Minter66

In a stroke of luck, I found out when my wife and I flew to Hawaii, she had been assigned a onepass number and joined the program (how? I have no idea, probably something I did, but forgot)

Anyways, that gave us 7832 extra miles...enough for a near-free rewards flight to New York City.

I found an itinerary that takes us out of DFW at 7:56p and lands us in ORD around 10:16...then we fly out the next morning at 6:00a and land at 8 in LGA.

My question is, being a Sunday night from DFW and then leaving ORD (been bumped from there before) on an early Monday morning to LGA...are my chances of getting some free tickets/upgrades good or not?

My wife and I have never been to the Big Apple, and what better way to go than for almost free?

I am completely open on my travel arrangements and wouldn't mind playing Bump Pinball to see how many free flights we can rack up...any thoughts?

Our flight back is a direct LGA-DFW on a Sat. Night @ 5:00p...I don't expect anything from that.

Minter66

Maybe I need to re-phrase my question...

How good are my chances of getting a bump on a Sun. night out of DFW to ORD or Bump on a mon morning out of ORD to LGA?

craz

well it seems that you are on CO to IAH and UA from ORD-LGA who you are flying IAH-ORD you dont mention it could be CO or UA

That said you also dont mention which Sun/Mon you are flying

that said go to www.seatcounter.com and look at the flights if it says 9 that means at least 9 seats are available but there can be 50 available as well. Make sure to put in the Carriers code that you will be flying. So dont use CO for ORD-LGA unless you are flying ORD-CLE-LGA

Lastly also look and see how many flights are going during the time your flights are. I know sometimes UA will have a few flights heading out within 10-15 mins of each other, so that should take away the chances for a Bump as why would someone pay more when the other flight leaving at appx the same time will be cheaper

I also cant ever remember purchasing atkt trying to figure out whats best for a Bump, any time I use to do that I never scored

bmg42000

Welcome to flyertalk minter66

sbm12

I was actually guessing UA on the DFW-ORD segment, too, based on the timing. That would make it a UA issue all the way through, right?

As for how to deal with it, just ask the agent at the gate if they are looking for volunteers. If they are they'll let you know. UA likes to give out free tickets rather than dollar vouchers. Depending on the agent you can get the dollar voucher from them but it is generally a process.

craz

Man I need to get away for awhile

Dont ask me why but I assumed the OP was going to go via IAH, just checking I see CO shows nothing via IAH but does offer DFW-ORD with UA and a bunch of other *A connections other then via IAH

seems the OP is flying on 8:31pm flight which is a 2+ hr flight on an RJ. with having to pay for the nights Hotel @ ORD which if lucky they arrive by Midnight and flying out @ 6am. I dont think Id do it this way but would pay for the flights if it wont burn a hole in the pocket. Max they might get 4 hrs sleep.

Id rather fly into PHL and train it up to NYC then do it the way the OP is

sbm12

I agree. The timing of the these flights isn't something that I'd be super-keen on, especially with the short overnight in ORD, but if those are the only flights that day and the date is fixed I guess it isn't the end of the world.

craz

the question is how much is it if buying the tkt? It would have to be very expensive to get me to do what the OP is doing.Id rather fly up with JetBlue or WN. But could be when the OP can fly there arent any flights

If the OP chose these flights figuring on a Bump (actually 2 since 2 are flying) Id go back and find something that works w/o the hassle and forget about gaming for a Bump.

Minter66

I will try to answer the questions I have seen:

1) Yes it is all UA DFW-ORD-LGA. I am booking a reward travel ticket through CO but near all their saver pass flights are gone now so I am going through CO's *A which is UA

Additionally, I chose this route because it is the only flight I could really find that gets us into New York City in the AM on a Monday. I cannot fly in on a Sunday in the AM, only Monday. None of the other flights got even close to an 8am arrival. I think the earliest was like a 1 or 2 pm arrival, that wastes a pretty good chunk of our day in the City.

Not really looking to get into NYC in the late PM (PHL train) because then I have to pay an extra day on our Condo/Apt Rental which is far more expensive then the cheapo hotels I found 1/2 mile from ORD with free shuttle service...

I wasn't choosing this itinerary for bumps, I know it might seem stupid to land, take a shuttle to a hotel for only 4 hours of sleep, but its the only flight that gets us into NY early. I was just hoping I might get bumped as an extra bonus, but not necessary.

Thanks for the link and advice on looking at UA's other flights, that will help in me finding out how good my chances are.

I potentially will only pay the $20 Rewards fee for this flight, so it's not costing me a whole lot

Otherwise I have to buy a block of 6k miles @ $32 + tax

sbm12

If you keep the booking I'd recommend asking CO to waitlist you for the non-stop flight on Monday morning from DFW-EWR. They might not since EWR and LGA are different airports but there's a chance that the seats will open up at some point and that would be the best option, I think. You wouldn't be in town at 8am but it is early enough and you can actually have a decent night's sleep at home before the flight instead of the random hotel in ORD. And with the shuttle ride you're probably dropping down to only 3 hours sleep.

Minter66

Good solid advice. Thank you all. I will take this all under serious consideration.

craz

thanks Op for the Update pretty much felt that was what was up. Only if its important to get into NY Mon morn why are you looking for a Bump?

since you never mentioned the exact dates of travel can I ask you if you priced it out and how much would it cost if you paid for the tkts?

dont get me all wrong .I have a flight next week wheer I decided instead of turning right around ,Id spend the night so I will be @ my hotel in Vegas (off strip) from 10pm till 6am. Just enough time to retrive some items I forget in my room last week when I checked out ,grab a shower and a few hrs sleep

now if the Hilton prop wasnt $67 and I didnt need it towards getting my 3rd free night and they didnt have a free shuttle to/from the airport.I would have taken a flight out of there 2 hrs after arriving

if you already booked it then I guess the pt is Moot as theres a $150 redeposit fee

Good Luck on a Bump x2 let us know if you were able to score it

craz

I believe theres a 5:45pm that gets into EWR at 10:30pm and then Sun night sleep by EWR and head into NYC Mon morn. can sleep late and still get a full day out in NYC. dont know what a Hotel will run theres always www.roomsaver.com that might help or Priceline it by checking www.betterbidding.com & www.biddingfortravel.com so that you dont end up Overbidding and giving PL any $$ you didnt have to. BUT dont do PL till you have something CONFIRMED

theres also a Wiki on how to use Public transport from EWR into NYC on the very cheap (if youd be loaded with bags most of it wont apply) for that you need to do a Search on FT

add: sorry sbm I thought I quoted the OPs post and not yours

Minter66

Just kind of an afterthought...one of those "hey, I've been to ORD before and got bumped last time I was there...I wonder..."

And if I could get bumped, it would be worth the extra hassle of not getting in early.

Closest I can estimate is around $532/ea = $1064 RT

Haven't booked anything. I am still waiting on my 25k bonus miles to be deposited into my account. I found out today I cannot transfer my wife's Hawaii miles into my account unless I pay $7.50 per 500 miles...that is highway robbery. Im currently working on a CO-AMTRAK-CO transfer...but that takes time.

So I am just going to sit out for a while and contemplate the wisdom I have absorbed from the smart people in this thread.

I especially like the mention above. I found that 5:45 flight that is direct and we can just get a cheapo hotel at/near the airport and just take our time the next morning...but the illusiveness of getting a bump is what attracts me to doing multiple legs as that increases my chances...or so I thought.

I rarely fly, so when I do I try to get the most out of it.