I used to have great luck with that, though not as much lately. If I'm booking a trip where I know I'm flexible, I try to pick the busiest times to fly. Then, often before I go through security (if there's no line, anyway), I'll go up and ask if it's overbooked and get a volunteer slip to fill out.

I make sure I'm the first person there when the GA arrives (but don't jump on them as soon as they get behind the desk -- my parents taught me not to crowd them when they were walking in the door when I was little, same logic applies!) I volunteer and already have the slip ready.

Best was on NW (codeshare) around t-giving, overbooked my MSP-IND, last flight out so gave me $300 and a F seat, hotel, dinner and breakfast, and overbooked the flight they put me on in the a.m. Another $300!! Good deal for skipping a few classes :)

I found that if you want atry for a VDB on an Intl flight, that pretty much the only way is at the Check-in counters. Once your bags have been checked
CO wont use you as then they Must remove your bags from the flight and wont want to spend the time trying to find them among the bins or the Hold. if the bags get tagged to be placed on teh side , if you arent needed its a good chance when you arrive at your final destination , you'll beable to tell them to contact Ground Ops at XXX and they will probably find that they are still sitting in a waiting tank.

the worst thing is to finally be told "Thank You" but you may board as we wont be needing your seat", most likely this will mean that there won't be any OverHead space left and your carry-on will be gate checked and if thats all you have , you'll have to wait at the Baggage Claim as if it was Checked. Thats why I go back to the Counter as they start to call the Non-Elites to see if they will need me or not, if they still dont know I'll tell them Im gonna board but I'd be willing to get off and let someone else have my seat.

When I was living in FLL a couple of years ago I took bumps to later flights probably half the time IAH-FLL. I'd normally ask if I could be confirmed up fronton the next flight, which they would do happily, and most of the time I'd end up with the extra miles and EQM since they'd typically book it into F.

Many, many times I took the double bump and caught the evening flight out :)

Other than that, I've tended to take a pass.

Steve

I have never been bumped on CO, but when I was a student, traveling between FLL-SEA, I use to get bumped all the time. I found my best chances to getting bumped were outbound FLL-ATL flights on the Sunday morning after a holiday, like Thanksgiving, New Years, etc. These tend to be heavy, heavy travel days on any airline and most people need to get to the hub city, like ATL or IAH, to catch other flights. These flights are prime for bumps and pay out quite well. I would always get a confirmed FC on a flight, usually quite later in the day, and the vouchers were quite generous. Unfortunately, I have been doing a lot of travel between NYC and FLL and there is rarely a bump opportunity for some reason. Coming out of LAS last Sunday night I thought there would be one for sure, but nothing. I was definitely willing to spend an extra-day out there. ;)

I took a bump once or twice and was happy with the coupon. The next time I tried it, I was first on the list, but they didn't need me. :( I lost my original seat assignment and had to sit in the middle on the last row of a B727. I haven't volunteered since!

nice story, thanks for sharing... ^

Jet Blue took care of US
 

Jet Blue out of JFK was over loaded, {weight} were unable to balance
they reguested 6 people to give up there seat.
Yes, we were the 1st, in return they gave us:
2 round trip tickets any were they fly, PLUS
$1000.00 @ travel vouchers
Hotel and taxie, food vouchers.

I found this link through the TalkMail newsletter and have learned so much about BUMPing and vouchers. :-: I wonder if most of this information can be used on other airlines?

I fly TA via US Air out of FRA. Last November, as I was waiting in line to check in (I was there 2.5 hours before flight time) I was approached by a US Air rep. She explained that the flight was overbooked and would I be willing to take a next-day flight along with hotel accommodations and 300 Euros. As I have never had this experience before and was totally unprepared for this I refused the offer. Later when I had time to think about it, I wondered if I should have taken the "bump" offer.
If some of your tips here are valid for any and all airlines, I am thinking that I should have bargained for a seat upgrade (Envoy class) on the flight next day. Would that have been viable?
I don't know if that sort of opportunity will ever come my way again but I would like to know what I should do should it.

what does "VDB" mean?
 

;)
I think this is all good info - just want to know what the initials stand for?

VDB stands for "voluntary denied boarding", meaning that you volunteered to give up your seat in exchange for vouchers, etc... This is opposed to IDB, or "involuntary denied boarding" where they give away your seat without you volunteering (the compensation here is more complicated, but usually involves cash). The latter is much more expensive for the airline, which is why they always ask for volunteers.

And here i thought B6 never does any bumps...

I don't see CO asking for volunteers much at all these days, but I have seen other airlines doing it. A few months ago I scored a $400 voucher for giving up my seat on DL ATL-BWI - they originally wanted to overnight but I was able to get them to put me on an ATL-DCA flight that arrived at about the same time that the original flight would have arrived at BWI. ^ Not bad to get a $400 voucher for a reroute that yielded the same amount of miles and was much more convenient.

Last week, my UA 9:30 am IAD-LAX flight was oversold by two. All they were offering was a roundtrip ticket in the lower 48 states and a seat on the 9:30 pm flight with the possibility of standby on the earlier flights. One person took it and they IDB'd some infrequent flyer-type in the jetway as we were queued up waiting to board. Same deal on the return LAX-IAD - needed volunteers for a ticket in the lower 48 and at least two very unhappy IDBs to the redeye.

Stupid WN -- here's a VDB tale for you
 

:D :D ^ I was flying back on a Reward ticket yesterday, STL-MDW-CLE-BWI (plane change in CLE, just a stop in MDW). I got to the airport early enough so they confirmed me on an earlier flight STL-BWI. Then....they announce that they are oversold by *4* and ended up giving me $200 to get back on my original flight, just 20 minutes after they changed me!!!

I don't know what I would call that for VDB strategy, other than to fly airlines that don't know what they're doing!! hahah

LOL!! ^

Continental bump questions--please help!
 

I'm flying from SYR to DEN (with a stopover in CLE) on Thursday, and need advice about volunteering for bumping. Here's the info from www.flyaow.com:

Continental Airlines 3285
Syracuse, NY (SYR) to Cleveland, OH (CLE): dep: 2:50 PM, arr: 4:08 pm
Y0 H0 K0 N0 B0 O0 V0 U0 Q0 I0 S0 W0 T0 X0 L0
[I have an assigned seat for this flight]

Continental Airlines 1421
Cleveland, OH (CLE) to Denver, CO (DEN): dep: 5:50 pm, arr: 7:11 pm

A3 D3 Z3 Y0 H0 K0 N0 B0 O0 V0 U0 Q0 I0 S0 W0 T0 X0 L0
[CO would not assign me a seat when I booked]

1) What are my odds of getting VDB?
2) If I volunteer, when can I expect to get to DEN? Will CO rebook me on another airline? Or will I have to wait for them to have space? The only CO itinerary SYR to DEN left on Thursday is a 4PM routing through DTW, showing A1 D0 Z0 Y0 on the DTW/DEN leg.
3) Will I get to DEN quicker if I take the SYR flight to CLE and then try to get bumped in CLE? [No worries about spending the night in CLE--I have friends I would be glad to see there]. Again, there's only one CO option CLE to DEN, showing A2 D2 Z2 Y9 H9 K6 N2 on the way to MSP and A7 D7 Z7 Y9 H9 K6 N2 MSP-DEN. I would be OK getting the first CLE-DEN direct flight on Friday AM (showing A5 D5 Z5 Y9 H9 K9), but I'd rather not get to DEN much later than that.

What would you do? Thanks for your advice!