Volunteered for a flight, but was not given the documents to sign until the jet bridge was pulled and the plane was gone. The compensation was 400, so no complaints, but I wonder if some unscrupulous person could say that's not enough and not sign the documents until the agent raised the comp, threatening to force an IDB if they did not. In the DOT's eyes/ legally is it only agreed to when you've signed on the dotted line? Or does clicking yes on the kiosk count as an agreement? Debate...

Did they tell you the comp would be $400 prior to closing the door? If so, then I would say you had an oral agreement and it would be pretty unethical for you to claim anything else.

Now if they didn't tell you the comp would be $400 beforehand, you are lucky that you didn't end up with a $10 meal voucher -- and that's it! Yes, reports are that that was the offer once last week from COdbaUA.

It would be unethical, but Newnited wouldn't hesitate to screw you if the roles were reversed.

I have volunteered my seat many times on UA and always just ask what they are offering quickly before doing so. If you ask politely I have never not been given an answer. If you don't ask and get offered something less that's your fault IMO. I think UA's policy of $400 is fair for both sides and hope it continues.

Sounds like a question for the Times's Ethicist (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/featur...ist/index.html).

Sorry, could you link to that thread? I also saw you mention it at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18363834-post18.html but must have missed the original.

Edit -- never mind, i see it starting at page five of http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-2012-a-5.html. That's hilarious that they got two volunteers to take a $10 food voucher and a rebooking on AA.

Unless something has changed very recently, UA's new policy is to try to offer the lowest applicable fare in the market, rounded up to the nearest $50 increment; I have heard offers as low as $150 and frequently hear $250 offered to take an overnight delay on a transcontinental flight. They bid upward if they get no takers.

An offer of $400 is unusually high and suggests that the gate agent thought "ooops, I forgot to say what the offer was before I took the volunteer, I had better pick a number really high so they don't complain", or that the market was really expensive, or that the gate agent was quietly rebelling against the CO policy of VDB compensation which is generally lower than $400 but is negotiable if necessary.

I had a friend who would volunteer and then start asking terms as they were "trying" to shut the door. He got pretty good at scoring two RT tickets, but I suspect things have changed.

In full disclosure: It was an 18 min difference in flights, and for all we know, the pax were in the last row/middle seats, and probably got a decent seat on AA. Wouldn't you move for that?

1. How do you know they were in the last row or middle?
2. How do you know they got a decent seat? If you can suppose #1, why would you not also assume that AA only has middle seats?

So much speculation. And no, I doubt that anyone who reads FT (and thus knows what they COULD get) would move for that.

1. Anybody who accepts VDB without knowing the deal is not looking out for themselves. Remember, whatever the VDB is, that's it. If you are stuck over night and they don't include a hotel, you don't get a hotel.

2. It's not IDB because you don't sign the VDB paperwork. That's just to document your acceptance. If you don't sign, the GA has some work to do writing up what happened. But, you don't get IDB comp and it doesn't get reported as IDB to DOT.

I am speculating, that's all. But why else would any normal (Non-FT) pax move? But if I had a middle seat, and the GA promised me a good AA seat, I'd move - for 18 minutes. Why would I move from a middle to a middle?

On Saturday's ORD-MUC (UA906) overbooked flight I was offered $300 for VDB at the check-in kiosk. That seemed ridiculously low for a $1,600 RT TATL flight, especially since they couldn't get me out until the next day. I believe the lowest fare in that market is about $900 (~$450 o/w) on the one day of the month when the moon and stars line up properly. Does anyone know if the policy is different for international vs. domestic, or is it strictly fare-based?

To double dip

On the other side, the airline could simply stare at you and say "Sorry sir, you were not on the plane when the door was closed, you must have been late and missed the plane, have a nice day"

There has to be some amount of trust on both sides. The airline trusts that you will accept the offer that you agreed to, and you trust that they will honor that offer.

I made that argument in the other thread. But it was a somewhat weak one, as the circumstances didn't really cover that aspect. (How many flyers at a non-hub flight would've been Elite on both).

Do you think that a non-FTer would think or care about that?

And do you think a FTer would get that excited bout 500 +/- miles?

Sorry, not buying it here.