Originally Posted by
fkhatibloo
Thanks for playing, all. I love hearing all the opinions out there on interesting scenarios like this.
At RCC now, and it looks like they aren't going to need VDBs, or so says the lovely matron. I did end up requesting the upgrade, and it appears I'm 4th on the list, with half a dozen people not yet checked in. I doubt I'll clear, but it'll be a nice surprise if it does happen.
Interestingly, Y is only oversold by 9, per the matron, which doesn't seem like much for a 767. I'm surprised they were not selling tickets last night.
If the flight was oversold by 9 they should have been soliciting volunteers. IME, its useful to ask to be put on the VDB list at the ticket counter and at the RCC, however, if those agents tell you that volunteers aren't needed do not take that as the final answer. I've often found that they simply don't want to go through the effort of adding you to the list when they can leave that task to the GAs that have to do it. I always follow up with the GAs (about an hour before departure) if there's a possibility of an oversold flight and the Ticket counter or RCC folks refuse to put me on the list.
Y oversold by 9 would be common for a 767 domestic. IME UA's typical oversell is about 5% of coach seats, so with 210 seats they would oversell by 10. Maybe one coach pax canceled at the last minute.
So did you ride up front? VDB?