relations and ask to exchange my free ticket for $600 in travel coupons?

Sadly, I was told by the UX supervisor "we only offer free tickets" and the UA rep at the Customer Relation Desk said "We cannot change what SkyWest offers" Both of these contradict information posted in FT, but I didn't want to add to everyone's stress on a difficult day.

Thanks!

[This message has been edited by FlyinHawaiian (edited Dec 01, 2003).]

mymiles2go

There is a nifty computer calculated program that the agents access that they enter in the flight numbers and it auto-calculates it based on the SCHEDULED arrival/departure time and differences. It is NOT based on current departure/time differences. Hope that helps.

Fredd

We've been volunteering with some success for several years, but were told for the very first time a couple of weeks ago that status (1K, 1P, 2P, etc.) supersedes time added to VDB list. We'll both be 1K next week - is that an unpublished bennie?

wcj1

FlyinHawaiian YGM, but yes you should write and request $600. I always thought compensation was based on arrival time difference (e.g. schedule to arrive at 1pm on original flight, reacommodated flight scheduled to arrive at 7pm), but regardless, delays do not factor into the compensation, just the difference in the scheduled times.

BillJ

wcj1

The volunteer list is ordered as any other list (Departure Managemt, etc). Status, fare paid, and then time on list.

BillJ

FlyinHawaiian

Thank you to all who have replied, both here and via e-mail. It is nice to know what your rights are and, armed with the facts, ask for what is due - no more and no less.

The flow of information is what makes the FT Community great!

Mahalo!

[edited to add] Thanks to information provided here and via e-mail, I contacted SkyWest Customer Relations and was quickly able to convert my free ticket voucher into $600 in travel credits.

[This message has been edited by FlyinHawaiian (edited Dec 30, 2003).]

JohnnyP

Great thread... but have these been updated at all in the past few months? I've used this info at least once to get $$-off instead of the free-roundtrip.

Wingnut

Rookie question answered from another thread...

johnp012001

Perhaps I'm missing things here, but is there anything here that says an agent MUST offer you your choice of compensation? United apparently believes the Free Ticket is the more cost effective compensation. Agents should negotiate the least expensive compensation to get the required number of passengers off of the plane! If Pax A will get off for a free ticket, and Pax B "requires" vouchers to get them off the plane, Pax A should be bumped, thus minimizing the cost to the company (as they see it, we know that's another debate). On the flip side, UA also does a great job of upping the ante to attract volunteers instead of resorting to IDB. A coworker was on the red-eye PDX-ORD and they offered 2 FC Free Tx and upgrade on the first flights the next morning to 3 people to free up the seats. Far better than the $600 required for 6+ hour DB.

denis in denver

I took a VDB last April. I was CDG to DEN through ORD in E+. For compensation I was given $400 in TC and put on a flight to IAD in business class and then on to DEN in First. That was the offer, I didn't even have to ask. The interesting thing is that with my connection through IAD, I arrived in DEN withing 30 minutes of my original flight.

The IAD flight was scheduled to leave about 2 hours after my originally scheduled ORD, however the original was delyay and only left about 30 minutes before my on time IAD.

Sometimes things just work out.

VPescado

Hmm...I smell a nice tasty loop hole here.

If ever you are connecting and your UA arriving flight is late to make your connection pretty close but doable with lots of running. . .

as you approach the departure gate if you were to hang back a bit and show up while the jetway is connected, but a bit after they have closed boarding and the local gate agent decides not to let you on (I've seen this happen more than once at ORD), then you are entitled to DB compensation even if the flight was not oversold.

Someone not in a hurry to get to their destination might want to try this sometime.

B747SP

I tried to get a VDB today on UA862 HKG-SFO. The offer was $400 and a seat on the same flight tomorrow. It was offerred in a form of coupon which can only be redeemed at a ticket counter for a check. There was no other arrangement (hotel, ground transportation, lugguage storage etc) for the 24-hour delay.

Eventually they did not need my seat, however I was given an op-up to C cabin since I was helpful to them in volunteering my seat.

Kremmen

I volunteered today on an ORD-SEA flight. They wouldn't give anything but free tickets and both the gate agents and a supervisor (it took about an hour to even get one) said that free tickets are the only form of compensation they will give for domestic US flights.