This morning CO called and offered $400 ETCs in exchange for taking a different flight! We were scheduled on CO40 EWR-FCO. It appears that a 767-400 was swapped for a 767-200 and they are now overbooked. We're now on CO44, connecting in MXP. The ETCs will certainly help to offset the cost of some of our MSP-LGW tickets Getting the ETCs issued as 2x$200/ea was a bit of a production, but they managed to do it.

Doing this makes so much sense vs. having to reaccomodate lots of people at the gate. Does anyone know what order they use when calling passengers? Do they start with CO*, elites, or is it random?

Congrats!

Similar thing happened to my wife, but she got $200 to change flights in F going to NYC.

I believe in this particular case CO used the following order:

1. Attractive Ladies.
2. Their fortunate husbands.
3. Plat
4. Gold
5. Silver
6. The masses

Congrats on the VDB score (at least somebody I know is getting them).

Hope you and the Fabulous Mrs. xyzzy have fun in Italy. ^

Nicely done!

They have a special desk that handles extreme circumstances like this. I wonder what the criteria are -- maybe Elites first? Who knows.

These guys once called me and left me a voicemail that I was rerouted from SJU-EWR-SFO to SJU-IAH-SFO. I knew SJU-EWR was over, and had been for a while, due to a group. They were not offering anything, so I called them back and asked them to either 1) pony up a voucher; 2) pre-confirm our Elite upgrades; or 3) put us back on the oversold SJU-EWR-SFO.

CO said they couldn't do #1 or #2, and #3 was also impossible because they already pulled us off and it was full, so we couldn't get back on. I told them the removal was not authorized, and they would have to force us back on, which they ultimately did.

They were over, but in the end did not need volunteers. It was worth a shot anyway.

I once got proactively bumped for the day before Thanksgiving on US out of Boston. So we ended up getting home 2 hours sooner and with a free flight in our hands.

At the time, I had no status anywhere, and assumed that I got called because there were two of on the itin. If you are a CSR, you minimize your work when you can call 1 number and bump multiple pax. It's the same reason that GA's don't 'auction off' the VDB and instead just off the max right away -- the sooner they get the requisite number of pax, the sooner they are done. Can't really blame them!

So, did you have to sit in middle seats on your original itinerary? I would have been upset if this were the case, especially combined with the fact that they refused a voucher or upgrades.

That's awesome!

I want to get their phone # so that I can call them instead!

Were your seats in J or Y?

Here's an interesting concept - when booking a ticket on co.com they put a box where you offer to be VDBed if needed in exchange for a set amount (i.e. $200 or free upgrade on next flight). This would only apply to elites. That way CO knows who is willing to be bought when things go wrong.....

^ ^

I like that idea. A few times (mostly at LAS) the kiosk has prompted me for a VDB, but I never (ever) end up getting it. I would like it if the kiosk allowed me to be placed on the list (and maybe even during OLCI), thus avoiding the embarassing statements such as "Hi, I was just wondering if you were in an oversold situation..."

Of course, the 1-6 times that I ask that, I get an ETV....so it ain't so bad....

Maybe CO is keeping track of FT'ers and calling them for these advance VDB's. They know we are in the bargins and vouchers!!!

I remember several years back I was flying on a Continental flight from CMH to MCO with a layover in Newark. The flight was booked for me by an employer, and of course my employer didn't consult me and my colleague about anything involving our airline preferences or how to book a flight for the two of us (our employer was completely clueless about the airline industry). She booked us on a travel site, I want to say Travelocity, and I found it odd that when she printed out our online itinerary that we didn't have seats listed for our second leg of the trip, EWR-MCO. We were leaving the day before a conference and had to be there by that evening to register and get acquainted with the meetings. When we arrive at CMH, I immediately went to the Gate Agent to question the seating on the second leg, knowing that the flight was overbooked and we were definitely going to be sitting around in EWR for an ungodly amount of hours with no compensation unless I acted fast. I was a lowly silver at the time, but the GA was very helpful. He said that most flights were sold out for the evening, but they had two first class seats available on a later flight that evening. He told me that if we ran to the gate we were supposed to fly out of (short layover to being with) that since the flight we were originally booked on was in fact overbooked. After a quick dash once we arrived in EWR, the gate agent bumped us to the later flight, confirmed our first class seats, gave us a 300 dollar voucher each, and the sanity that I wouldn't be stranded in EWR for the night. Although we had a 7 hour layover (which was spent sleeping and getting massages), the rewards were well worth it. I wonder how many people are ever "upgraded" to first class for taking a bump on a very very low cost ticket. I feel like CO went above and beyond my expectations when I took this bump, as well as probably pissing a bunch of elites off that their upgrade seats were taken by my co-worker and I for virutally next to nothing.

Believe this happens all the time--notsure how often on CO--Delta will sometimes annouce a vocher and FC seat as comp for an overbook

AWESOME!