underattack

I had a significant weather related delay today. Still on the ground, while waiting for de-icing, I checked my options and they were not good, getting me home around midnight instead of 4pm. So I called the diamond line, and was told that a more reasonable flight is available for standby, with several seats open ("it looks like the airport is holding them" was what I was told).

When I got into my first stop (LGA), I asked about the flight, and it was now "oversold by one" which me still on the waitlist. At that point, my only other option out of LGA was next-day. I managed to get another confirmed flight out of JFK, so ultimately it worked out ok, but I was wondering if this is a common experience, or if I could have done something to get confirmed on the flight I was waitlisted on.

sethb

It isn't clear what you were doing. I'd guess you were flying from AAA, connecting in BBB, ending in CCC. You got a change to AAA-LGA-CCC, but were only waitlisted, not confirmed, on the LGA-CCC flight. You found a flight JFK-CCC that you could get confirmed on.

It's very unlikely you could have gotten confirmed on the LGA-CCC flight (short of buying a ticket), because Delta would have had to pay VDB compensation for the oversold flight.

Often1

In a word, no.

DL, along with most carriers, blocks availability when major IRROPS occurs. Everybody (except some must flies and the CEO's brother) goes on the SB list and the SB list gets sorted out at the airport. Used to be that the F check-in counter, the SC and someone else would each grab "just one" seat and that would be it

If your JFK option had not materialized, I would have just kept moving from agent to agent to see if you can get someone to confirm you. At LGA they've heard all the stories so it can be a rough location.

indufan

This is completely different from my experiences. 90% of the time VIPER takes care of it correctly for me. It has screwed me a couple of times and that was when there were real availability issues. Maybe half the time I am able to get an agent to get approval to oversell something some more and confirm me.

underattack

The original routing was AAA->LGA->BBB . AAA->LGA was delayed so I missed LGA->BBB. While in AAA I called Delta, who told me about the availablity for a later LGA->BBB flight, but wasn't able to confirm, just waitlist.

In the end, I got home about 6 hrs late using a JFK->BBB flight.

Sure, stuff happens, but it would have been nice to safe the LGA->JFK Uber ride.

While everybody at LGA was helpful and friendly, it took about 3 agents in the Skyclub to figure out how to get me booked on the JFK->BBB flight. Also, they told me to wait for my pulled back at the caroussel, while it actually went to the luggage office :/ (a bit more wasted time waiting...) . Sadly, for this flight, it was hard to avoid NYC.

krlcomm

In these instances I always find my own options and call the DM line and request the one that works best for me. I have never had any difficulty getting them to give me what I ask for in terms of flights, routings, etc.

I make sure they are available to purchase first... YMMV I suppose.

sethb

In IROPS, it's often possible to get routes that aren't available for purchase (they'll increase the overbooking). I suppose it's bad form to do that and then accept a VDB offer.

btonkid12345

I once was supposed to go ATL to AMS on a Friday afternoon and the flight was delayed hours until I finally decided I was tired of waiting. Called the DM line and asked if I could fly out Saturday morning or afternoon.

Agent sent me ATL to MSP to AMS and then on to my final destination. When I arrived at MSP, I found out the flight to AMS was overbooked by at least 12. The GA was very happy that I was happy to volunteer, and found me a connection through CDG that still got me to my final destination within an hour when MSP-AMS-XXX was supposed to arrive (and bumped me to D1 on the flight to CDG).

At the gate for CDG, they were again looking for volunteers. I watched as a family of four got $800 each (saw the machine spit out the vouchers and tons of following pages). I wanted to get on my way already so I boarded and it was a great flight.

MSP-AMS was still for sale on delta.com (I checked after the agent found the itinerary) but somehow it was over by 12 in less than 24 hours at the gate.