Best bumping story:
Used to fly back and forth from SFO-LAX every weekend. About to get on the plane (American) when an older man fainted (VERY DRAMATIC!). Turns out he had heart problems and was on the way to his doctor in LA. He had to get on the plane and they wanted to put him and his wife in first class togther which meant moving someone back to coach but coach was full. I immediately volunteered to give up my seat. They kept thanking me, put me on a flight 30 minutes later in first class, and gave me a $500 travel voucher. All this on an $80 ticket from Cheap Tickets.

No bargaining involved. We originally were first on the list when the offer was $500. But, since they needed more seats the offer kept going up. It made that three week family trip to Italy ALOT more affordable

That is correct u do not need to bargain.
In fact if u don't want to accept their bargain u don't have to. In other words u could volunteer and then withdraw when they do not get enough volunteers to raise the ante to what u would consider reasonable. Of course after u withdraw the number may go up. ("such is life" Ned Kelly)
The reason they hand out the vouchers like candy is that only about 10-40% of vouchers are ever resubmitted. I confess some years ago it even happened to me.

Coming back from Cabo in March, we were waiting in Seattle for our flight back to Juneau. The gate next to us was for a flight to Phoenix leaving about the same time and was way overbooked and they must not have been many volunteers because they raised the payoff to two roundtrip tickets for each seat given up.

Unfortunately, the number of people wanting to go to Juneau was not equal to the number wanting to go to Phoenix.

I am not sure about the other airlines, but on AA, if they raise the amount offerred b/c they need more volunteers, EVERYONE gets the higher price . As such, there is no benefit to waiting for a better deal.

I knew that - what i was stating was that if when your name/number is called and the offer is not satisfactory (in other words it has not risen to your desired level) you can decline to volunteer. Or in one case for myself i was on the wait list for upgrade also and that came through before my name was called for bumping. Took the upgrade and had my name taken off the volunteer list.

btw - how do you do that quote thing - or direct me to where the instructions are - thanks

USAIR unfortunately gives R/T vouchers instead of $ vouchers, which means you don't makes miles on the voucher travel, still a good bump my wife and I were able to take a ff CDG->PHL->RDU last leg. We used the bump vouchers for a R/T RDU->LAX->FAT, both got bumped in LAX for two more vouchers. Found out then both vouchers could be in her name and she joined me on two more business trips later in the year (not then, but now vouchers are transferrable). She ended up with 3 free R/Ts originating from a ff flight. For any airline, tip would be to ask gate agent right when they arrive if flight is oversold, then ask to volunteer. Voluntary bumps go in order of listed volunteers, not your ticket type or elite status. It helps to be #1 on the list when they start working the list backwards calling names to take a seat. I check luggage every flight, if you don't, main negative about volunteering is you've given up any chance of getting overhead space if you have to board.

America West has poor vouchers, IMO. No residual value...important to know, especially if they say $500-$700. Didn't find out later and we would be hard pressed to spend that much on one ticket. We were planning to split it up. Can. Lowers the value. Can't earn frequent flyer miles on the voucher as well--so it says. Keep these factors in mind.

residual value is very important. CO says no way, no longer, but can get miles. Also, CO will not allow, in policy, for you to combine the voucher i.e., "certificate" with other coupons. Thus not like money.

NW and AA, I believe, have residual value and treat the vouchers more like cash.

Such details are an important factor in bumping...

JL2

Wow, those are very good details to know! Anyone know if there is one place that tells the tale on most of the US carriers' bump vouchers?

JeffLewis2 (as opposed to JeffLewis1 :P )

Since the Northwest agreement, you can use Continental vouchers for Northwest flights on Northwest published fares-- and I have gotten a NW voucher for the residual. That effectively converts your CO voucher into a NW voucher.

More tricky but possible: I once tried to ticket a CO res. with a NW voucher and get the residual. CO said they couldn't issue the residual-- but said NW could go into the CO system and issue the ticket at the CO published fare. It took time for the NW agent to do that, and she was coached by phone with a CO agent down the counter, but in the end, she issued the ticket at the CO fare, and gave me a NW voucher for the residual.

Re. coupons, I've run into not being able to use paper coupons with vouchers ("No other discounts or vouchers apply...") but if you have an electronic coupon, like an Entertainment discount, reserve by phone and have the agent apply the electronic coupon to knock dollars off. Then ticket the res. in person using the voucher, and the discounted fare should stick.

magic111,

I use to always wonder how the quote thing was done also. Go to the posting which you want to quote, and in the center top portion of the post there will be four symbols, click the one that looks like a page with a red arrow pointing to the right. A reply window will appear where the quote has been placed. Hope that helps.

but how did u quote just a portion of the text? thanks!

Try it, and you'll see the coded quote appear in the text window where you type your posting. You can delete from, or edit, the quote (or, if one thinks one can get away with it, actually alter the text).

Also, for uses of UBB code, check out:
http://www.flyertalk.com/faqsfr.htm

[This message has been edited by Counsellor (edited 07-08-2000).]

When it comes to bumping, each airline has its own rules & policies, so we should be careful of generalizations like "elite status doesn't matter" in choosing which volunteer to select. Whether you can split the voucher, whether you can get a 2nd voucher for the unused balance, whether the ticket bought with the voucher earns miles, whether the voucher is even a $ amount or a round trip amount...all depend on the airline (and possibility the volunteer's negotiating skills). So the best advice is to familiarize yourself with the policies of the airline(s) you fly most often, and decide which policies are most important to you and get those answers before you surrender your seat.

onedog: if American has a policy that everybody gets the compensation offered to the last volunteer, that's great. I've often wondered if the particular airline I'm flying on has a policy like that.

It is still possible to have a situation where volunteering later rather than sooner gets you higher compensation, though you're taking a risk. Suppose American needs 3 volunteers, and A volunteers when $200 is announced, B volunteers when $300 is announced, and C volunteers when $400 is announced. Now suppose A had not volunteered, and B and C volunteer at the same price points that they did before. American might announce an offer of $500, which A takes (and which you say B and C would then also get). A is of course then taking a chance then that D volunteers when $500 is announced, and American accepts D over A.