Jan 3, 2018, 12:29 am
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Previous thread -
Voluntary Denied Boarding - VDB/Bump on UA [2017]
Voluntary Denied Boarding - VDB/Bump on UA [2016]
Voluntary Denied Boarding - VDB/Bump on UA [2015]
Related thread - Is this IDB? Am I entitled to IDB compensation? [Consolidated]
VDB -- Voluntary Denied Boarding -- is when the flight is overbooked and the airline is looking for volunteers to change their travel plans. It is voluntary and you do not need to participate. The compensation is 100% negotiable. It could be $100's in future travel vouchers, it might be food vouchers, a different routing (perhaps more direct or for MR's more indirect
), perhaps lodging if overnight and sometimes a bump in cabin. It all depends on how desperate the airline is and how flexible you are.
The standard UA policy is after you have agreed to a voucher amount and additional VDBs are still needed, if those passengers get a higher amount, you will also get the higher amount.
The are no DoT requirement for VDB compensation, it is whatever you and the airline agree to. The DoT does require the airline to try VDB before moving to IDB.
Voluntary Denied Boarding - VDB/Bump on UA [2017]
Voluntary Denied Boarding - VDB/Bump on UA [2016]
Voluntary Denied Boarding - VDB/Bump on UA [2015]
Related thread - Is this IDB? Am I entitled to IDB compensation? [Consolidated]
VDB -- Voluntary Denied Boarding -- is when the flight is overbooked and the airline is looking for volunteers to change their travel plans. It is voluntary and you do not need to participate. The compensation is 100% negotiable. It could be $100's in future travel vouchers, it might be food vouchers, a different routing (perhaps more direct or for MR's more indirect
), perhaps lodging if overnight and sometimes a bump in cabin. It all depends on how desperate the airline is and how flexible you are.The standard UA policy is after you have agreed to a voucher amount and additional VDBs are still needed, if those passengers get a higher amount, you will also get the higher amount.
The are no DoT requirement for VDB compensation, it is whatever you and the airline agree to. The DoT does require the airline to try VDB before moving to IDB.
The changing story of IDB on UA since the merge and post-Dao
source: BTS Data
source: BTS Data
Code:
IDB/VDB data for UA (w/o UX) 1st Qtr Year VDB IDB 2018 8,214 27 2017 15,917 900 2016 14,380 929 2015 17,373 1,817 2014 21,469 4,395 2013 14,095 2,592 IDB/VDB data for UA (w/ UX) 1st Qtr Year VDB IDB 2018 16,973 51
Voluntary Denied Boarding - VDB/Bump Experiences on UA [2018]
Sep 17, 2018, 8:35 am
#406
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My thought process is that it gives me some priority in a list, if that exists, and also I can always play dumb and say "well I thought the next flight would an hour later, not 3.5" and then renegotiate.
At the end of the day though it all comes down to whatever the gate agent wants to give out. You could have tried for 800, I don't know how that works (I'm guessing the GA would have started asking for volunteers for 500 first before going to 800). All that would indicate is that the GA wouldn't have to offer more the 800. Or not, who knows.
Sep 23, 2018, 6:47 pm
#407
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Had a weird one today on CVG-ORD. Apparently they had some in-op seats reported on an inbound where they were trying to do a quick turn.
They decided to begin boarding anyway, so it was chaotic. Still, I asked if they needed a volunteer, and the GA said yes, and her colleague was going to handle it, but the current offer was $700. Her colleague arrived, and I said I’d volunteer if I could be put onto an AA flight that evening (there weren’t any other UA flights to my destination). She looked at me like I’d insulted her mother or something and said told me that they couldn’t rebook me on another airline. I said something like “you can for a mechanical,*” and she still refused. I stepped away from the counter, and she told me, impatiently, to board, wherein I said I was waiting to see if she’d change her mind. She gave me another nasty look, turned to the other agent, said “announce it again; increase it to $1000,” and somebody walked up and volunteered.
So, $1000 + a hotel voucher is somehow a better deal in her mind than $700 + an AA flight....
I boarded at that point, so I don’t know if they ended up needing a seat or not (the quick volunteer boarded the flight after me, but there may have been other volunteers waiting; I don’t know). I hope she’s proud of the great savings she accomplished for UA.
* They can for a non-mechanical as well, but I admit I was caught off-guard by her refusal; while they’d rather rebook on UA, obviously, this is the first time I’ve ever been refused. Generally, they appreciate having somebody volunteer.
They decided to begin boarding anyway, so it was chaotic. Still, I asked if they needed a volunteer, and the GA said yes, and her colleague was going to handle it, but the current offer was $700. Her colleague arrived, and I said I’d volunteer if I could be put onto an AA flight that evening (there weren’t any other UA flights to my destination). She looked at me like I’d insulted her mother or something and said told me that they couldn’t rebook me on another airline. I said something like “you can for a mechanical,*” and she still refused. I stepped away from the counter, and she told me, impatiently, to board, wherein I said I was waiting to see if she’d change her mind. She gave me another nasty look, turned to the other agent, said “announce it again; increase it to $1000,” and somebody walked up and volunteered.
So, $1000 + a hotel voucher is somehow a better deal in her mind than $700 + an AA flight....
I boarded at that point, so I don’t know if they ended up needing a seat or not (the quick volunteer boarded the flight after me, but there may have been other volunteers waiting; I don’t know). I hope she’s proud of the great savings she accomplished for UA.
* They can for a non-mechanical as well, but I admit I was caught off-guard by her refusal; while they’d rather rebook on UA, obviously, this is the first time I’ve ever been refused. Generally, they appreciate having somebody volunteer.
Sep 23, 2018, 7:23 pm
#408
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(The GA's snippy attitude, obviously, was uncalled for.)
Sep 23, 2018, 7:32 pm
#409
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Now, if two pax volunteered, and one needed OAL and one didn’t, then it’s a no-brainer. But I don’t get increasing the voucher amount to find another one.
Sep 23, 2018, 7:45 pm
#410
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When airlines reconcile tickets moved to an OAL, they do so at a greatly discounted rate. I don’t know what rate they discount the extra $300 worth of ETC, but I’m pretty confident they’d have come out ahead by taking my offer.
Now, if two pax volunteered, and one needed OAL and one didn’t, then it’s a no-brainer. But I don’t get increasing the voucher amount to find another one.
Sep 23, 2018, 8:27 pm
#411
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United pays an industry rate that's not much above cost. Last year, I had to fly to ROA, and was booked BOS-IAD-ROA. The normal cash price is ~$300 one way. But, United's inbound aircraft cancelled, so I had them put me on American. American's last minute price for BOS-CLT-ROA was over $600. United paid American $125 based on the EQD I earned by crediting the rebooked flights to American (fare class was Y on American).
Sep 23, 2018, 8:34 pm
#412
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... plus the taxes and non-carrier fees, one assumes.
Sep 23, 2018, 9:52 pm
#413
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Sep 23, 2018, 10:05 pm
#414
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True, but that's also true of the whole fare paid. If airlines truly give each other such a deep discount, there'd be an arbitrage opportunity. One assumes airlines are expected to use these reciprocal agreements only when absolutely necessary.
Sep 24, 2018, 12:11 am
#415
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BTW: I should walk back at least part of my criticism. I was actually connecting to AUS, which limited my options; it turns out that there was one later UA flight to ORD today than the one I was on, and that flight didn't go out full. So, if the other volunteer was terminating at ORD, or was going to some other destination where there was a later connecting flight out of ORD, then the decision would make sense -- $300 in extra UA funny-money is likely less expensive than buying me a ticket from AA. And if the agent had told me, "Sorry, but I need to wait and see if there's somebody who can make use of the later Chicago flight," I wouldn't have had a problem with it.
Anyway, TL/DR: apparently we don't always have as much leverage as we'd like in VDB situations (although this refusal is still the exception, not the rule).
Sep 24, 2018, 12:23 am
#416
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Not so sure about that. The GA was out of line and I seriously doubt she was performing mental arithmetic to figure out which deal was better for her employer. To the contrary, most likely she was too lazy to push your ticket to AA and was willing to spend more of UA's money in lieu of doing extra work herself. In any event, she should have said "thank you, go ahead and board we'll let you know if we need your seat" rather than lie to you. This sounds like one of those bad apples that causes UA to have such a poor reputation for cs.
Sep 24, 2018, 12:37 am
#417
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Not so sure about that. The GA was out of line and I seriously doubt she was performing mental arithmetic to figure out which deal was better for her employer. To the contrary, most likely she was too lazy to push your ticket to AA and was willing to spend more of UA's money in lieu of doing extra work herself. In any event, she should have said "thank you, go ahead and board we'll let you know if we need your seat" rather than lie to you. This sounds like one of those bad apples that causes UA to have such a poor reputation for cs.
(I didn't see her interact with anyone else, so I really only have a single data point). I rarely get bad service from UA -- or anybody else, for that matter.But, yes, it certainly could have been handled better; my point was just that if you take the rudeness out of the equation, her decision makes more sense than I thought when I wrote my initial post, at which time I didn't think there were any further westbound flights from CVG that evening -- I could see prioritizing a volunteer who could fly UA the same day over someone who needed to be pushed to AA, even if you have to bump up a compensation level. It was the forced overnight that I'd (wrongly) thought was required that made me think she was being completely ridiculous (again, rudeness aside).
Sep 24, 2018, 8:01 am
#418
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United pays an industry rate that's not much above cost. Last year, I had to fly to ROA, and was booked BOS-IAD-ROA. The normal cash price is ~$300 one way. But, United's inbound aircraft cancelled, so I had them put me on American. American's last minute price for BOS-CLT-ROA was over $600. United paid American $125 based on the EQD I earned by crediting the rebooked flights to American (fare class was Y on American).
Sep 24, 2018, 8:29 am
#419
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Sep 24, 2018, 8:10 pm
#420
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When I called United to rebook me on American, they gave me the American PNR so that I could check in. I added my FF# on the website when viewing the PNR.