jinglish

I was offered VDB at online check-in for an ONT-PDX flight a couple of years ago. Accepted for a $300 travel voucher and got put on the earlier flight that I would've booked anyway if it hadn't been pricier at booking.

channa

Yup, and this should be a wake-up call to AS. It could have just as easily happened to them. AS is even chintzier with vouchers than United. People are being critical of UA not offering enough at $800, when DL goes up to $1,350 (and sometimes in gift card, not voucher). Ever seen numbers like that out of AS?

They're going to get some activist type sooner or later who is going to find a way to block the jet bridge or aisle because AS policy is some junk $300 voucher and the next flight isn't for a day.

And now that they're expanding in SFO with the VX acquisition, it's a different clientele, and there's even less likelihood that someone will be willing to work with them because they're the hometown airline. The Seattleites might be willing to miss a day of work or a special event they booked months in advance, while telling AS they can keep their voucher, we're just proud to support our SEA-based airline, even if it means getting in a day late. The SFOers will laugh in their face at compensation that appears trivial.

s0ssos

I think it would behoove one to ask AS (or AA or DL) what their policy is on forcibly removing passengers who have already boarded?

CDKing

yes, its happened before on many other carriers. From completely removed to boarding and finding F seat taken and forced downgrade. Not one that has escalated this far and overreaction by a security person though. They had every right to remove him from the plane, how it went down is another story but theres other threads for that.

3Cforme

It seems odd that gate agents and the Passenger Service System making all the beeps as boarding passes are scanned can't manage the count, but I've certainly seen incidents where number of passengers thru the door exceeds number of seats on the aircraft. Some people get bumped. The plane won't fly until everyone is seated. Contracts of Carriage identify bumping priority - that's a DOT requirement, and it's a DOT requirement that the stated procedure and priority be followed. I've never seen anybody dragged off - very few times have I seen Security/LEO board the plane to remove a bumped passenger.

rustykettel

At this point, who knows if a written notice was provided prior to the short videoed portion of this incident. The reg required provided immediately after denial, which perhaps leaves wiggle room as the incident occurred while he was being denied not afterwards.

Back on topic, AS (along with UA and others) was fined just last summer for not having correct IDB and other notices on hand. It would be a really incompetent compliance team if updated IDB notices aren't at all required locations.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alask...ist-order.html

formeraa

But it might be to, say, a retired person with more time than money. $400 and an overnight delay might be totally worth it. And, if it happens on the outbound flight, you could easily have the agent push back your return date by a day -- usually they are more than willing. So, it depends on how flexible your schedule is.

That's why they start with a lower amount and then work up to higher amounts.

PDXPremier

The lowest I would take is $100....when I bid on the DL flight offers, I always bid very low, but of course most folks end up getting at least $400.

jiburi

I had the impression VX never overbook. I'm unsure what the current VX policies is, but knowing AS overbook, I would anticipate VX to be headed to the AS overbooking rate: still low though.

Jiburi

xliioper

Why the next person voluntarily get off if they saw they could simply refuse in order to be skipped.

Often1

The statistics are for IDB's, not VDB's, but for 2016-Q3:

DL 0.10 per 10,000 pax
AS 0.35
UA 0.40
AA 0.54
B6 1.19

Raw numbers are generally meaningless because carriers have different passenger headcounts. But, it is telling that B6 had a total of 1,475 denied boardings, but only 439 of those were voluntary. On the other hand, AS had 1,797, but 1,600 of those were voluntary. The suggestion is that B6 seeks volunteers but does not try that hard.

The larger issue is that once it is an IDB situation, DOT rules require that the carrier use a predetermined order. It is not up to the GA or crew to change the order "just because". The order may take into account all sorts of things, but it can't change. Thus, once the doc was the next IDB, he was the next IDB.

ryandc99

Everyone,

I will not allow this thread to devolve into a discussion of the current UA situation. If you would like to discuss that situation, please feel free to discuss it on the UA board here:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...il-2017-a.html

Please feel free to discuss AS policies on IDB, previous IDB on AS etc. I have cleaned up many of the Off topic posts discussing the United situation.

Ryandc99, Moderator, Alaska Airlines

ryandc99

For a long time, VX did not overbook. I believe in 2014/2015 they started a formal process to oversell flights. It directly coincided with them adding an elite program, and offering upgrades for purchase.

CDKing

I wonder if that is AS plan for the future. Oversell Y based on upgrading elites to F.

1st Cav Vet

Many, many years ago, AS was asking for Volunteers on an oversold flight. My wife and I were among the Volunteers. Common at the time were System-Wide round trip vouchers.
There were no shortage of happy Volunteers. I remain very pleased with Alaska Airlines. Some of the other airlines have unfathomable arrogance towards their customers. How sad!