Getting dumped on LH flights
 

Hi folks,

I just learned about the interesting concept of dumping here at FT. Dumping is the art of buying overbooked tickets, getting dumped from the flight and collecting the compensation reward (vouchers or cash). Looks like in the US the dump run has become an official derivative of the mileage run...Being quite excited about that I am now carefully eying some sort of dumping strategy for LH. Have any of you had any previous experiences? Are there any domestic connections with a high overbooking probability? Any further ideas? Let´s work it out...I could have been dumped once on FRA-ZWS but I had to go back to ZWS urgently...

Further read: http://www.wdr.de/tv/markt/service/b...040621_3.phtml (in German)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=278082&page=1&pp=15(The great dumping thread on FT)

Cheers, Segelflieger (on ZWS-FRA-WAW in just a few hours)

Surely you must mean "bump" rather than "dump"? ;) Getting "dumped" really sounds like a very unpleasant experience.

And welcome to FT! :)

Yes, offers may be quite generous: as an example: people who agreed to be bumped from LH flight LH469 (PDX-FRA) on March 18 2004 were offered:
- LH voucher for $800 (or US$ 400 in cash)
- flight next day with one class upgrade (Y->C, C->F)
- overnight accommodation in hotel, dinner and breakfast vouchers.

Note that nobody have been actually bumped :) as they manage to find required number of people to agree to fly next day.

I see no harm in trying to book on oversold flights when flying. But buying a ticket just to cash in on the airline is whole other story and quite amoral I think.
Also, airlines know about this and monitor persons frequently being "d(b)umped".

and surely if your strategy is to buy last minute tickets then you will normally only be able to buy the higher fare tickets.....so any "bonus" you get in terms of vouchers or cash will have been eaten up by the expensive ticket you bought in the first place. :rolleyes:

Otherwise you have to guess which flights will be oversold and buy in advance.

You must have way too much time on your hands, but good luck! ;)

Flights ex India tend to be a good example, but comparable stories were published first a couple of years ago in several german travel magazines, so the WDR is probadly a little bit late here.

Indeed one can cash in a few vouchers, on the other hand airlines and especially LH are getting more serious about overbooking.LH has a very advanced system and in addition always a back up plan, so getting bumped on LH is rare.I was on flights overbooked by 60 and we left with open seats...

Basicly if you are trying to get some vouchers, make sure to fly out on the first day of holidays or in the US on those famous travel days at the beginning and the end of national holidays, but you are not guaranteed a voucher.Especially US airlines begun to give out free tix instead of vouchers a couple of years ago...

Holding status tough can virtually guarantee you an upgrade, as a SEN travelling to US very frequently between 10/02 and 02/03 we were upgraded 8 times from Y or C, cause Y was overbooked.In one case the station manager upgraded us, although Y was empty, just for being loyal LH customers.

Good old Northwest/KLM frequently offered $ 1000 for a bump on the MEM-AMS routes, flights were always oversold and left around 9 p.m with no possibility whatsoever to reach Europe the next day on KL/NW, so 1000 bucks was a fair compensation, I guess

Nothing immoral whatsoever...it is just the price the airline pays for (immoral) overbooking and bumping...the better they are in estimating this (Lufthansa by the way is excellent), the less it costs...it increases even revenue by flying full loads

My vote goes to this one as funniest thread title mishap of the year! :D

I agree with you that there is nothing immoral to overbook. I see it as a good thing. I also see planning your travel to more overbooked flights is a good thing. This I do myself. I try to get bumped whenever I fly.
However, the thing I see as immoral is booking a ticket with the sole purpose of getting bumped. Ie. buying a ticket for a flight, show up at the gate and refund the ticket if you are not bumped, or doing something similar. Using the airlines to get money.

Greetings from DUB today and thanks for the vote! I think my strong affiliation with "dumping" originates from my time as a garbage man (seriously!)

Anyway - thanks for sharing your opinions. I think a dedicated bump run does not make too much sense, particularly due to LH's excellent yield management. Plus - I agree - doing the bump just for the sake of it is only something for the "morally challenged" individual...doesn't pay off anyway...

FT is great, keep up the good stuff!

Cheers, segelflieger (hoping to get bumped not dumped on DUB-FRA-STR in just a few hours...) :-)

Have a good flight!

By the way, I think it's DXB...

Don't worry about customers being immoral. The non-refunded LH Service Charge of €30 / €45 per ticket will knock morality into anyone even trying this. The airline using customers to get money. Who's being immoral now? ;)

speaking of dumping.....
 

Im currently holding a 9/21 reservation on LH526 (FRA-EZE) which Im guessing for sure is overbooked. All booking clases are currently at "0". I guess I will be able to see first hand what sort of compensation LH is offering.

I wonder if they will be openly calling for volunteers as is the case in the USA? In any event, I will keep my eyes and ears open and let you guys know what information I can collect. Unfortunately, I have an important appointment in EZE on 9/21 so I wont be taking the 'dump' :D (Im actually trying to fly out earlier, on the 19th), but as Ive said, I will see what I can dig up.

I've never seen that happen with LH. I distinctly remember a FRA-CPH flight where they needed about a dozen volunteers, but never once used the PA system. I tried haggling for compensation and they very politely declined (I was op-up'ed and was willing to give up my seat, asking for an upgrade the next morning). When I asked what they were planning to do, they just said "don't worry". I took the voucher and stayed around the gate to watch. Very quietly and very efficiently they managed to find the volunteers they needed. Nobody was involuntarily bumped, but they never had to call. I was very impressed.

Shuly

This is contrary to my experience I has saw actively searching (by PA) for volunteers a couple of times on intra europena flights, (I remember FRA-CPH, FRA-VIE and FRA-LHR).