slickvik

I have a flight 910 AM tomorrow IAH-BJX. Got a notification when checking in it's oversold. The only feasible alternative for me would be to go through MTY or MEX, but those flights leave at 848 and 9, before my flight. I'm thinking it's a no go then because other flights arrive significantly later and the decision is usually made last minute at the gate. Is this true?

Doc Savage

Get to the airport early so you make sure not to be one of the involuntarily denied boarding pax, and also have a choice to take the VDB if it is offered.

WineCountryUA

It depends on the degree of oversold and other operational conditions. UA has been known to call and pro-actively offer to change flights days in advance (rare but has happened). You will have less of a chance on the phone, but calling or getting to the airport early might work -- also look into SDC (if not UA elite then ask for waiver of fee). Doing a switch to an earlier flight is not likely to get VDB comp.

If you have a seat assignment, your chance of IDB is small but this could be a VDB opportunity if that is desired.

slickvik

There is a nonstop flight 2 hours after mine, however it appears to be overbooked as well as I don't see tickets online being sold at all for it.

Also, I presume it would be advisable to not check in luggage? Would that disqualify me from being a candidate? Or can the luggage just go without me? I suppose I could just say I don't have any but I'm an honest guy and I'm sure there are rules around that as well for international flights especially.

Also does this only happen at the gate or are vouchers given at check in counters as well?

WineCountryUA

mention it at check-in and they will specially process the luggage.

Nearly always at the gate -- many oversold situations will resolve themselves due to mis-connections and voluntary changes.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ua-2016-a.html

Indelaware

First, flights are not classified as "oversold" until flight time. Prior to flight time they may or may not be "overbooked," but they are never oversold prior to flight time. Airlines strive to overbook every flight knowing that not everyone who is booked will show up. Only when people actually show up at the gate can it be known if the airline oversold the seats or not.

Second, unless you are an employee with access to data that is not made public, there is no way to know if a flight is or is not overbooked. The most one can know from the public side is that the airline is not offering additional seats for sale.

azzurro

Some phone agents will tell you by how many it is overbooked, others will not. As said above that is not a reliable indicator as conditions within 30 minutes of departure will dictate how many actually show up at gate. In my experience most overbooked situations end up accommodating all passengers, and even some stand-bys. I am often one of those standbys, lol.

In the situations where my booked flights are overbooked at the gate, when it is only overbooked by 1 or 2, the GA's will not proactively rebook anyone until they do a seat count at T-20 or so. However, in rare situations, often when overbooked by 5+ I have offered to have my family of 3 take an alternative flight that was wide open that day and they allowed me to do so. I later checked my original flight and they accommodated all standby's and departed with empty seats - obviously not what they thought would happen or they would not have rebooked me into a different airport at my request - LAX instead of SNA) (not a routine SDC for UA).

So IMO you should most often plan on making your original flight, but get to gate at T-1 hour to inquire with agent. A checked bag can complicate things and may allow them to consider another passenger with only carry ons instead of you, but each situation is different.

fastair

Unless he got a message when checking in that it is overbooked, and he did.

PVDtoDEL

I've been successful at VDBing onto another flight within the same departure bank, but only when the flight is badly overbooked, and only for a relatively low voucher amount (never more than $250).

emcampbe

No way for certain, but there are signs. A flight showing "full" in the standby tab of flight status is at a minimum of well, full (every avaialble seat accounted for). If that flight has seats for sale, it's a sign that either its overbooked or they are willing to. (And if I see a low number of full Y for sale anyway, particularly <5, I assume they are overselling, even though that may not always be the case). Furthermore, if the standby tab of flight status shows full, and the premium cabin shows as a number (+X blocked), that is generally a sign that they may have gone too far on overbooking or are so confident there will be an issue that they are willing to suspend at least some premium cabin sales to CPU or op-up folks at the gate to help solve the issue and minimize potential DBs.