Northwest pilots will be able to strike on May 10, with Delta on June 30, and others possibly this summer. Assuming one or more airlines DO have problems, what's the best way to take advantage of it?

Although this is obviously going to be a pain for business travel, the bonuses folks got from United's year of hell makes me think that possibly booking either milage runs or other inessential travel would be a good idea, in the hopes that you can get bumped and compensated.

Have folks tried this before with strikes? If I'm planning a nonessential trip, would booking it on May 10/11 with NW be a good chance of getting miles/certificates/etc or is this loony?

For travel now, I would think a trip into some city mainly served by Com Air (Lexington KY??) might be a good pick. ComAir is cancelling flights about a week out, so book something now on another airline for next weekend, and you should have a good shot.

If you are savvy enough, find a city with multiple large (Canadair CJR) Com Air flights, but only a few flights on smaller planes by other airlines. That way, demand will exceed supply. Further, try and book something for Friday PM, when business travelers will want to travel at any cost.

I think a strike is the worst thing to hope for, if you are looking to be bumped:

- if the airline is flying normally, and they can't accomodate you on a flight, you'll get a bump

- if the airline is flying with some difficulty (ie. labor dispute with UAL pilots), they might give you something to compensate you for any inconvenience

- if the airline is not flying at all, you should just hope they get you onto another carrier's flight.

Note that with AA's strike in I think 1997, USAir's non-strike in 1999, and UAL's problems last summer, any 'bonuses' came after the disputes were finally settled, and came basically in the form of bonus ff miles for future trips (UAL reduced mileage levels, basically the same thing).

If you want to 'cash in' on a strike, I thing the best thing is to wait until it's over, hope they have a decent welcome-back promotion (fare sale and/or bonus miles), and do your travelling then.

Jeff

From my experience, I would not expect to be too successful in trying to get bumped in any of those Comair cities. Delta made contingency plans several weeks before the Comair strike and reduced inventory avaiable for sale. Thus, I would say you are already too late as they know how to accomodate everybody. I did fly some Comair routes on mainline DL this week out of / to Chicago, and the flights were almost full, but not overbooked.
I suggest you look for the bigger routes between the hubs, because many people have to fly there because there is no non-stop service right now.
For instance, I got bumped off the JFK-ATL flight last week...