Max M

The thanksgiving holiday is supposedly the busiest travel time in the U.S. --- just wondering how many of you got bumped over this holiday...

My bump:

Airline and Flight number: American Eagle 3929
Flight route: ORD-MLI
Date: 11/22/04
Reason: Overweight Flight
Compensation: $250 voucher, free hotel, a $20 dinner voucher, $10 breakfast voucher, and choice of flight next day


P.S. Also consider posting your bump report on http://www.bumptracker.com -- I believe one of our fellow FT'er's runs the site.

RunawayNFly

I am jealous!!! I did a day trip on 11/22/04 from PBI to PHL and was hoping that at least one of the flights were oversold. No such luck.

Despite my flight (Delta 1158) being an hour late due to fog and two flight before me (Delta # 1610) being cancelled, they did not need anyone on the middle flight from ATL-PHL (#968)

The other three fights were all wide open, despite horrific weather delays.

Watchful

Well I was feeling pretty hopeful - had two DL segments yesterday. One had been totally sold out (no fare categories available) for some time, and the other had fluctuated between being unbookable and having two Y seats available.

But though both flights were full or almost full, there was no list of standbys and no need for volunteers at all.

Perhaps there are fewer no-shows at Thanksgiving time, so the overbooking margin is smaller?

kyushuman

Friday afternoon 11/12:
I got a $300 voucher toward future NWA travel for a bump of NW 4716, a NW Airlink flight MSP-LAN, the weekend of a MSU football game. I was put on a flight (on a mainline NW jet, in 1A!) that departed just 3 hours later.

I doubt this route is usually oversold, since it's not even a choice on www.bumptracker.com , but I am guessing people were going because of the game. They only needed one VDB, and I was first in line when the gate agent showed up to start processing the flight! She first handed me a "Free ticket in the 48 states" voucher, and I asked (politely) for a cash voucher instead, since it's easier to get flights that way.

mot29

I built my 11/28 return from IST to ONT hoping for a bump (or two) but couldn't get one.
The itin-
IST-AMS, KL 1610 - empty seats
AMS-DTW, NW 67 - agent took my name but said probably wouldn't need anyone. Plane went out full in WBC and coach, but no bumps.
DTW-MKE, NW 1407 - no volunteers needed. Plane went out full front and back. Didn't get my Plat elite upgrade until 2 hours before flight.
MKE-MSP, NW 107 - no volunteers needed. Plane went out full front and back. Upgrade came through 5 days before flight.
MSP-ONT, NW 1029 - gate agent took my name and asked me to hold on boarding because they just might need 1 volunteer. After boarding first class and elites, called to podium to get my upgraded boarding pass and told no volunteers needed. Plane went out full front and back.

My first T'giving Sunday not to get bumped. I guess that NW, at least, is really fine tuning their yield/load management software. As a shareholder, I am pleased. As a passenger hoping for a bump -- not as happy.
tom

Wiirachay

11/28 FNT-DTW (55 mile flight) overbooked by 1; rebooked to new flights arriving 2 hours later.

- Pat

wcj1

We got bumped Thanksgiving morning on the first US DFW-PHL flight. Rebooked ~2 hours later on the next flight and received US's free roundtrip vouchers. Will probably write-in to Customer Relations to exchange them for $200 credits.

BillJ

johnep1

Got bumped TPA-DTW on NW last night. Was on the 5:29 pm flight and they needed one volunteer. I got a $300 voucher and a $5 meal credit. Got put in F on the 9:45 pm TPA-DTW flight.

slippahs

Flew out of HNL on 11/27, the Sat. of Thanksgiving, which for HNL, is usually the busiest travel day of the year. To my surprise, and the airline employees as well, MANY of the flights going out that day still had seats on them, as opposed to last year and the year before when MANY of the flights were oversold and a bump could be had left and right.

Had two segments on NW. Almost got bumped off of NW96. I volunteered, they said they might be even, but then call me off the plane after boarding, to then get an updated number on the flight, which put them back at even. Quite the hassle to have to load my bags, then unload them. Almost got bumped off my connection too. Originally scheduled for a DC-95, flight got changed to a DC-94, GAs needed three volunteers. Flight then got changed back to a DC-95, no volunteers needed. So, in any case, this was a particularly sad weekend for me in terms of bumps.

aloha

UA vs NW

Booked my thanksgiving trip long time ago hoping for bumps. However, Delta is really doing a good job by filling the plane just to full.

Failure:
November 24, 2004
DL 1493 BWI-CVG 05:55PM, Plane is completely full
DL 5317 CVG-MKE 08:55PM, Plane is completely full
(I double-checked with ticketing agents before going to gate and knew that these two flights were just full)

November 28, 2004
DL 1485 CMH-CVG 05:05PM, Plane is not full
DL 0949 CVG-BWI 07:20PM, Plane is completely full

DL0949 was a very promising one for bumping because it was overbooked long before the departure date, even at 2 hours before departure, it was still overbooked by 6. However, due to some misconnections from some snow-affected areas, a few passengers could not make for DL0949, which destroyed the gold chance of bumping. The gate agent returned my boarding pass before boarding began. Last year, all flights from Cincinnati to Baltimore was overbooked on the sunday of thanksgiving holiday, even the last two flights on Saturday evening. I ended up with $1200 DL voucher last year but $0 this year . It looks to me that DL is smarter this year.

mot29

There is an interesting thread on the NW forum about folks getting calls early the week before T'giving offering cash or miles in exchange for changing reservations because of oversells. Sounds like a smart case of NW managing the bumps in advance and offering fewer $s and advance notice to even out the traffic. Smart move, I think, and maybe the reason for so few bumps reported yesterday.

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=374754

tom

bostonbali

Flew HNL-IAH-EWR on 11/28. Hoped for a bump, but no go. As a matter of fact, two of us were able to take earlier HNL-IAH and IAH-EWR flights (standby) even though they were zeroed-out according to ITN and a phone agent who said "but I never gave you this info..."
Too bad, we were hoping for an overnight bump in HNL...

slippahs

I watched the ITN/Avail tool numbers for two weeks prior to last week Saturday and the only flight that was zeroed out was HNL-SEA on 11/27. It was a slow day for bumps in HNL and I'm sure there weren't very many calls asking for volunteers. It was an interesting thread though.

aloha

lateacher

My wife and I were on the early morning NW redeye from LAX-DTW departing at 12:30. The GA was offering a free roundtrip or a $300 voucher, but the next flight out wasn't until almost 9 am. I asked about being reaccomodated on CO or DL, but no go. Since my wife wasn't keen on missing Thanksgiving dinner with the folks in Ohio, we passed. It figures---the first time we're on an overbooked flight in well over a year and we couldn't volunteer.

I don't know if they got all of their volunteers, but I know FC was filled with op ups who boarded last minute. (One guy was very excited...he even asked the FA if he could request anything special!)

curl

also got a bump TPA-DTW yesterday....

NW 485 03:39PM Got same + offered night at Radisson hotel (which I did not take) and F seat this morning on a direct flight.

I think there were 4-5 bumps.