BBSHOPSINGER

Monday my wife had a flight DEN-SLC scheduled on a CRJ-200. Not sure why, but it was oversold. When checking it, we noticed that the next flight (1 hour later on a larger plane) had seats available, so she didn't hesitate to volunteer upon check-in. Because of the situation, we thought minimizing the dollar request might improve her chances, so she volunteered at $175.

They called several hours before flight time and asked if she was still interested. They put her in first class on the flight an hour later and gave her the $175 voucher. I've never had them call in advance like that, so this was a pretty good deal, even for a low dollar-amount.

laxmillenial

I've gotten phone calls 2 days before a flight, but never several hours before. To me, the phone call seems of a serious overbooking or an aircraft downgrade (or maybe a W&B issue in the CRJ-200 due to current weather?).

It's a great deal!

BBSHOPSINGER

In this case I think it really was just a plain overbooking, as it was showing full with no available seats for sale several days before the flight. I wonder if there was a group booked on the flight. Whatever the cause, it worked out well!

PBAudit

Yesterday, I was on an upgraded (award saver) STL/IAH/SFO itinerary (departing STL @ 2:45 pm). At the gate, they called me up to podium and asked if i would take the 5:55 pm STL/SFO nonstop in First for an $800 travel certificate. I thought about it for a minute, as I deliberately booked the ealier connection at 2:45 pm versus the 5:55 nonstop, to avoid spending an extended amount of time in STL (no lounge and arrived at the airport at 1 pm). I accepted, despite the fact that they no longer had First available.

At Noon, I was still on the waitlist for the STL/IAH upgrade (E175), with 1 FC seat still available. Between the time I was upgraded, and boarding, United somehow overbooked First. I asked, out of curiosity, what happened. Since it was a 175, I assumed it wasn't for a FAM. The agent wasn't able to provide any details, outside of saying that perhaps a First class seat was unbooked and needed to be rebooked. .

The ironic aspect this situation was this STL/IAH/SFO was my backup plan, in case my meetings finished early. I had a paid Southwest flight at 5:55 pm (booked a couple of week earlier, and about 50% of United's fare).

jjmoore

UA5688 DEN-BOI on 2/16 was over by 1, and they climbed up to $1000 before anyone nabbed it. They ended up taking that pax, even though there was a delay for mx. Not bad. I was, unfortunately, at the gate nextdoor on a non-oversold flight. The VDB drought for me extends now to 11 months.

jsloan

??? I would have countered with "If I can't go until 6 PM, I'd rather find my own way home. How about the $800 voucher and you clear out the itinerary and I'll write for a refund?" Best of both worlds.

Marcin83

A basic question- what are the UA routes with most overbooked flights?
I saw a lot of full IAH-LAX-IAH and IAD-YYZ. I would bet that also LAX-SFO or IAD-EWR, but not sure ...

BThumme

That is far from a basic question. There is no simple answer. Certain routes on certain days and certain times of the year are more prone then others. IAH-LAX and vv are full flights because those are two main hubs for United connecting a lot of traffic.

More likely, cities that have large events going on are more prone to overbooking as that event starts and ends is a better answer.

WineCountryUA

This is a perennial question and years ago one could run up ETCs doing this. However, today the airlines' systems are much better.
UA VDB rates are half of last year and 1/4 what they were 5 years ago. There are no guarantee VDB routes anymore.

Look at the size of this thread over the years as another indication.

plinth857

Last week, there was an overbooking situation where they needed two volunteers for CLE-->ORD. Frankly, I'm surprised that was needed, given the capacity on that city pair (lots of daily seats), but it was one of the regional jet flights on a route that is mainline for the other 80% of the flights. It was only for $150 and the one volunteer that ended up being needed was on the next flight which was only 75 minutes later. I used to hear calls for volunteers on UA out of CLE all the time back during the hub years, but even then not on a Chicago flight.

thejaredhuang

Another "close call" for me.

EWR-DEN on 2/18 after the snow storm in EWR on 2/17. Asked for volunteers at OLCI with the usual lottery. I went up to the gate and the agent said yes, $1000 and PS to LAX arriving 5 hours later (my final destination). 1/2 through BG4, I get told they don't need me and to board. They end up taking 3 standbys. I'm pretty reserved to just board and have them get me onboard at this point.

I guess hub-hub, which I usually fly, isn't very VDB friendly.

jsloan

It runs both ways. It's likely that they're willing to overbook by more seats on a hub-hub route, both because the extra seats are extremely lucrative and because they know some people will misconnect. However, the fact that some people will misconnect means that they're less likely to need the volunteers that they asked for in the first place. If UA is doing their job properly -- and evidence suggests that they are -- these two factors should basically cancel out.

PBAudit

Good point. I was on a saver award ticket so the miles would just be credited back. I flew out on Southwest the day before (connecting in LAX) and I saw all the flights to Chicago (MDW) had signficant delays. My flight back was via MDW (50 minute connection) and I 1) did not want to chance a misconnection in case there was some weather issues and 2) saw the MDW/SFO flight appeared to be full. So I decided to take the STL/SFO non stop.

While on the plane (175) before the door closed, the person sittlng next to me was asked to deplane. I got the impression she was on a standby customer (thought I saw TSA on her shirt) and that someone else would take the seat. The cabin door closed and I had 2 seats for myself. What was strange was there were 2 other open seats on the plane. The only thing I could think of is that she was removed for Weight/balance considerations.

jsloan

Right, I wouldn't have asked the gate agent to process a refund on an award ticket, which is why I phrased it the way I did. I'm sure they can do it, but I'd expect the MPSC or refunds department to have a better chance of getting the redeposit handled properly. For a cash ticket, I probably would have asked for an immediate refund, since I'd want it clear in the record that the refund request was initiated due to the VDB and before the time of departure.

I definitely see the logic in taking the UA nonstop over a 50-minute MDW connection. Somehow, I was thinking that the WN flight was also non-stop. I was mostly just thinking that I'd rather have miles in my UA account than a WN flight credit, since I try to avoid flying WN. Anyway, it sounds like it worked out very nicely indeed. ^

jjmoore

My hub-hub flights for the last year (DEN-ORD/LAX/SFO/IAH-DEN) have been oversold in many instances with volunteers solicited, but never needed anyone. That has been the norm for a while. In the more distant past, these flights were more oversold, and more frequently needed to actually bump passengers. ORD-DEN on Sunday night when they flew the B772 on that route.... was ALWAYS oversold (sometimes by as many as 15-20 people), and I made thousands of $$ in vouchers on that flight. I have bumped that flight alone around 15 times (mostly between 2011 and 2015).

The statisticians at this point are still overselling flights, but are erring on the side of leaving seats open for standbys in the wake of the PR incident last year..... I haven't seen any evidence this year that things are changing. On the regional jet markets, it is rare to see a cabin able to be overbooked in advance, I have found (I attest to this based on phone calls to agents to check inventories from time to time).