Originally Posted by
samaryatim
....
I volunteer to be bumped often, and the gate agents have always told me to board whenever my seat was not needed. ....
Yes, the agent messed up
Originally Posted by
samaryatim
.... Given the scenario, was the $150 customer care compensation appropriate? Or should I have received the $500 that was originally offered? Or the $600 I bid? ...
The bid is a meaningless number and has no bearing on the VDB process other than to get your name on a list. The rest is just "data" collection experiment by UA (at least at this point).
The agent's problem is if they give you an unneeded VDB, this will come to the attention of their supervisor. The $150 is a bit light in this situation and I perhaps would have pushed for $250 which is in the agent's discretion range (I believe) -- anything more and the agent has got some explaining to do.
I would write this off as a "learning experience" to stay engaged with the gate agent. At this point to get more, which will be tough, would probably get back on the GA. Your choice.