<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by FewMiles:
I think many an airline will be happy to sell you a seat on an oversold flight. If you're willing to pony up a full Y fare, they're likely more than willing to reciprocate the favour and bump off a lower-yield pax! 
FewMiles..
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We recently wanted to take our children with us to Europe on UAL. We purchased with lots of advance. But, very short notice with the kid's award tix.
We coughed up 80,000 miles each and they suddenly had space on all legs, including heavily overbooked segs.