Voluntary Denied Boarding - VDB/Bump Experiences on UA [2019]
Apr 19, 2019, 5:08 pm
#136
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 2
Got $2k this morning for EWR-FLL
I was in J for the 10.15 flight to FLL. Got to the gate and they were offering $2k to go at 8.30 pm. I said if you can get me on the 11 AM to PBI you have a deal. Had to take a downgrade toY but got an emergency exit row(21). My luggage went to FLL and was still on carousel when my uber got me there(paid by United as well). I was on the J strictly because I would get 54k miles for a mile challenge. They said they would still honor it and give me a refund for the difference between J and Y. But why should I have to have been a Y as that will limit my refund. Any thoughts in getting the amount of refund increased?
Apr 19, 2019, 9:41 pm
#137
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,395
I was in J for the 10.15 flight to FLL. Got to the gate and they were offering $2k to go at 8.30 pm. I said if you can get me on the 11 AM to PBI you have a deal. Had to take a downgrade toY but got an emergency exit row(21). My luggage went to FLL and was still on carousel when my uber got me there(paid by United as well). I was on the J strictly because I would get 54k miles for a mile challenge. They said they would still honor it and give me a refund for the difference between J and Y. But why should I have to have been a Y as that will limit my refund. Any thoughts in getting the amount of refund increased?
First of all, the gate agents will have nothing to do with promotional mile earnings. I would take anything they tell you with a huge grain of salt.
In general, you can get a refund, and credit for the class of service that you actually flew, or Original Routing Credit (ORC), but not both. What are the conditions of the promo? It's likely that if it posts properly, they won't go claw it back after an adjustment, but they could if the refunded booking doesn't meet the promo. If the promo requires travel in the premium cabin, you'll probably need to call or write for ORC in order to trigger the promo in the first place.
UA tends to provide refunds against the cost of a Y fare as a general policy. If you can show that a different delta existed on the date that you booked the flight, you may be able to get them to honor that. That said: $2K plus the cost of the Über was probably quite a bit more than the fare anyway... it may not be worth trying to argue the rest of it, especially if it means missing out on your promo.
Apr 23, 2019, 7:05 pm
#138
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: IAD
Programs: United, AA, Hilton
Posts: 340
IAD-ROC 1230pm flight, bumped to 10pm on American Airlines DCA-ROC, they paid for me to get to DCA and $1000 United Voucher.
Last edited by soccerguy985; Jun 11, 2019 at 9:19 pm Reason: I'm an idiot
Apr 23, 2019, 7:30 pm
#139
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 403
4/8 ORD - BZN, My son and I and 3 other volunteers all received $2,000 each, with 10 hour delay but no forced overnight.
Apr 24, 2019, 11:54 am
#141
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Denver, CO
Programs: UA Silver, Bonvoy Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 21,544
April 14
UA4717 STL-DEN
* At ticket counter, kiosk was asking for volunteers, $800 and flight the next day
* At the gate, the GA said that I would most likely be needed
* During boarding, a family had some issues at the scanner, and new BPs were issued to them
* At final boarding, GA said that one person is going to miss their flight, so I should board
* She also noted that she had to cancel my seating assignment (9A), and to go sit in 19C (no new boarding pass issued to me), turns out the wife in point #3 got my 9A; I sat next to her husband
* GA also said to speak to someone in DEN about receiving compensation since I got a worse seat
* DEN customer service counters were packed with people due to weather issues at ORD and EWR; I skip the lines and went home, and I sent an e-mail the following morning
* Received e-mail today saying 3750 miles will be added to my account
Better than nothing, I suppose.
UA4717 STL-DEN
* At ticket counter, kiosk was asking for volunteers, $800 and flight the next day
* At the gate, the GA said that I would most likely be needed
* During boarding, a family had some issues at the scanner, and new BPs were issued to them
* At final boarding, GA said that one person is going to miss their flight, so I should board
* She also noted that she had to cancel my seating assignment (9A), and to go sit in 19C (no new boarding pass issued to me), turns out the wife in point #3 got my 9A; I sat next to her husband
* GA also said to speak to someone in DEN about receiving compensation since I got a worse seat
* DEN customer service counters were packed with people due to weather issues at ORD and EWR; I skip the lines and went home, and I sent an e-mail the following morning
* Received e-mail today saying 3750 miles will be added to my account
Better than nothing, I suppose.
Apr 24, 2019, 12:02 pm
#142
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 2,531
* At final boarding, GA said that one person is going to miss their flight, so I should board
* She also noted that she had to cancel my seating assignment (9A), and to go sit in 19C (no new boarding pass issued to me), turns out the wife in point #3 got my 9A; I sat next to her husband
* She also noted that she had to cancel my seating assignment (9A), and to go sit in 19C (no new boarding pass issued to me), turns out the wife in point #3 got my 9A; I sat next to her husband
Apr 24, 2019, 12:24 pm
#143
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Denver, CO
Programs: UA Silver, Bonvoy Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 21,544
I really didn't think about it until after takeoff. I figured if hubby really wanted wifey to sit next to him, he would've asked as I was about to sit down. Instead, he slept a bit and read a magazine. I watched a downloaded movie on my phone. It was an ERJ-145, so it wasn't like I was giving up an E+ seat.
Last edited by pseudoswede; Apr 24, 2019 at 12:33 pm
May 1, 2019, 9:19 am
#145
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: YYZ
Programs: UA 1K; AC 50K; Marriott Titanium
Posts: 66
I see most people accepting VDB are doing it with a voucher compensation.
Anybody know the award mile conversion they use to rank lowest bids from the app? Where would 20,000 point rank?
Edit: I did bid for 40,000 points (range offered was about 14k) for a 3 hour delay PHX-ORD-YYZ. I really don't want to do it but I'll happily take 40k points if it comes to that.
Anybody know the award mile conversion they use to rank lowest bids from the app? Where would 20,000 point rank?
Edit: I did bid for 40,000 points (range offered was about 14k) for a 3 hour delay PHX-ORD-YYZ. I really don't want to do it but I'll happily take 40k points if it comes to that.
Last edited by kiloohm; May 1, 2019 at 9:31 am
May 1, 2019, 12:34 pm
#146
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: YYZ
Programs: UA 1K; AC 50K; Marriott Titanium
Posts: 66
May 1, 2019, 6:25 pm
#147
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: UA MP
Posts: 1,659
SFO-ORD on April 23rd (2 PM departure) was oversold and they were offering $500 for the 5PM flight and $800 for the 6PM flight.
Had just come in from Korea and didn't want to spend an extra few hours for $800 so didn't bother.
Had just come in from Korea and didn't want to spend an extra few hours for $800 so didn't bother.
May 2, 2019, 12:04 pm
#148
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: CLE
Programs: UA, AA Plat Pro, DL, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 477
CLE-MCO 3/23. They needed 1 volunteer, I was called to the podium and offered $2000 travel voucher. Spring break plane full of families with small children going to Disney, and none of them were jumping at the initial $1000 offer. Had to decline since I needed to be at work that afternoon...
May 31, 2019, 3:24 am
#149
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: LBB
Programs: UA 1K 1MM ★G | Marriott LTT | Hilton ♦ | Hertz PC | Global Entry TSA Pre ✓
Posts: 2,820
Another $10,000 Voucher
Parents just boarded UA181 FRA-DEN and J is over by 1. Offer was immediately $10,000 ETC. Wish I was there to jump on that one.
May 31, 2019, 6:40 am
#150
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: ORD | LGA | 2E
Programs: UA GS 1.6MM UC | AA CK 0.7MM AC | Bonvoy Ambassador | Hyatt Globalist | Hertz PC
Posts: 1,053
Was at DCA yesterday and, while not my flight, the DCA > EWR flight at the next gate had a down-gauge and the GA made the announcement that they needed volunteers from both F and Y to deal with the overbooking. She mentioned "around $500 per person in Y". I was boarding so didn't see if that escalated. She didn't articulate how many volunteers they needed but even if it looked like at E175 so maybe that was supposed to be an A319?