Kien

Recently on a Delta flight from Eugene to LAX, I volunteered to be
bumped on a full flight. I got to the airport 3 hours early and
signed up to be on the volunteer list. They needed 4 seats and I was
traveling alone. I offered up my seat and we proceed to process the
paperwork. I did not ask what the compensation was but at the end I
was told that "we cannot offer you any compensation since you will be
arriving at your destination earlier than your scheduled time. We want
to thank you for volunteering." Granted the change in my flight does
get me there early but that is because it leaves Eugene earlier too
because I got to the airport early. I was so disappointed but felt bad
for the agent who was told by her supervisor that I don't get anything
for volunteering. I almost said forget it and have her re-process my
flights back to the original flight (it took her over 10min to
re-route my flight) but I wanted to be nice to her at the same time
since it was not her fault. Anyway, I complained and they offered me a
$100 voucher which I took.

By the way, this was a very small plane (about 30 seats or less). I
know they were desperate because they were trying to get passengers
going to Europe and far away places to the Delta hub in SLC to make
their connections. I thought maybe if I had waited or if I was a
better bargainer, I could have gotten at least a free roundtrip out of
them or maybe I was lucky since they are not obligated to compensate me in any way (since it is a small flight of less than 30 passensgers and they got me to my destination within the time contracted on my ticket.) Any thoughts ?