VDB gone wrong?
 

Was flying SLC-RDU the other day with a connection in BOS. Lady at Skyclub told me SLC-BOS was oversold by 8. Left early, headed to the gate, agreed to a VDB on the condition of being rebooked in full F/J via ATL and $200 which was great since I'd be getting home early and would be making money.

However when I got to the gate for Atlanta, I was assigned a economy seat. When I told the GA that I had VDBd in exchange for a seat in J, she told me that there was no seat left in J and that the other GA had made a mistake and changing class of service was illegal. At that point they also needed volunteers for ATL but the only alternates would have gotten me into RDU the next day which I didn't want.

I got the extra miles for the rebooking in J and F on the two segments home, but I'm bummed cause I had already been flying for a while and was incredibly tired and was really hoping to relax and sleep on the long transcon. I'm worried if I complain to DL I'll get my class of service MQM and RDM removed. Worth it?

When it comes to compensation, re-booking in First Class is never suppose to be used as compensation for denied boarding, meaning when you bump you should be happy with the amount of Delta Dollars that was offered.

Many times, they might rebook you in F, but that is not policy and if not worth a complaint to Delta, as if they investigate they might remove the class bonuses.

Disagree completely.

if I accept an offer of a VDB, it is for whatever they offered me. We are not talking about "compensation", we are talking about a bargained transaction. I could care less what DL expects their GA's to do, that is between them.

The OP sold his original ticket in exchange for a flight that had an F segment.

WFBF works both ways.

I make sure before I leave the original gate that I am set - that is I would not have left without FC seat assignment.

FWIW I was asked to VBD this week from a connection to a direct on a RJ. I asked if could get my original MQM - no, would they give a FC seat - no only put me on the upgrade list, was a seat on the 8:50am flight available - yes, but since it left 5 min after my original flight and would get me in before my connecting flight - no Delta $$. So I declined and kept my original seats and collected the MQM miles. All of the above was per policy but with no flexibility I ain't going to VBD.


I have also had a mutual VBD before getting to airport because of weather in Philly. We agreed to the flight the next day which was great cause we needed more time and they immediately gave us both FC seats. A win-win.

VDB gone wrong?
 

Yeah I didn't want to make a fuss because I think the flight may have been J1 but there was not actually any actual seat left to assign. By the time I got to the ATL gate it was too late to go back to the BOS gate. Additionally I did get $200 for getting home earlier too which was super nice and I even got more MQM for flying less due to the 200% MQMs I earned. So all in all not a bad experience, but I had just wished that all of the bargain had went through.

I would expect the GA handling the VDB to give me boarding passes for (all of the) new flights. Did this not happen or did the OP fail to verify that the boarding pass showed a FC seat assignment?

Get your VDB voucher and new BP in your hands before agreeing to the hand over your BP.

YYZ MSP HNL: YYZ MSP oversold by 4 but I can get a later flight MSP HNL which would still let me make my cousin's wedding in Maui.

The other couple that volunteered just took the paperwork handed to them and headed off to the bar.

I checked and we were not given F seats MSP HNL as part of the agreement. GA had to get Redcoat over who called to release two F seats for us.

Other couple went up to gate at MSP during F boarding and was told they are in Y.

This sounds like your GA may have promised more FC seats than were available on the new flight. Good for you for checking and insisting that the agreement be honored.

YYZ were contracted GA and TA with a few DL employed redcoats floating around.

IME when it is contracted GA/TA they are more likely to make promises that are less likely for you unless it is in writing.

When I did a vdb on a recent flight they said they couldn't assign a seat in business but did give me y class so I was first on ug list with one seat. I cleared.

A thousand tales of woe like this on FT.

Rules 1-3 of VDB are that it's a bargain. But, you also need to understand that out-of-sight is out mind.

Do not leave the CSR handling your VDB without the paperwork in hand, particularly if you are VDB online where the GA could clearly have printed the new BP. As soon as you walk away, it's a he said/she said and you're gonna lose.

Exactly. Be sure to double check all the paperwork the GA gives you - VDB amount correct? Meal vouchers? New boarding passes for the correct class of service? Hotel vouchers if applicable? I am very polite but very thorough when I VDB.

As was stated above, it has nothing to do with "compensation" but rather with negotiation. I have often negotiated an F seat for a new flight when I was VDB'd. One time I was told by the GA it was not available. But I was told to go to the TA outside security to complete the paperwork. Before doing that, I double checked myself about F availability and sure enough, plenty of room. I told the TA that the GA said she would have booked me into F if there was room, and it looked like there was. That nice TA indeed rebooked my new flight into F.

Why did you have to go outside security to do the paperwork?

Completely untrue.

This

This too

For some reason the computer at the gate they used didn't generate the VDB voucher.

The gate area was a mess anyway - super crowded. Also, it was very hard to find volunteers. One after the next rejected DL's offer (required a 2-night stay in ANC at the airline's expense including a ton of food vouchers). Fortunately I had the time, plus it gave me 2 more nights in a place I love, not to mention I got to see a spectacular display of the Northern Lights the second night!

Sorry to say, but OP was greedy on that one. ATL-RDU is less than 1hr wheels up to wheels down. Was it really worth holding out for a rebooking in F for such a short flight? IMO $200 is a pretty low compensation level and wonder if it would have been wiser to negotiate a higher voucher amount, and then taking whatever middle seat was still availble on the new flight...

I think you should re-read the OP. SLC-ATL-RDU

Stand corrected. but i guess i just like to keep it simple (like i am simple) and that means cashing out my seat for a $$ voucher and no specials, and hope i get u/g on the new segments (and thankfully i normally do in my history of VDB). Maybe i should rethink my strategy.

Cheap date :-)

Remember, when you cross Jordan, Jordan also crosses you. Go, and meditate on this.

VDB gone wrong?
 

I got a seat request for a J class ticket. I really should have checked to get a seat assigned or gotten a different routing. I suppose it's not worth asking for any other compensation?

ATL-AMS volunteer solicitation for Sunday night
 

This is a variation on the above thread.

Just checked in for the night flight to AMS tomorrow and got the "volunteers needed" prompt. I bid for $600 since it is an international flight and promptly told $400 was the limit. i was very surprised to get such a low offer. I went ahead and put in $400 because I have the time to wait and we will see what happens. There are other flights that afternoon but no non-stops, routing through DTW or LHR and getting in several hours later.

What are the odds of holding out for more than $400...and getting a FC seat on the transatlantic leg? Am currently in Economy Comfort. I've gotten $400 for domestic bumps, sure seems low for international travel.

If you were in paid J and were told you'd be in F on those new legs it is absolutely worth a complaint.

$400 is the limit programmed into that system. The actual VDBs if necessary will be handled by the GA. You can negotiate for the J seat TATL and the amount of compensation. Whether you get it depends on the loads on the alternate flights and how many they are oversold/what they need to offer to get people to bite.

No I meant that I was given a ticket for full J by the GA as part of the VDB agreement. I told him I wanted to make up the miles and was tired and wanted to be up front so he agreed to rebook the ticket in full J. Was on a K fare originally

This is like the glitch of being rebooked in full Y during IROPs. It used to give bonus MQMs but not anymore. And even then your original fare was still in the system.

AFAIK you can't negotiate for a particular fare code or extra MQMs during a VDB/IROPS so you aren't entitled to any. But here's a question, why not? I bet lots of pax would give up their $400 for 5,000 MQMs. DL could save a ton of money.

Aha. This suggests that the GA for your new flight cleared the UG list too early—hence the agent had space to book you into J but there were no seats. As someone who sometimes check in late (but legally so) for flights, this always annoys me, and I think is worth a complaint in and of itself.

Once, I had to book a very last minute ticket, and I bought an A fare. This was T-50 or so. The GA had already cleared the upgrade list, so tried to give me a Y seat. I wasn't happy.

No, sorry, completely true. But, we all know, what's supposed to be done and what
IS done are two different stories. (Think..policy on upgrades after boarding.) YMMV

So...did you claim the difference in fare and the $200 voucher that goes with being downgraded? Or...did you finally get a FC seat?

I have had TPAC TATL VDB much higher than $400 due to less options for rebooking and less chance of volunteers (vacation, business meeting and family commitments).

It is all down to your negotiations skill and knowing the facts about the load for the flight and alternative bookings (with DL and then ST partners). I have been taken to SE Asia from DTW flying AF the other way in Affaires as part of my "settlement"

It was an A fare, so I first got a lecture from the redcoat on how it's actually a coach fare with "an upgrade when available" (really condescending, and, incidentally, wrong). I called the medallion line, which confirmed that there were elite upgrades from the gate in the cabin. As soon as I told the agent that I had confirmed there were gate upgrades already done, and started to note down names, they fixed it.

Last Monday I flew RNO-SLC-MSP, leaving around noon. The first leg was overbooked as were all the RNO-SLC flights that day; the next available flight was early the next morning. The GA offered me that $400, a good overnight hotel, and $30 in meal vouchers, but said that she could not give me upgrades. I accepted that. Just as boarding started she confirmed that she would definitely need to VDB me. I waited through boarding to get the hotel and meal paperwork from her. At the very last last minute, after everyone had boarded, she said she had miscounted and there was one seat left. Needless to say, my front row aisle Economy Comfort seat had long ago been reassigned. I sat in a window seat in the center of the plane (at least not middle seat all the way back).

I have debated whether to write to Delta to complain about the seat change but it seems sort of petty for such a short flight.

I know it's always a mistake to wait around but I needed to get the hotel and meal info. The GA was working alone with only some kind of trainee with her.

I disagree. I was flying with my UIG (Used Italian Girlfriend) JFK-TLV a few years ago and we had Economy seats. She, incidentally, is not a SkyMiles member and I was only an FO at the time.

The flight was heavily overbooked and they were calling for volunteers to fly the following night. First they offered $300 in Delta dollars and then $400. I offered to pass on the Delta dollars if they would book my girlfriend and myself in Biz Elite for that flight. I was told that they could not do that yet but to hold on as they would probably raise the offer to include it.

Eventually, they were offering $600 but I still held out and, finally, they got to $600 and Biz Elite and I jumped at it (as did several other people).

There's nothing to complain about. There was only one seat left and you got it. Surely you don't expect the flight to be delayed while they rearrange the entire cabin. It's the risk of VDB. Particularly on domestic flights, there are often last second misconnects and noshows, so what looked like an oversale isn't.

The way to be sure is not to hang around for your paperwork, but to insist on it on the spot and then leave the gate area. If the GA won't do that, you know they don't really need your seat yet.

Last Fall I was in BOS waiting for BOS-ATL-AUS and they needed volunteers for BOS-ATL. $600 and a room at the BOS Hilton were the offer and she said she would put me in F on the new flights. So I was pulled off the original flight (on which I had been upgraded) but it turned out there were no available F seats to assign on the new BOS-ATL, even though it showed F1. It's possible that something would have freed up by the morning but I wasn't going to chance it, so I said no to the deal. However, they had already assigned my original F seat. Fortunately the GA did the right thing and got another volunteer, bounced the upgrader in my seat back to Y, and put me back on my original flights, now booked in full F. So no VDB $ but got some extra MQMs as a result of the fuss.

This is mainly to illustrate the point made above: a VDB is not a done deal until you have new BPs and vouchers in your hands, so make sure they don't block your option to get what you had before until it is final.

Yes, when I said $400 is the limit programmed into that system I meant the system that asks you for a VDB bid ahead of time. Once you are actually in negotiations there is a lot of flexibility.

Wow, really??? You turned down $600 just because you couldn't get an F seat on a short-to-medium length domestic flight BOS/ATL??? You and I certainly have different values!

:)

+1

When the GA ask for your BP for VDB paperwork; check paperwork and then surrender the BP.

When GA ask for BP as a "POTENTIAL VDB" then hold on to your BP so you do not lose your original seat selection.
Once you handed over your BP on a potential VDB and it is not needed you will lose your seat and be seated in middle seat rear.