Boston_Bulldog

I would have pushed them to add 3 days in Zurich too AT THEIR EXPENSE...(hotel-wise) in addition to the Grand $ voucher

OHDL1

Well...I waited through the day to see if anyone else would start the thread and looked to see if anyone did. Nothing...so...here goes.
Beginning yesterday (Aug 4th) Delta has increased the amount of VDB compensation for domestic departures from 200DD for up to 3.5 hours delay to your destination and 400DD for over 3.5 hours to either 400 or 600DD and dropping the time element. The international VDB, when not departing from an EU country, has been raised from 400-600DD to 600-750DD.

mersk862

Nice to see DL being more generous here.

Are there any published guidelines as to which end of the scale would be used, or would it be up to agent discretion?

AndyTLe

Interesting. I wonder what spurred the change. Maybe DL has tweaked the formula in calculating oversells.

bostonbali

Thanks for the info! Just last week, my friend took a VDB in LHR. He was offered 300 Euro (~$400), which he accepted. Seemed quite low to me for an international flight!

zsmith2

Just to make it clear there is no time requirement on when you reach your destination for VDB and does not apply to IDB. Dom 400/600 Intl 600/750

OHDL1

TOO many IDB's

StayingHomeIsBetter

While some on FT review IDBs and VDBs as a personal revenue stream, I would prefer to see DL work on improving its ability to predict the need for oversales, and minimize the the incidence of IDBs and VDBs.

Handling these issues is just another time demand for the GA. With the increasing practice of a single GA handling a flight, I don't want any additional distractions for the sole GA.

I have missed important connections because a sole GA has not been able to process what needed to be processed to get the flight off on time.

DL is often near the top of the list when it comes to IDB/VDB statistics. In other words, other airlines don't appear to use the brute force approach to ensuring a full plane to the degree that DL does.

For those not seeking to win the IDB/VDB lottery, IDBs are an inconvenience that should be minimized. The fact that DL has found it necessary to increase the VDB incentive should be a clear indication of the perceived inconvenience to the traveler.

If other airlines can be more precise in their use oversales, why cannot DL also be more precise?

mersk862

Every time I've volunteered and the agent has said, yes we'll need you, I tell them I'll be in the Crown Room, if something changes give them a call, but I'll come back down 10 minutes after the flight has left so you can have some time to get the flight closed out and then we can process everything afterwards.

Every agent I've done that too seems very appreciative of the fact that I'm trying to keep myself out of the way until they have time. I figure I'd rather be in the CRC having a beer and surfing the net rather than hounding a gate agent for Delta Dollars.

bostonbali

Downside to this approach is you won't be able to hear how much the agent had to offer any last-minute volunteers. If you catch wind of a higher amount, you can ask the agent to match it. If you're in the lounge, you can't hear any of those conversations...

mersk862

9 times out of ten for me, the agent has just started right out at the $400 plateau, so I'm assuming they won't go any higher than that.

SkyTeam777

Every time Ive offered to do that they say, no way. Stay right here. And of course, I always get boarded at the last minute. Havent had a bump in 3-4 years with DL, but probably volunteered 25-30 times. I was shocked to read DL being at the bottom of the pack for managing oversales since it has been my personal experience that rev managemt is spot-on these days!

MegatopLover

Of course this would happen the day after I took my first ever bump in 20+ years of flying. I got $200. The GA rebooked me onto an A fare to confirm me in first for the next flight, saying she did so because I'm Plat. Must have known this was coming and taken pity on me.

scotty00

Hmmm. Back in May I took a bump ORD-ATL with a destination arrival delay under 2 hours and I received $400 then (there were other volunteers that they had board because they didn't need them too). Also, this past Monday (8/3) I took a bump ORD-CVG and asked to be rerouted through DTW to my final destination....scheduled arrival delay with the new itinerary: 45 minutes. Comp: $400. I guess I caught the $400 policy a little early or something else was at play.

zsmith2

Technology...the way they calculate oversells are so skewed only b/c it actually relies on agents being truthful and reliable.