eman13

I fly a lot, I usually ignore the travel announcements because I have a hearing implant and I have found that 99% arent worth bugging someone next to me to repeat so I can hear clear

But I flew AA from MIA to JFK where I was to then connect on UIA to a flight to TLV with a 6 hour easy layover times between flights..

But this time I saw the standby queue and as we boarded a full plane I asked just off the bat to my seat mate if they had requested bump volunteers and was told that they requested 3 and got 2 and were offering 500$.

So I thought hey sweet!! I any ways hae a few hours to kill i'll take the bump which was a flight with 1 stopover and would get me in time.. plus 500$ is sweet!

So I stood up and volunteered but they said "its too late now"

I am just wondering, how do deaf / hard of hearing flyers deal with this ?

planemechanic

No. Though it appears to be unfair to travelers who fail to take steps to ensure they understand the announcements that are made in the airport.

tev9999

Even if they had a visual indication, do you honestly think you will be paying constant attention to the monitors in the boarding area to make sure you don't miss that announcement too? About the only way you would be guaranteed of not missing an announcement would be to go up to the gate agent as soon as you arrive in the boarding area and ask to volunteer. This would give you the advantage of getting on the list before they even make an announcement.

eman13

Your joking right ? that would require me to go to the counter or bug someone every 2 minutes some announcement is made.

A simple text msg would do or yes the screen shows standby list / upgrade requests why not a "seeking bump volunteers"

Often1

Any announcement could be important or trivial. E.g., flight cancelled vs. we need volunteers. How do you figure that out if you do not ask?

Doc Savage

This is a very good solution, though you would still have to be aware when the announcement was made, perhaps asking the GA to visually or tactically make you aware.

Zeeb

Well, that's your problem.

AtlanticX

It's a relatively rare event and there's no downside to missing this announcement.

You might feel like you're 'missing out', but that's a fallacy. If you miss this announcement, you'd be in the exact same spot as if this announcement wasn't made.

From the airline perspective: they just want *a* volunteer. They don't really care who. There's no need to make the procedure fair to anyone. Because there's a hundred reasons people "miss out". Simply being too far from the desk, or hanging around in the lounge...

And even when they note you as volunteer, there's always the chance that some random joe just fails to show up.

eman13

I watch the GA's, the people etc.. the screen usually indicates delays..

Next time you fly, pay attention to how many trivial announcements are made, mostly calling people to the counter etc

Go ask cochlear corporation and google why they never accepted my suggestions 3 years ago to incorporate bluetooth to implants and combined with google glass to provide real time alerts and announcements from sound to text etc

It was actually airport announcements that I highlighted would be needed. An exact line from the email:

"
An addition to captel calls, you could have the android voice to text help someone with any thing, say at the Airport and theres an announcement I of course wont hear it, enter person connected to phone via bluetooth looks at his screen which says etc etc
"

eman13

You missed where im hard of hearing? and at times I cant tell if the announcement is airport paging or the GA.. unless I look and see the GA actually speaking.

AtlanticX

I think you'd find more sympathy if you'd focused on missing announcements that are actually important to flying: e.g. gate changes, standby clearing, boarding. In this case, you just seem somewhat mercenary.

As a non-native English speakers, I sometimes don't fully understand announcements as well. Should they start making voluntary bump announcements in multiple languages? I don't think so.

eman13

I just asked if it seems unfair... i'm not flaming the airlines.. I just feel bummed, after all I had a few hours to kill any ways and missed on 500 greenbacks

As far as gate changes, sometimes I do get alerts via text, I think it was orbitz flights ?

There is no reason they dont have a tex msg opt in service, you set it on airline website preferences "text me if there are bumping options"

As far as other languages go, I AGREE its 2015, let them text you in whatever language you speak best to notify you of changes

mickeydfly13

I have often seen it displayed on united airlines monitors--so at least they do/did it.

Zeeb

If you want to get bumped you have two options that are much easier than asking already buggy and error prone airline IT departments to add a very specific feature, and they are the same regardless of whether someone is hard of hearing. If you're willing to be bumped for any amount of voucher, when you get to the gate just go up to the desk and ask the agent if they are going to be needing volunteers for this flight. If there is any chance at all that they might be oversold, they'll take your name and put you on their list. If you are only willing to be bumped if you hear their offer and decide it is enough of a voucher for your time, then you should be sitting/standing near the desk and watching for the GA to pick up the mic and start to make an announcement so you can jump into line as soon as they hit an offer you consider acceptable.

If they sent you a text, by the time you got it, read it, and walked up to the desk they'll either be increasing the offer or already have enough volunteers.

Zeeb

It is a very niche feature that would cost money to implement, that seems like a pretty good reason.