My boss actually ENCOURAGES us to take a bump when we can. I think she knows how underpaid we are, and the one thing we can get from our work travel is free/discounted personal travel. If we can get bumped, and not miss travel-related work, she is all for a bump. I was even encouraged to take a bump on the way BACK to work -- needing to be in the office the following day. I was told that this was acceptable. She must really think we are all going to bolt if we have to pay for travel for our vacations!

Stevekoe

That is an interesting story about the guy that got fired for taking a bump. I have worked before as a travel agent. Basically a travel agent books a reservation in whatever CRS (computer system) they work in, and usually, another reservation is created in whatever CRS the airline uses. That is how many times you have a record locator from the travel agent or web booking site, and then a different record locator from the airline you fly. Depending on what airline you book, we had varying access to the "airline record" as opposed to our own record. Some airlines we could access the same PNR that airline agents used, and other times only our own record that only showed what we booked, etc.

It would seem that the t/a must have done a bit of research to find out that both the pax changed their flight, and to look in to the remarks of the record to see that it was a voluntary bump instead of an invol, mechanical, weather, etc. Again depending on the airline, there would be either some notation or no notation. But often the "notation" would just be the issuance of a certificate number without really saying like "pax volunteered" etc.

My company was once working with a software company, and someone was supposed to be up in BOS by about 10AM. The person did not come, and someone from the software company called the company travel office. All that Travel knew was that the person would be coming on a later flight, and they had no idea why and said that all they know is that he is on another flight.

I would think unless you are running for public office, and e.g. someone does a background investigation to try to find some dirt on you, that it would be difficult for your company to know you got a bump. Basically they would have to have an insider contact that had access to the CRS used by the airline you fly, and again even sometimes there is not explicit documentation in the airline PNR explaining why the flight is changed especially if a handwritten bump voucher is written. And as travel agents, you did not even have access to look at standby lists or other gate systems or to look at the load or checked in count on flights. Again you would have to work for the airline to really have full access to this sort of proprietary information.

If it doesn't impact negatively on the bottom line, then it's a good policy. ^

While I don't necessarily disagree with Standby's point, if you follow this logic, then it opens up some very interesting questions. I often choose CO/NW over other carriers that offer slightly lower fares for the same itinerary because I'm banking miles with CO. This will earn me privileges that will benefit me as an employee in the future (such as priority baggage claim, elite security and checkin, that will save me time in the future). Is it unethical of me to do this? I have also chosen routings that will result in much longer travel time but avoid certain airports (ORD in particular) that are notorious for delays. Is it unethical to book a trip that gets in 2-3 hours later in order to avoid the potential for long delays at a known choke point? What about booking a trip that costs a bit more or takes more travel time in order to avoid RJs or Props? What if you leave a little earlier in the day so that you can arrive with time to get a full night's sleep before a morning meeting, rather than leaving after 5:00 pm and not getting to your hotel until after midnight?

Bottom line, there are many situations where I have booked my travel with my best interests in mind and someone could interpret this as wasting time or money. But the way I figure it, if I'm getting my job done, then isn't that what's really important?

Ethical issues frequently resist pat answers and it is primarily up to you to answer the questions about ethics in these situations. So long as you and your employer agree with the conclusions that you draw, then nothing should ever be called into question. On the other hand, if the "someone" who "could interpret this as wasting time or money" is your boss, then that would obviously be a problem.

I am assuming that we are talking about "exempt" (salaried) employees rather than "non-exempt".....but...you put your own time on the line, leave early (Saturday) to save cost on the tickets in the first place, and the employer wants the benefit of your investment of your free time.............? give me a break....If the employee was not exempt but rather was hourly, and had some direction to go out on Saturday ' cuz the tickets cheaper, he should turn over the ticket to the bean counter along with the Saturday overtime slip...Sorry...but you have to cut people a little slack...It just ain't fun living in airports.

"If the employee was not exempt but rather was hourly, and had some direction to go out on Saturday ' cuz the tickets cheaper, he should turn over the ticket to the bean counter along with the Saturday overtime slip."

You make an excellent point: the employer can't have it both ways. With the employees paying for the lodging on Saturday night and expenses prior to Sunday, the case to support the bean counter's claim that the vouchers should belong to the company is somewhere between extremely weak and non-existent. Along with the overtime slip, (if applicable), the employer would also be responsible for the Saturday night hotel bill, along with meals and incidental expenses from the time of departure onward. That was clearly not the understanding at the outset, so the vouchers belong to the employees.

To clarify my example- they were both exempt and thus flying on non-compensated, personal time.

Several years ago, I became embroiled in the issue of frequent flyer miles and bumping compensation. It took the better part of two years to finally get the local government involved to adopt a written policy. All of the while, indignant taxpayers were writing letters to the editor and the local newspaper even weighed in by railing that all miles and compensation should accrue to the municipality.

One of biggest myths out there is that these miles can be pooled, which is not the case. As a practical matter, administering such a program is not only time-consuming, but it necessarily involves gross violations of privacy to separate personal travel from "official" travel. There are gray areas, too. For example -- and no thanks to a local government that may fly me somewhere once a year -- I receive substantial mileage bonuses through my elite status and by registering for various promotions. Should ALL miles from the occasional trip be cordoned off for future use by the government entity? How long should a person be expected to keep track of that? Should my personal FF account be subject to the open records law? I certainly don't think so and like me, the great majority of travelers who would be subject to such a policy might never accumulate enough miles on official business to equal a free ticket in the course of an entire career. (Think about members of citizen commissions and part-time elected officials who are essentially donating their own time to attend training or meetings or a high school kid who attends a leadership meeting on behalf of the municipality.)

The bottom line: in most cases, the travelers were being asked to give up something that could be of some value to THEM, but the value that would potentially be recoverable to the organization is far, far less. Most affected miles would expire worthless, along with the occasional non-transferable bump vouchers (VERY occasional, since who is going to take a voluntary bump, inconveniencing themselves, families, etc. for nothing?)

After a long struggle, we ended up with a policy that -- SURPRISE! -- echoes the airlines' own policies and practices. Miles and other compensation belong to the traveler, period. People who travel on business are expected to act in a manner that does not diminish their ability to perform the business, which means showing up on time for their meetings and showing up in their offices following the meeting (or using personal time off to cover, if it doesn't inconvenience anyone.)

The experience here applies to non-governmental employers, too. Much mischief and political hay can be made by and with people who don't understand FF programs and bumping. Some of it revolves around ignorance or just pure jealousy that someone else might be getting something. Mix all of that in with the sometimes petty nature of some people and you have the makings of loud discussion that is much ado about almost nothing.

If there is an opportunity to adopt a thoughtful, written policy in an organization that avoids all of that non-productive discussion and accurately recognizes the realities involved in business travel, that is the very best solution. If the outcome is more likely to be engraving a Draconian policy of ignorance and injustice into stone so somebody can pose for holy pictures next to it while diminishing employee morale and never producing any substantial value to the organization, then I think some questions are better left unasked and people are best left to their own devices.

My company has a pretty clear policy on all of these issues. We are not allowed to volunteer for bumps - but I don't know how they would know. We also keep all of our miles and other perks. We are not allowed to get miles if there is a cost - for example, I believe National car rental charges taxes for the miles they give, so we cannot earn miles from National, but rental credits are OK. We have our own travel agency that is strict on the pricing policy - if there is a >$100 savings on a cheaper fare (even with a connection) leaving/arriving within so many hours of request, we are supposed to take it. If we say no, it gets sent for approval (not sure who's approval) before they will book it. They do this to me every time I travel to one of our plants, since Delta tends to be about $150-200 cheaper than the direct flight on NW. The policy makers did not realize that adding 4+ hours of travel time to my itinerary, losing productive daytime hours, etc. is worth more than the savings. Since I am a contractor and paid by the hour, any savings would be wasted since I would definatly bill those hours. I understand there were problems in the past with people booking expensive fares for miles, etc. - but they are making the travel agent enforce a policy that should be handled at the local department level where the budgets are maintained. Fine if they want to report me for taking the expensive fare and let my boss handle it if I am abusing things, but don't hold up my reservation for four days waiting for the approval, just to have the fare increase in that time.

I had a situation a couple weeks ago where I was at another location with a 5 pm departure. I realized I had no meetings scheduled that afternoon, most of the people I would need to work with were tied up, etc. so I called to change the flight to a noon departure that would get me home 3.5 hours earlier. Since it was a B fare (NW) there was no change fee. There was an extra fee of about $5 since I was routing through MEM instead of direct. I called NW direct to make the change and put the cost on my own credit card and am not going to expense it. I don't know if the travel agent could see this if they looked, but I know my boss would have no problem with it.