sincx

You'll be asked again at the gate if you are still willing to volunteer.

jsloan

Right. UA won't move anyone without confirming a replacement flight. And if the oversold flight is out of LAS, I doubt they'd need to go to $1000 anyway. Volunteering on the app is no different than volunteering at the kiosk; it's non-binding (so is the amount*) and you should check with the gate agent to see if they actually need anyone.

* For one thing, unless they've changed something recently, all volunteers get the same compensation -- the highest offer they had to make. And for another thing, you can always respond with "I know I said $300, but I was thinking it'd be a two-hour delay, not a ten-hour delay (or whatever); I'll do it for $600 instead." If you do this, you do risk having them decide to look for another volunteer instead, of course.

david_oz

Hopefully this is the right thread for this question. I am booked to go YYC-MEX tonight. I’m playing the SDC game to try to either save a nights accommodation / get accommodation somewhere cheaper than my original LAX layover / get some more PQMs, or any combination of the three.

Upon SDC to go YYC-DEN-SFO-MEX I got a prompt on the app saying they might be looking for volunteers to give up their seat on DEN-SFO and to select a bid amount. The four options were $200, $300, $400 or other. I selected $400.

This is is the first time this has happened to me voluntarily (usually I’ll see the GA pre flight and will be successful in getting bumped).

Anyways, have any of you had this experience? Is $400 a good price for this route. Also, the flight doesn’t appear to be overbooked (there are still seats available when looking on the standby tab). Maybe it’s just a result of what’s going on in SFO today. UA737 in case anyone is curious.

joe_miami

Wrong thread, but getting bumped only happens a small fraction of the time when the app asks for volunteers. That said, UA 737 now showing as booked full, so you have a chance.

david_oz

joe_miami

Looks like the long delay got you, as it's now showing over 30 on the standby list but about 10 empty seats.

david_oz

joe_miami

Believe the vouchers are food and beverage only, but perhaps it varies by location. I know I've seen reports of people being rejected when attempting, e.g., to buy Starbucks gift cards with such vouchers.

jsloan

I believe that's the case, but -- OP, they're not limited to the airport. If you're hungry now, you should ask if the hotel accepts it. I've been able to use them at the Marriott at IAD as well as an off-airport Marriott near IAH.

As an aside, I'm pleasantly surprised that they told you that hotels were a 1K benefit. They don't always go out of their way to advertise. (e.g., it's not actually published anywhere).

burr

Just got an option to volunteer for an upcoming flight. I get to choose the amount of travel credit I'd be willing to take if they need volunteers. First time I have seen this. I haven't flown United much recently so might be old news.

joe_miami

Yes, that's been around for a while. Even after getting that screen, the odds of actually being asked to volunteer are very low.

hscottm

you should be able to ask for original routing credit.

jsloan

Original Routing Credit will give whatever was originally purchased, not whatever was elected during SDC. That may still be a win, but OP would want to run the numbers to check.

j8s8er

On a recent check in was quite amused to see that I was given an option to specify an amount I'd be willing to accept if I get accepted as a VDB volunteer, and that volunteers will be chosen based on the order of the lowest amounts.

Is this a new VDB policy?

WineCountryUA

Been around for awhile but not heavily used.