You can get the miles for the original flight, but AFAIK you do need to contact them to get them.

Can you confirm my understanding of how VDB works?

Let's say I get 2 VDB of $300 each.
- If I travel alone, I can only redeem 1 VDB at a time
- If I travel with someone, we can each redeem 1 VDB (which are both under my name)

There is no other way to redeem them? Are there any tricks to 'merge' 2 VDB into one (book a refundable / no cancellation fee ticket / ...)?

NB: IGNORE ME for reasons described in post #394. :)

I can't recall in what format VDBs are issued (since I haven't been lucky enough to score one since they changed from the old BTTs), but they may be possible to deposit in your MyWallet account online. They could then both be used to purchase a single ticket on a single transaction. Perhaps someone here can confirm that.

They are automatically deposited in MyWallet. However try are not combinable. You can use a second cert for a passenger flying with you. I have personally done this.

NB: IGNORE ME for reasons described in post #394. :)

If they are deposited in MyWallet, then by nature they should be combineable, as when you make a purchase, you simply tap into your MyWallet balance--it doesn't matter what source of your MyWallet balance is (whether it's 30 small deposits or one big deposits). So if you deposit two $300 bump vouchers in your MyWallet, they should be usable as a single balance of $600.

You have to choose them individually, and unless Delta IT has messed up again and allows you to choose more than one, I doubt this approach would work.

I can't even redeem mine online as they wrote it as FirstMiddle Last, instead of First Middle Last, and somewhere in there Delta updated my profile from one to the other. I'll likely have to call to get it to work.

LOL! Oops, for whatever reason I was thinking this thread was in the Alaska Airlines forum. My bad! Ignore me. :)

I really should unsubscribe from this thread...no idea why I'm subscribed to it, as I don't (usually) fly DL, and this is the second time it has tripped me up...

VDB'ed for 600 + 25 food voucher "gift card" think on 3/9 on the nonstop MSP-SJU
Second passenger received as well... It'll be nice since it was a full Y fare!

Hello from DL1401 BOS-ATL

The kiosk asked me if I wanted to bid to volunteer. I am heading to PBI, and could've gone on the 7:15a flight and still made my connection. I put $300 seeing that as a fair price.

GAs were soliciting at the gate for $300 as well. I didn't bother going up since I had already entered a bid at the kiosk. The GA called me up, mentioned that she could put me on the 7:15a flight to ATL, but there would be no comp since I would still be able to make my original connection in ATL. She said it was up to me. I chose to stuck on the flight I was on since there was no comp available.

Let's say I get 2 VDB of $300 each. If I understand correctly, there is only 2 ways to redeem those:
- If I travel alone, I can only redeem 1 VDB at a time
- If I travel with someone, I can each redeem 1 VDB for my ticket and one VDB for my friend's ticket (both VDB under my name) as long as I reserved both tickets at the same time?

If I redeem miles for an award ticket, can i apply 1 of my VDB for my friend who is traveling with me (with a paid ticket)?

Make my connection shorter risking possibly missing it if something goes wrong and then not pay me for it? Thanks but no thanks. Good luck finding someone else to do it for free. I appreciate them trying to move people around in the cheapest way possible but seeing as they don't have to move you on any other flights this seems like a no brainer rather than having to completely redo someone else's itinerary. I'm wondering if they found someone else to do it for free.

You also lose the seat you've picked. I wouldn't do it for free unless it gave me a confirmed upgrade, a better aircraft type (RJ to mainline, lounger to flat bed, etc.), or maybe a nonstop.

Yes, you're correct. But buy your own ticket with the voucher and use points to buy your friend's ticket. This way, you would earn miles/MQMs unless you want to give that away too.

Here's the rule:

Thanks. Two additional questions

1) If i buy a refundable ticket of $500 and use a VDB of $300: by cancelling the ticket, the would refund me the $200 and give back the same VDB of $300?

2) If i buy a no-change-fee ticket of $500 and use a VDB of $300: if i chance the ticket for a ticket that would now cost $300 more, would I be able to trick the system and apply a 2nd VDB?

First, you should have gone up earlier; kiosk bids are pretty meaningless.

Second, you could have pointed out the increased risk of missing your connection if the flight is delayed, and used that to request some compensation.

Was in a situation that the flight was oversold from DTW to MSP. I was heading to Rochester, MN via MSP. They asked for volunteers, so I gave them my itinerary. They then offered a direct flight and no comp. I passed. Twenty minutes later, when no volunteers came forward, they called me up and gave me $400. If they were going to have to comp someone, might as make it an easy reroute. I attribute this to bad decision-making a few level above the GAs; penny-wise, pound-foolish.

I'll piggyback on the voucher questions...

If I have a $600 voucher, can I use it for 2 $300 tickets, one for me and one for my companion?

I can't answer #1, but for 2, I recently purchased a non-refundable ticket and used my Diamond $200 cert. I had to cancel the flight due to my conference being cancelled.

The value of the ticket (which included the $200 cert) was placed in my account as a new certificate for the total amount of the ticket, minus $150 change fee. I would assume it would be the same by using VDB vouchers as both are treated as cash in your account when you purchase a ticket.

What are the Terms & Conditions of that new voucher? Can you combine that new voucher with another VDB voucher? Or does it say it cannot be combined?

here is my example: I book a flight of ~$120 and make it 'flexible' ('Flex option), so it cost me near $300, that I pay with my 1st VDB voucher. Then I cancel that ticket => Delta issues a new voucher (but does it have the combination limitation? that is my question?)

If i redo the same process with my 2nd $300 VDB. Now that I have 2 flights cancelled and got 2 certificated back into my account: can I combine those to buy a unique $600 ticket?

Received no comp because award ticket.
 

Two days ago My wife, daughter, and I were traveling MSP - LAX - KOA - HNL on award tickets. The first segments were DL and the final segment was HA. The segment from LAX to KOA was very oversold. Delta was offering $400. I volunteered if they could put us on the next flight to HNL. The Delta GA said they would not offer me any comp because it was a more direct flight. Against my better judgement I accepted because I would arrive in HNL two hours earlier. I asked the GA if she would guarantee that our checked luggage would follow. She said yes. So we took the offer of going direct from LAX to HNL. Well our luggage did not arrive. Our luggage arrived 24 hours later to our hotel in HNL.

So is there any recourse for the inconvenience they caused me for no luggage for a day and the hassle of me having to track it down? Also it irritates me that they would not offer me any comp because I was on award tickets but they kept offering others $400, free hotels, and transportation.

If you can be rerouted on a VDB to a earlier arrival or a more direct flight there is no compensation.

You can claim for delayed bags but you need receipts for buying necessities.

I got $300 for a direct flight rebooking (on US Airways) that got me home 2 hours earlier than with my original routing (which had 1 connection), without asking for it.

Your compensation is what you negotiate. Any VDB can include a variety of offsets - better routing, meal vouchers, hotels, travel vouchers and even cash. If you are offered something and you dont accept it, then thats your choice. If you do accept it, again, your choice. Until it becomes IDB, its a negotiation. What the OP accepted was a direct routing with no aqdditional copmpensation - he could have said no.

As for delayed luggage, I've never sent receipts - I simply told them what my out of pocket expenses were and got a check - has happened only twice in the past 4 years with Delta - but YMMV.

[QUOTE=alben;20410680]Two days ago My wife, daughter, and I were traveling MSP - LAX - KOA - HNL on award tickets. The first segments were DL and the final segment was HA. The segment from LAX to KOA was very oversold. Delta was offering $400. I volunteered if they could put us on the next flight to HNL. The Delta GA said they would not offer me any comp because it was a more direct flight. Against my better judgement I accepted because I would arrive in HNL two hours earlier. I asked the GA if she would guarantee that our checked luggage would follow. She said yes. So we took the offer of going direct from LAX to HNL. Well our luggage did not arrive. Our luggage arrived 24 hours later to our hotel in HNL.

So is there any recourse for the inconvenience they caused me for no luggage for a day and the hassle of me having to track it down? Also it irritates me that they would not offer me any comp because I was on award tickets but they kept offering others $400, free hotels, and transportation.[/QUOTE]

I would have said no, only with comp. BTW it wasn't because you had award seats, its just games that delta plays. They act like they are doing you a favor.

However, if they end up doing an IDB and get you in earlier than your original flight, they owe you nothing. No IDB compensation is mandated if they get you to your final destination within an hour or earlier of your originally scheduled arrival.

You can always try to negotiate something, but just be aware that you don't really have a lot of bargaining power.

Yes, how awful of Delta to offer more direct routing and an earlier arrival.

That's not exactly accurate - especially in this case. No IDB compensation is required if:

In this case, KOA was the first stopover and thus in the case detailed here (direct flight to the final destination) does not meet the "no IDB comp" requirements.

There are many reasons why a passenger may want to refuse a more direct routing - I for one have made that decision to allow me time to have a telecon mid-trip that would not have been possible had I flown direct. I planned the layover for that reason. I also planned a slightly longer connect at ATL to allow dinner at One Flew South prior to an ongoing flight to the west coast. In both situations, a reroute to a direct flight would not have been desirable and I would have declined a reroute without compensation and had it happened under IDB I would have argued for IDB compensation.

It depends on a case by case basis. Let's say you have to meet friends at the destination airport, getting there sooner may not be a benefit (lex: it does not have a SkyClub lounge so i would rather have 2hr layover to an airport that have a lounge). Or let's say I had secured EC seats on both flight. With the direct rebooking, I could end up in a middle seat that does not recline... In that case, I would have a point to negotiate a compensation.

Sorry, but you are the one who is not exactly accurate as DOT has helpfully defined the term "stopover".

"Stopover means a deliberate interruption of a journey by the passenger, scheduled to exceed 4 hours, at a point between the place of departure and the final destination."

Oh, I definitely agree that there are cases where it could be less desirable and you would have a case to try to negotiate something. However, it's kind of silly to suggest that, in general, DL is somehow being mean and vindictive by offering a non-stop with an earlier arrival. Most pax would welcome that assuming they could get the same class of service and similar seats.

Yes - you are correct. My bad.

This is interesting in that an airline could, if they wanted, avoid paying any compensation in a variety of cases. On Delta there are dozens of routings that include ATL or MSP or DTW as transfer points between the East Coast and West Coast. In the case when LGA-ATL is oversold, Delta could reroute my LGA-ATL-SAN to go LGA-MSP-SAN as long as I arrive within an hour of my original schedule. For the morning flights as an example, I would go from 757's and a sedate 2.5 hours at ATL to Mad Dogs through MSP with a 65 minute connection.

Worse, had I booked the KGA-MSP-SAN, I could end up being traded to a 37 minute connect in DTW arriving SAN earlier. Had I wanted to have a short connect in DTW, I would have booked it but at my age, 37 minutes between airplanes at DTW is an experience I purposely avoid.

Rerouting a passenger against their wishes is a non-compensable IDB. This would stink if you had plans at the connecting airport....or if the passenger preferred the original routing.

I think when you start playing the game, you just have to know that's what it is. They don't care about you, they care about filling the plane and moving on with their lives. If you feel you are entitled to huge benefits financially or otherwise because you're taking the flight one hour later, or thirty minutes earlier that's silly...provided you have "volunteered" and not been forced to do this. If you don't like what they are offering, you can always say no.

Interestingly enough, anyone know how they determine involuntary bumps? Does it relate t check in time? Or if you have a seat?

Not true in my experience. A number of times, I have received compensation and gotten home early!

Me too. A few years ago I took a bump off the SMF-SLC portion of a SMF-SLC-PHX routing and was put on a US SMF-PHX nonstop arriving home several hours early and received a $200 voucher. As others have said, it's all about what you negotiate. Frankly, I'd say "thanks but no thanks" and hope they got desperate and changed their position.

Wow you had a flight from Kananga (KGA) Republic of Congo to MSP? Is this a new flight for Delta?

The "K" key and the "L" key are adjacent on the keyboard.....that is likely how LGA became KGA.

Interesting today. I noticed msp- ord was y0 f0 and 90 minutes prior to boarding asked the ga about a oversold situation. He told me it was and I asked to be put on the list. He informed me there were 2 already on the list and I look around the empty gate. He told me it was from the kiosks check in. I missed the VDB by 1.

Seems like some gate agents are starting to use the electronic VDB requests.

I'll start grabbing a new boarding pass from the kiosk in the future on flights I am interested vdbing on.

Except (last I knew) the machines only let you put in very very low bid amounts. So unless you're willing to VDB for $100 or thereabouts, you'd just have to hope no one else does that and they start calling it at the gate.

I was able to put in an offer of $395 on a ATL-LGA flight recently (in the last three weeks). When I got to the gate, GA said they wouldn't need any people (they didn't, several SBs cleared), but the high bid amount was accepted. Maybe it's route-variable?

I put in $400 for ATL-CMH on my home computer at checkin last week. No volunteers needed though.