Bumping - any advice on how to make the most of it?
 

I have heard that voluntary bumping can earn one some free trips. Any advice? What happened to you?

Thanks,

Welcome to Flyertalk, mannon89.
I've never managed to get a bump. Some of the flights I use tend to be fairly light, but other times I've been hampered by status!
VDB is the only situation where status can be a problem. A few airlines (e.g. CX) won't let a top-status member get bumped no matter what, and most others (e.g. virtually all European Skyteam airlines) have algorithms in the system to put you right at the back of any VDB queue, so your only hope would be that nobody else volunteers.

Where are you based? In the U.S., VDB usually comes with a free voucher or $ off future flights (usually domestic, must be operated by the airline, and depending on where you travel from/to, probably limited to the lower 48 states). Most here prefer the latter as it's money off a flight of their choice, inventory is less limited (bump vouchers usually come out of the award bucket which can be very limited), and of course can earn miles (free tickets don't). Rarely is cash offered (that's when they really want someone to volunteer).

It depends on the airline (in the US at least) as to what the offer is, it could be something as simple as a free ticket, US air offers combination tickets, where it could be used as a free ticket or a dollars off voucher on any flight (so you can apply it to part of a trip to eurpoe for example). There may or may not be cash included in the offer. It really depends on how bad they need the seats.

How to make the most of it?

Pick flights where you are guaranteed to be bumped. Once you figure out how to do that, sell the concept here and make a million dollars. :D

Probably the easiest way is to always ask at the gate as soon as you get there, are they looking for volunteers? Try to use only carry on bags, some airlines will pick somebody with no checked luggage way before somebody who checked bags, as they have to pull the bags from the planes.

Be flexible in your plans, and expect to volunteer way more then you are actually used, and expect if the flight they are putting you on is full, you may have a middle seat.

If you are sitting on a regional plane, and the gate people come on and say something like

"Pardon us folks, we have a situtation where we need"

Don't let them get past the wood volunteers without jumping at the offer, as you may be sitting next to me and I'll snag it.

I've gotten VDB vouchers for travel on UA, US, DL, NW, AA, CO, and YX within the past 12 months. My FF status didn't get in the way of my volunteering my seat in exchange for a voucher and a later flight.

Free ticket sometimes, $ voucher for future travel other times.

I like getting bumped on award tickets. ;)

I had the opposite experience with status in San Diego a while back. The AA gate agent told me "You're Executive Platinum [I was at the time], if you want the bump, you're at the top of the list." I got it. (To make things sweeter, the flight I had booked was delayed; I ended up in Boston only fifteen minutes later than I would have had I been on it.)

You can always make your acceptance of a bump voucher conditional on a decent pre-assigned seat on the flight where they are protecting you.

On a recent DFW-SJC flight AA was offering a $200 voucher to take a flight about 2 hours later. I was the first to volunteer and would have gotten the bump except my upgrade on the original flight had cleared and the only protect space on the later flight was in Y. For 2 hours of my time and an F>Y downgrade, $200 just wasn't enough. The agent understood, thanked me for my interest, and I took my original flight.

To the poster that said on U.S. carriers status tends to help you get a voluntary bump, I'd have to agree based on my experience. Successful vouchers so far multiple times on AA as a Plat and once on DL as a Gold. DL seems to keep track of volunteers on paper whereas AA enters you on their computerized Priority List as code "VOL"

Thanks to FT, I knew to stay near the counter to see if they're bumping on a red-eye from SEA to ATL on DL. GA barely started to speak when I jumped up and volunteered. A few of us were put on the list but they didn't needed anyone in the end.

It would have been sweet - $400 voucher and a hotel room. I was on a MR that cost $140 a/i.

Not nearly as fun as getting bumped while travelling on a bump voucher. :D

>Any advice?

Here's the thing I struggle with -

1) To make bumping manageable you want to travel with carry-on only.

2) I'm 6'3, 250, so I can't put anything under the seat in front of me - Has to go in the overhead bin so I can have every inch of leg space. (I've been known to accidentally kick the feet of the person in front of me.)

3) When you 'volunteer' you usually don't get picked because there's dozens of volunteers, but you're the last to board, so all the bin space is gone.

I hate the pressure that comes with the wait... knowing I'm likely boarding, and will likely have nowhere for my bag :)

I usually do not have flexible plans, so I rarely take advantage of bumps. However, this summer on vacation to Scandinavia, SAS asked if I were willing to be give up my coach seat SEA-CPH in exchange for a guaranteed business class seat the next day, along with a free hotel night and a $600 voucher for a future flight on SAS.

I took the bump, but then SAS could not locate a hotel room within 2 hours drive of SEA, so I drove home in a rental car at my own expense. After a lot of hassle the next day, I was reimbursed for the rental car, received my seat in business class and flew on to Copenhagen. After a lengthy search for my luggage at the airport (it had traveled on my original flight and had been "secured"), I exchanged my $600 voucher for $300 cash, as I really wasn't interested in future SAS flights after all the hotel, luggage & rental car runaround.

I had a wonderful vacation in Denmark and Norway, and then traveled home on LH through FRA, with no further difficulties. But I wouldn't be likely to take another bump - not worth the hassle.

That will all depend on which carrier, the perks offered, and the circumstances of your flight as well as yourself.

Do a Flyertalk search for "Bump Runs". I think there's actually a "primer" set up by some of the experts on the board. There's a lot of really great info on the FT boards, but you do have to search for it.

BTW, welcome to FT!:D

Almost always request the voucher, not the free ticket.

Reasons:
Free ticket usually does not earn miles.
It is usually taken from award availability so there may be restriction on dates it can be used.
You can most of the time find fares from A to B in the domestic US for $300 or less. (which I believe it the normal domestic $ voucher amount... well at least it is for Northwest).

With a voucher (ECV) you can use all or part of it.
It can be applied to a higher fare (more then the voucher is worth) and it just acts like a money off coupon.
You earn miles.

Since I am most familiar with NW that is what I use as a reference. It may be different for other airlines.

Other things I do... when arriving at the gate I ask them if the flight is going to be full or overbooked and then say that I am willing to be bumped.
I don't even bother to check how full the flight is anymore. Of course, if the gate area is empty and it is 10 minutes to boarding I don't ask. ;)
Stay near the gate (GAs), but do not hover.
As mentioned previously as soon as you hear something like they are going to ask for volunteers, get to the desk.

I've had several bumps both by myself as well as when traveling with my family. If I remember correctly my family of 4 received a bump on a flight I was paying for with a voucher (I'll have to check my records to be sure) that I had earned while traveling on my own. If it was the same time I remember we ended up arriving only 45 minutes after our original flight had landed but we ended up flying to a more convenient airport that was only 15 minutes away from our destination as opposed to 45 min.
I had suggested the alt airport to the GA and knew there was space on that flight. She was actually excited that I had a plan.

Currently, I have a $300 ECV burning a hole in my pocket from a bump that got me an extra connection and a visit to an airport that I hadn't been to for about 15 years.

Where to go, where to go?