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Compensation: “Bumps” — Voluntary and Involuntary Denied Boarding [2000-2019]

Old Nov 30, 2018, 8:49 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: ryandc99
Link to open 2020 and beyond version of this thread:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delt...20-beyond.html


My (LoganFlyer's) guide to maximizing your bump chances on Delta:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30484249-post1713.html

(The concise version:

1. Use the App to see if more people are looking for seats than there are seats available. As part of the Customer Commitment, gate agents, phone res agents, and tickets agents must tell you if a flight is overbooked if you ask. (They don't need to say by how many seats.)
2. Do everything you can to get on the volunteer list through OLCI or a kiosk at the airport, since some GAs use that list.
3. Talk to the GA as soon as the gate opens up--don't wait for them to make an announcement.
4. Don't be afraid to negotiate with the GA.)
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Compensation: “Bumps” — Voluntary and Involuntary Denied Boarding [2000-2019]

Old Oct 4, 2018, 2:53 pm
  #1681  
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Originally Posted by diburning
Volunteers were solicited at OLCI for PHL-BOS tonight on the last flight of the evening. I put in my bid. I'm not too hopeful that I'll actually be selected though, since I'm a Gold on a Basic Economy ticket.
The GA doesn't care. They want whoever's easiest to deal with and lowest bid. (They'll sometimes prefer people with connections who they can re-route, if it's hard to get people to the destination.)
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Old Oct 4, 2018, 2:55 pm
  #1682  
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Originally Posted by diburning
As long as my incoming AA flight isn't delayed, I think I'll be there with 2 hours to spare. Should I look up alternative flights beforehand to make it easier? Will they put me on AA? Since it's the last flight, I don't mind taking the bump if it included a hotel room either.
Very unlikely to move you to AA. It can't hurt to have alternatives to offer them. Overnight bumps include hotel rooms if possible (i.e. unless everything they have is sold out).
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Old Oct 4, 2018, 5:27 pm
  #1683  
 
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I'm at the gate now. They don't expect to need volunteers. Well, at least I got upgraded to Comfort+! On a BE ticket too!
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Old Oct 5, 2018, 7:41 am
  #1684  
 
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Originally Posted by mridley2
They will not put you on AA. They will confirm you on the next available Delta flight usually the following day. Hotel room will be comped if its an overnight.
Definitely not a general rule. They would prefer not to, of course. But if there's an AA flight and no DL flight the same day, and they need people badly enough, of course they will put you on AA. Has happened to me personally several times.
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Old Oct 11, 2018, 12:37 pm
  #1685  
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Not sure if there is a separate thread for this situation, if so, please move my question there.

What is the typical compensation for a customer on paid business class ex-EU these days from DL when DL or Alitalia downgrades them to coach and refuses compensation at the airport. I know there are EU rules that apply minimum compensation, ie 75% of the fare on that segment, but does Delta usually offer more or less - how much of a fight will this end up being?
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Old Oct 11, 2018, 1:07 pm
  #1686  
 
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Solicited volunteers for ERI-->DTW at OLCI. I'd be surprised if anyone was needed, but I put in a bid anyway.
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Old Oct 11, 2018, 2:20 pm
  #1687  
 
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Was leaving LAS to ATL yesterday morning and GA was looking for 5 volunteers. They offered $800 and the possibility of getting on the red eye that night or out the next morning. With Michael moving through the Southeast I didn't want to take any chances so declined. They came on board still offering only $800 and only made the announcement once so maybe they got one. I was surprised they didn't offer more money. I would have taken it for $2,000.
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Old Oct 24, 2018, 9:01 am
  #1688  
 
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PSC is becoming my favorite airport, both because of it's size (6 gates!), upgrade chances (I've been upgraded PSC-MSP as a FO and GM) and now IDB. All 3 morning flights where oversold yesterday, PSC-SEA and PSC-SLC where each oversold by 6 and PSC-MSP was oversold by 3. Offers for VDB hit $2,000 for the PSC-SLC, they had to do IDB on the PSC-SEA, they where offering $1,000 for PSC-MSP. Unfortunately I really couldn't take the bump since I was flying back all the way to the east coast, but still amazing offers all around.
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Old Oct 28, 2018, 4:25 pm
  #1689  
 
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BOS-ATL flight 6:45pm departure on Sunday evening.

Asked for 2 volunteers. Bid at $600 but ended up not need any volunteers. Would have been great considering my award ticket was 16k miles.
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Old Oct 28, 2018, 4:45 pm
  #1690  
 
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Maybe luck, but I have about 6 VDB on Delta this year so far, 4 in the last two months, the other two around spring break,
and 1 on United. Delta's compensation were as low as $600 and high as $1000 GCs. United was whatever you think is fair, so I said $500 for United voucher, but I should have asked for more since I boarded last and then the GA comes on the plane to pull me off.

Last edited by outoftown; Oct 28, 2018 at 4:51 pm Reason: typo
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Old Nov 10, 2018, 7:34 am
  #1691  
 
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Took a bump yesterday LGA to Charlston $700 myself and another couple. Looks like they were trying to free up space for 4 flight attendants going to CHS. Is this common?
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Old Nov 11, 2018, 9:14 am
  #1692  
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Originally Posted by weflyhigh9
Took a bump yesterday LGA to Charlston $700 myself and another couple. Looks like they were trying to free up space for 4 flight attendants going to CHS. Is this common?
It's not uncommon for airlines to move flight crews around, but this sounds like a last minute event (think United V Dr) since CLT is a base also why couldn't they have gotten a crew from CLT instead of LGA.
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Old Nov 11, 2018, 2:14 pm
  #1693  
 
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Funny thing the flight was operated by the same airline for the United incident Republic Airlines
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Old Nov 11, 2018, 5:57 pm
  #1694  
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Originally Posted by weflyhigh9
Funny thing the flight was operated by the same airline for the United incident Republic Airlines
Maybe they learned their lesson.
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Old Nov 15, 2018, 7:49 pm
  #1695  
 
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I was trying to fly out of DCA today. Lots of flight delays and cancellations due to the weather. I kept an eye on my flight (scheduled to depart in the evening), but it kept saying "on time." Early afternoon, I received a notice from Delta informing me my flight was cancelled. I immediately logged into Delta's website and picked flights where I could get non-middle seats (knowing the planes would fill up fast). Lucked out and got an aisle in the Main Cabin on the first leg and window Comfort + on the second leg (original flight was a direct flight and I'm a lowly Silver, so I'd count the new flights as a win).

When I checked in at the kiosk when I arrived at the airport, it indicated they were soliciting volunteers. I clicked "yes" to volunteer and selected $500, then printed my new boarding passes.

When I got to the gate I parked myself as close to the desk as possible. About 75 minutes prior to the flight I overheard the gate agents talking about my flight. The red coat asked the gate agent what she was doing and she said she was rebooking passengers on new flights (presumably standbys that weren't going to get seats). The red coat asked, "aren't you going to ask for volunteers first?" I stepped up and confirmed they were discussing my flight to ATL and the red coat said yes. I said I wanted to volunteer. She said, "great!" I said, "I'll stand right over here until you need me."

About twenty minutes later the gate agent called me up to the desk, confirmed my final destination, and started looking for new flights for me. No other flights would get me home tonight, so volunteering would require an overnight stay. I said I'd take the bump if they provided overnight lodging and as long as I received the same amount as the highest bid when they announced the need for volunteers. She agreed.

I felt like I was taking a gamble since we discussed no dollar amounts, but I decided to see how it played out.

Just after she finished protecting me on new flights, the flight changed to a new gate. I asked the gate agent if I should stay here with her to finish the voucher process or go to the new gate. She escorted me to the new gate where the red coat was now stationed. The red coat then proceeded to process my VDB.

She asked me how much we had agreed to. I said we didn't agree to any amount. She said how much did you bid at the kiosk. I avoided the question. She then said how much do you want? About that time, the new gate agent was starting to look up my bid in the system. I told the red coat, "How about a thousand bucks?" She said ok. The gate agent protested as she saw I had only bid $500. The red coat dismissed her and said, "it'll take a thousand to get all the volunteers we need anyway."

She started to process my voucher and I insisted that I wanted to be sure I got the same amount as the highest bid in case they didn't get enough volunteers. I said, I can wait until you close out the flight. She agreed. They then announced that they were offering $1,000 vouchers and they needed seven more volunteers. People couldn't run to the desk fast enough.

Needless to say they got all the volunteers they needed. I still got my $1,000 voucher, $45 in meal vouchers, and a hotel voucher.
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