Has Anyone Tried This Angle to Change a TATL Itinerary
I'm going on a mileage run/sports trip to the UK leaving from PIT this coming Thursday. My itinerary is PIT-CVG, changing to DL001, the "change of aircraft" trip CVG-LHR, where one takes an MD88 to JFK, and then transfers to a B767-400 to go on to LHR. Because of this wacky itinerary, I can't get on the upgrade list for the CVG-JFK MD88 segment (not that this matters, as expertflyer.com shows just two "J" seats left).
As of right now (9/25/10 at 2223 EDT), expertflyer.com shows the inventory for DL1 as follows:
D J4 D4 S3 I0 Y5 B5 M5 H3 Q3 K3 L1 U0 T0
Assuming the flights run to schedule, I have a 3 hour 27 minute layover in JFK using DL001 (arrives 1743, leaves 2110). As it turns out, there is an earlier flight, DL003, that leaves at 1845, with only a 62 minute layover in JFK, which in reality is only about a 15 minute hiatus, as they will probably start boarding around 1800-1805.
Now, here's the idea, and the request for suggestions or past experience. Assume for purposes of this post that DL001 gets "zeroed out" and is oversold by 1300 on 9/30. What I'd like to do is go to an SC concierge in CVG when I get there (I've got a 2 hour 22 minute layover in CVG), have them confirm the oversold nature of DL001, and ask them to put me on DL003 as a means of helping them out with the oversold situation. Of course, this would benefit me, as I want to go to the Newmarket races and would like to avail myself of a package deal leaving out of Liverpool Street Station on a 1058 train bound for Cambridge (Newmarket is something like 15 miles east of Cambridge) (there are other ways to get to Newmarket; this one is the best and most economical, as it includes rail, shuttle bus and racecourse admission). I'd like to get to LHR two hours earlier also to try out the Yotel arrivals facility in LHR.
I've booked a hotel in close proximity to Feltham station, which appears to be the closest national rail station (not including the Heathrow Express) to Terminal 4.
Has anyone ever tried to exploit an oversold situation like this, and, if so, what happened?