I have found that the agents at the front check-in counter and the agents at the gate are never on the same page. If the front agents will put me on the list, fine, but if not, I always ask at the gate again.

For example, I was pretty sure my DFW-DEN flight on the way to SEA was overbooked at the beginning of Spring Break back in March. I asked while checking in and the front agent said it was, but that everything else on United was booked through the weekend and I wouldn't get out for days. So I ignored her, and 2 minutes later while I was coming through security, the gate agent was bumping people right then for $200 and putting them on non-stop AA flights. (And this was for a ticket that was paid for from a previous Spring Break bump when they did not need volunteers, but I asked at the gate and gate agent bumped us to help out another couple when United had goofed up their trip somehow.)

BillJ

[This message has been edited by wcj1 (edited 07-17-2001).]