sigs99

Here is a friends experience a couple of days ago and wonder if anyone has an answer as to why the AA would do this.
FWA-PHL on a US air express flight on a CRJ aircraft. AA runs three flights a day out of FWA.
They request in anyone would like to bump to the later flight for $200. My buddy can see that they have a list of 3 people on a piece of paper and assume that those 3 people will get bumped off flight if no one takes the offer. My buddy waits until close to boarding in hopes of better offer and then asks. They said that the offer will not get better so he waits and the offer remains. He boards last and asks to see if the offer increased and they said no never mind it is too late. He sees no one else waiting in the boarding area and boards the aircraft. When they leave there is one empty seat on the plane.
Why would they offer people to bump and not have a full plane? I wondered if they asked people to bump this full plane and put them on a less full plane later in the day as a fuel saving measure. Do you think that was a possibility. What theories do you have?

466SHH

Flight was probably overbooked by 3. So there was a chance they might need to bump someone. However, connecting flights are often late, passengers miss flights for other reasons, etc. So a flight that was overbooked by 3 will go out with an empty seat if 4 people miss the flight for one reason or another.

I recently volunteered to be bumped on a flight where they were looking for 3. In the end, they only needed one volunteer.

It happens.

And maybe the list your friend saw was the list of folks that had not yet checked in, or who were on connecting flights that were expected to be late. Or maybe it was a list of people the GA needed to call for some entirely different, non-work related reason. You just can't assume that it was a "to be bumped" list. Could have been a guest list for their kid's birthday party.

Often1

Could also be weight & balance issues which were solved with less luggage/freight than had been anticipated. That would also explain an unwillingness to up the VDB offer. AA could have IDB someone and not been required to pay comensation under the rule. Thus, the $200 is simply a means of avoiding an ugly customer experience.

arollins

Me, I would have taken the bump, provided they protect my seat in case it is not needed. Whatever is the final offer at the end, is what you would end up getting, no matter if you accepted in the beginning. I was on a similar situation, and accepted at $200.00. They needed 3 volunteers and eventually upped the offer to $400.00, eventually they got the 3 volunteers needed, and I got my $400.00 instead of the original offer.

JDiver

This. On RJs it's not just oversold conditions, it can be easier to bump than remove and reroute cargo, for one. Or the aircraft would be too heavy for safe takeoff and current for airport conditions.

466SHH

Thanks - I learn something new every day on this board.

AlwaysAisle

I had this more than once on ERJ flights, had to move passengers off the plane for weight and balance, not oversold situation. A gate agent working on one of the flight I volunteered for the bump said it is not that unusual on ERJ flights. The gate agent said procedure at AA for situation like this is to remove passengers, first asking for volunteers then going for involuntary bump, before removing cargo.

One of the flight I got bump voucher was LAS-LAX back when operated by EAAgle. The gate agent said during hot desert summer of Vegas add to the elevation of Vegas make such situation not that unusual. Three of us got a room at DoubleTree near airport, food voucher, and transportation voucher for that. And yes, the gate agent told us that the flight left with three empty seats.

vishalgupta22

A little off topic but here is a weird story about bump that happened to us in December.

We (my wife, daughter and myself) were flying US Airways BOS-DCA-MCO

We got the boarding passes for both the segments at BOS. The GA upgraded us at BOS for BOS-DCA and gave us new BOS-DCA BPs.

Fast forward to DCA, we were at the gate and the GA called for 3 volunteers ($200 + F seats on next flight in 30 mins). We happily volunteered and were asked to wait (hoping some passengers may not check-in).

When the boarding started, GA told us no bump and we should board. The moment we scanned our BP, the magical beep and we are denied boarding (No show). The funny part was, we were (unknowingly) volunteering to get bumped to accommodate ourselves.

Turns out that when the GA at BOS upgraded us, the process somehow checked us out of the DCA-MCO segment. Luckily they had 3 seats in the flight so we were allowed to board.

The silver lining was we were upgraded to F so we got TPs and avios for F instead of coach.

RogerD408

Should be glad it wasn't an ATR? like they used out of EWY. There luggage was left on the tarmac to be loaded into the cabinet at the rear of the plane. If they had minor weight/balance issues they left your bag behind and you didn't know about it until landing at MIA! I was so glad I had bright handle pads and saw my bag being boarded.