gpicur

I have often said that we passengers do not have the same visibility when it comes to load, seats and stand by lists as the airline staff. So my daughter asked the GA at about 1 hour before departure if her flight was oversold and if they needed volunteers. United.com showed all seats "grayed out" (which I have always thought meant they were assigned) and the standby list had 48 names and none "cleared". The gate agent told my daughter that they were not oversold and did not need any volunteers. Sometime afterwards, the gate agent announced that the flight was oversold and they would provide a $150 TC for passengers willing to take a later flight (no details as to when). My daughter said that several passengers inquired if the TC value was negotiable, but the Gate Agent said $150 was the max. My daughter was unwilling to give up a FC seat for $150 even if the next flight was only 100 minutes later.

As I have no clue how many of the 48 standbys were actually revenue passengers, I cannot say if the $150 offer was a sound business decision. But if I was a fare paying passenger that missed a connection and a rolling 48 passenger standby list was following me all day and all United was offering folks was $150 to vacate a seat for me I would be P@$$ed !