I've always been a fan of taking the bumps offered by our friends at NWA, and I've never really had an issue before. Last Friday, I was scheduled to be on board NW0338 (LAX-DTW), and was put on the VDB list, as the flight was rather full (almost zeroed out on ITN).

I knew that there were several options to get me to my final destination leaving LAX within one hour of when my original flight was supposed to take off. Gate Agent tapped a few keys, and noted that I could easily be accomodated on the 6:55 flight (which was over eight hours after my original flight). I overheard another person volunteer to be on the VDB list and he was informed that they don't put people on other carriers. I didn't get bumped and didn't ask questions of the GA, but I thought I'd pose this question to you guys:

In what situations would NW put you on the next flight (route), on a different carrier, to your destination if you took a VDB?

Two weeks from now I'm flying on a full LAX-LAS flight, and would love to take a bump, but if I have to wait an entire day (as the LAX-LAS only runs 1x daily), I might pass it up.

Not quite. I positively love my redeyes, and will always angle to get NW0338. But I sleep like a baby on those flights

Okay, I'm a little more comfortable without the shroud of a 24-hour wait in front of me. However, does anyone know the situation where a codeshare is full? Will NW put you on another airline?

I know! As of last weekend, I'm voucherless. First time in over a year

My reply to lateacher was appended before his... I'm not a psychic! I swear!

Sounds like we have similar travel patterns. FYI, my wife and I were on the LAX-LAS flight about 2 weeks ago and they were looking for volunteers. They were planning on putting us on the HP codeshare leaving 1 1/2 hours later, but there ended up being just enough seats. No $300 voucher for us in almost a year now! What gives????

NW used to overbook everything BIG TIME before the "belt-tightening" of the last couple years. They used to pass out DBC's like candy. But now they are authorized to go only a few seats over, therefore there are VERY few DBC's anymore in comparison to the "old days".

As an example, NW used to overbook flights from SNA by 10 or 12 people. They now only overbook SNA flights by 3 or 4 people. (Less during holidays!!)

I knew you were going to say that!