Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
I don't know what procedures for soliciting volunteers are permitted, but if the OP and spouse were the only IDBs on the second flight, this would suggest that UA didn't know that this flight was oversold until the gate, when OP and spouse were booked onto the plane by the phone agent.
I'm wondering too whether it was the same GA for both flights.
There was a girl who was also denied boarding for the second flight, but she was only trying to catch that flight because her earlier flight had been cancelled.
Not sure if it was the same gate agent since we were never actually able to speak with the first gate agent and by the time we were dealing with the second flight, we were talking to a supervisor that had been involved in the first DB.