JFKSFOLAX_friend

I am elite so I would benefit from this idea...but, why should an elite get priority on the bump list? Shouldn't it just be ranked by who volunteers first? Not sure what elite status has to do with bumping.

A non-elite can volunteer when the gate opens and sit around for an hour and an elite can saunter up to the gate 15 minutes before boarding and jump the bump list? Not sure that is fair...

Often1

Elites don't get priority. On UA, it's the GA's discretion, but there is a list based on fare paid for IDB purposes.

Anecdotally, originating pax, flying non-stop, single pax on PNR w. no checked bags get the jump on others. Easiest to rebook, generally happy to spend the night at home and no bags to pull.

luv2ctheworld

If the OP was a professor of economics, he would make a poor one.

OP has clearly neglected to factor the supply and demand of VDB's. Unless there was a way to introduce an artificial "floor" to the minimum acceptance, there will always be some people willing to take an offer. And the airlines already have "ceiling" for the VDB value, because they will just kick it over to IDB instead of VDB.

Trying to make an entire plane load of passengers agree to their own cause is futile (particularly when this results in delays/inconvenience for others). Heck, consider the debate of recline vs. no recline and how divisive that is.

Plus, like all collective bargaining scenarios, there will be scabs that weaken the collective bargaining position. And in this case, they don't need more than a handful usually to close the airplane door.

I think OP may be just tad bit upset at UA, and really just wants the airline to "pay up" and is wishful that there was a way to make it happen.

*Disclosure: I am not an economist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.
**Secondary Disclosure: Actually, I did not stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but I do like the commercials.

In The 216

Well this thread certainly took a turn...

Anyway, your idea, as it has been pointed out, neglects to account for one extremely factor: the human element. I will say that there is nothing wrong with negotiating with the gate agents to whatever extreme you think is possible to maximize your benefits.

Last year my friend and I were on a UA flight from PIT-LAS with stops in IAD and LAX. (Maximizing the routing for miles, points and a domestic 777). The PIT-IAD UA Express flight on an E-145 was oversold by two people. They kept asking and asking for volunteers. Nobody was biting. As boarding got closer the gate agent called my name to the podium. When I walked up she told me that they could get me to LAS with one stop via LAX and I would only get in a little over two hours later than my original flight. She said I would received $400 for each of us in denied boarding vouchers. I said that would be fine is she could confirm us in first class on both the PIT-LAX and LAX-LAS legs. She balked at that notion and basically said I was crazy. She told me that my friend and I were the only two passengers that would be able to get to our destination this evening because all other passengers were either international connections or there were no available seats to their destination. I politely told her that I sympathized with her but I would want the vouchers and first class seats and told her quite frankly it certainly beat involuntarily denying our boarding. Anyway, fast forward she still said no so we boared the flight. About 10 minutes later she came onto the aircraft and pulled us off, gave us our first class tickets to LAX and LAS and our $400 voucher. Win, win, win.

flykodo

Its quite the game theory situation.

Scenario
A) we all agree who want a VDB. sit tight and wait for it to go up. works but unlikely
B) we all agree who want a VDB, but someone breaks rank and takes the VDB or someone from the outside swoops in
C) the person with the idea tries rounding up support. by the time they run around getting support, others have come in and no more volunteers needed

I'm thinking most likely its scenario B or C that works out

rob_flies_ua

D) Volunteer early and receive the same maximum amount of compensation as later volunteers. I've had this happen on PMUA and new UA; most recently, the initial offer was $200 when I was offloaded and rebooked; final offer was $400 to the last folks taken; I was given the same $400 as them.

garykung

$800, hotel, Full Y protect, and EC 261/2004 protection?

Take it and don't look back.

haddon90

so you would scold me if i received a $600 voucher? be my guest. if scolding me means i get a substantial flight voucher, i will take that any day.

and this scenario would never happen to begin with.

Jorgen

Yeah, good luck trying to form an ad-hoc price-fixing cartel on a timescale of minutes among 200+ people who have never seen each other before, will never see each other again, from an astoundingly diverse array of backgrounds, and many of whom have limited English.

haddon90

agreed. personally, i'm in it for myself to get compensation. if some fool wants to round people up to demand more $, i will just swoop in and undermine that.

GUWonder

Indeed it's not going to work.

... speaking of limited English, aren't cartels a creature of commercial/industrial/political suppliers of goods/services?

A retail consumer union, even one aiming for monopsony power, in an oligopolistic market where the suppliers are coddled by the government just isn't going to result in a cartel no matter how it's played.

craz

1 major problem with this is most people flying arent FTers and the Kettles and Students would grab $150 if they could get it.

On a recent SFO-PHL I approached the GA @ T-45 and was told she already had the 1 person she needed i asked her how much it would be for she said $400 but then said 2 others asked and 1 said they'd take $200 and the other yep $150 next flight was in 8 hrs ns. In the end she didnt need anyone as they were 2 non-shows

Bow Rider

I dunno, me and my buddy Don Quixote sort of like the OPs idea. The organizing committee will meet down past the UC by the windmill.

STS-134

Once the passenger holding the ticket agrees to be paid by the bumped passenger, that passenger would walk up to the GA and say "I am NOT taking this flight!". The GA can't physically FORCE that passenger to get on the plane. What's the airline going to do at this point, go out with an empty seat?

On a more personal note, I WAS already peeved at UA for what happened on my SFO-LHR flight. I had an aisle seat, and UA moved a husband and wife up into two middle seats a row apart (they were initially sitting at the back of the plane together). Now the wife had a lap child, and the husband wouldn't be there to help her take care of her (in this process, UA left the wife's mother in the back of the plane, basically taking a group of 3 people and putting them in 3 non adjacent seats, with 2 in one part of the plane and 1 in a completely separate section). Because UA was running the flight at 100% load factor, and apparently had already given the couple's original seats to someone else, there was nowhere to move anyone. I was faced with the choice of either keeping my aisle seat and having a lap child next to me while I was trying to sleep, or moving back into the husband's middle seat. I chose the latter.

I show up for my next flight and AGAIN UA is running at > 100% load factor. Any screw ups and there would be nowhere to move anyone again. NO SYMPATHY for UA! So do I believe that passengers should do everything in their power to maximize oversale compensation, take the CASH, and then trade later? You bet!

JFKSFOLAX_friend

Please re-read my post.

PHLGovFlyer said (s)he thought elite status should factor into the decision. I asked him/her why.

I didn't ask if UA currently considers elite status.