I have an upcoming flight on an E190, DCA-MCI (Monday 10:30 a.m. departure). Approximately 60 colleagues will be on that flight, all on fully refundable government fares. All of these colleagues are essentially required to be on the flight, as the optics of arriving on the afternoon flight, and arriving late are quite bad. I predict that Frontier's yield management algorithms have no idea of the circumstances of 60% of the passengers, and there will be a very significant oversell.

A couple of questions:

(1) What sort of voluntarily denied boarding compensation does F9 typically offer?

(2) I (and colleagues similarly situated) absolutely cannot be seen at the gate taking voluntarily denied boarding compensation, and taking the later flight, which arrives after important events start (it is legal, but in the circumstances, professionally very ill advised) - and there is no way I will do it. If I "volunteer" for an EARLIER (8:50 a.m.) DCA-DEN-MCI routing, I can get in on time - does Frontier ever offer compensation when an oversell is plainly obvious, even if the oversold flight is a couple hours in the future?

I'd appreciate hearing about experineces.

I suspect none of the regulars here have experienced quite your situation, however here's some general information:

1. It's pretty rare for any airline to allow someone to voluntarily reroute themsleves ahead of time in anticipation of a bump. It might make logical sense in some regards, but it's generally not done. More commonly they'll say you need to travel on your original ticket or be treated like a stand by traveler.

2. Your alternate flights on Frontier are also sold out that morning. So that further makes the idea of trying to catch an acceptable early alternate flight DCA-MCI via Denver non-workable.

3. Your flight is sold out (as you're probably aware) but it may be nobody gets bumped if there are enough no-shows. And if more than 99 people show up, the odds are better than even that enough volunteers will give up their seats.

3. Although it should not necessarily be this way, a lack of seat assignment can put you on the top of the list if someone must be involuntarily bumped. So it's wise to get a seat assignment. If you have a seat assignment already, good. If not, getting one with online check-in 24 hours ahead of departure may be worth the effort. (Note that there may be seats blocked off, seats which you could not select ahead of time, which open up for selection at check in.)

4. Avoid selecting seats in row 11 if you can. That's because some configurations of the E190 do not have a row #11.

One last bit of advice. I suspect you're not all booked on the same itinerary, but if any of you are considered for involuntary bump, pointing out that you are all traveling together might be a successful last-ditch appeal. I doubt it will get to that, especially if you get seat assignments and get checked in.

Thank you. In this case, my office alone likely has 60 seats booked, and I anticipate over 95% of them will show up. Even worse, they have all booked government fares, which are by definition fully refundable, and I have a hunch that Frontier's yield management algorithms do not anticipate so high a show rate for refundable fares. And with this being the first DCA-MCI of the business week, I would anticipate many other passengers will have pressing business needs and not be amenable to being voluntarily bumped.

And I agree - I've flown perhaps 500,000 miles in the past 5 years and NEVER encountered anticipatory compensation for taking an earlier flight. Just as an exercise, I may still show up ready for the earlier DCA-DEN-MCI flight (will only have carry ons) and see if the gate agent will be proactive.

In my station every flight, every day is overbooked. Overbooking is based on historical no show factors. If you are traveling on a fully refundable government fare more than likely you are considered a Classic Plus or Classic ticket in our reservation system. If that is the case, you may standby on an earlier flight at no charge but there is no guarantee of getting a seat. Classic Plus may be confirmed at no charge if a seat is available earlier or later on all segments of the itinerary while with a Classic ticket you would be charged $25 to confirm a seat if available on all segments of the itinerary.

Depending on how much the flight is overbooked, an agent may waive fees if you show up at the ATO and check-in early for your flight and offer to go on an earlier flight if yours is overbooked. However, this is not policy and is up to the lead agent or supervisor. There is no compensation as you would arrive earlier than scheduled if you get a seat on an earlier flight. The DOT rules kick in if everyone shows up for their scheduled flight and the flight is truly overbooked. We are then required to solicit for volunteers and offer compensation based on the length of time it will take to get you to your final destination. Your flight is currently not overbooked, so you shouldn't have any problems. If you don't have a pre-assigned seat, I would suggest checking in on-line 24 hours prior to departure to get the best seat even if you can't print a boarding pass from home. You can always reprint a boarding pass at any ATO kiosk or with an agent. Enjoy your trip!

Thank you.

Your information is helpful.

Actually, the earlier departing DCA-DEN-MCI routing would get me into MCI later than the later departing non-stop (given the limited facts listed above, I did not anticipate you would know that).

Given the load my office is providing (60% of the flight, and professional disaster for anyone who arrives late), I anticipate (1) overbooking (2) no one in my office can, from a professional standpoint arrive on the next flight, and doubly from a professional standpoint be seen by 60 colleagues accepting VOLUNTARY denied boarding compensation, and then arriving late in MCI. I think Frontier may need to resort to involuntary denied boarding.

I'm Summit, and have a seat assignment, so I do not anticipate trouble for me.

The one way government fare which most of have booked is $96, which seems to be one of the lowest fares in the DCA-MCI market. With the DOT compensation for involuntary denied boarding pegged to fare, will the fact that many of my nonstatused-colleagues have booked perhaps the lowest fares on the plane make them more likely candidates for involuntary bumping?

What is TRULY ironic here, is that, according to specifically defined regulations, if compensation is for voluntary bumping a federal employee may accept it for personal purposes, although such an employee is personally responsible for any on duty time lost on account of accepting it (I've accepted on a Friday redeye on UA, but the time lost on Saturday was already "mine"). BUT, if the denied boarding is INVOLUNTARY, the compensation is considered liquidated damages for the "breach" of the contract of carriage between the government and the carrier, and as such the compensatino goes to the government.

I know, no one asked me for a civics lesson.

The flight is currently at authorization and not overbooked...so you and your colleagues will not have anything to worry about but surfing the web at 30,000 ft.

So what is the standard VDB compensation for F9? It looks like I have an opportunity tomorrow morning, I liked my first trip on Frontier well enough but will enjoy the next few trips free more.

I'm curious as well. On all my "full" flights this year, not one has been oversold. I am always excited for the opportunity, but no luck so far. Even one that was over by 3 the night before, and went out with 4 seats open...