jjmoore

Or better yet, reneg on the offer at the last second and demand to board the flight forcing that lousy agent to have to board the plane to beg for someone else at a much higher price. Then raise your hand, and tell him/her "that's more like it".

jsloan

I actually saw someone do that once (although they didn't get all the way onto the plane before agreeing to volunteer after all), and while it worked in my favor -- I also got the higher amount, because we had both volunteered -- it was definitely bush league.

Then again, so is the conduct that sexykitten7 reported, so I don't think I'd blame somebody for doing it in that situation.

scracer14

I almost did this last night in MCO. Needed one volunteer, and I had bid $800 in the app, so I approached the podium. GA took down my info and I waited to board, about halfway through boarding, she protected me on a later flight but said we would have to wait until the end.

Once everyone boarded, she said she needed my seat, and would print the voucher shortly. I said "for $800 right" and she laughed and said, "no, $500, we don't use bid numbers." I replied, "Okay, I'll stick with this flight then."

She called a supervisor over who told her to go to #2 on the list (although was fairly certain I was the only one who had been waiting to board), so she paged another PAX. I hadn't boarded yet so I thought about it, and then took the $500. When the other PAX got to the podium, the GA said, "sorry, there's no room for standby on this flight" - It was 100% a bluff, and she got me!

I was happy with the $500 ultimately, and I cant be mad at the bluff, because I was doing the same. Won't get me a second time though!

1KChinito

It all depends on how badly do you want to volunteer. If it were me, I would have insisted on my $800 because that was the dollar amount I bid for. If she did have a 2nd volunteer for $500, she would have:
1. By-passed you
2. As a courtesy, asking you if you would accept $500 because another passenger bid that amount

sexykitten7

OMG! In my situation, there were 4 people on the list. I was number 3. I was traveling LAX-BWI but managed to get them to rebook me onto LAX-ORD-DCA since I was headed to Falls Church, VA. The LAX-ORD flight left at around the same time as mine so they bumped me before boarding was complete (in fact, I don't think it had begun). So it was well worth the money to get in to a closer airport.

RobOnLI

I'm fairly certain you were not bluffed at all. Anyone who checked in via the app (or even kiosk) and saw the offer to volunteer and did so would be on that list. There was almost definitely someone after you on the list. Now whether they were already boarded on the flight or not is a totally separate issue but whatever name the GA paged on the PA system was not made up (IMO). You could have held out for the $800 or had the GA go on board and find another volunteer for $500. Keep in mind you would have been stuck in whatever seat the person who ultimately took the bump vacated.

-RM

united 1k flyer

united 1k flyer

Often1

Is this flight later today or 350 days from now?

Bottom line is that predicting overbooking which might lead to oversale and thus the possibility of a VDB is not worthwhile more than a few hours out. Even then.

The chances that UA will VDB a J passenger so that it can OPUP a passenger from a lower cabin into the J seat are close to zero. They are, of course, there if the J cabin becomes oversold or there is a "must fly."

PsiFighter37

Did you get asked for a chance to volunteer when checking in? If not, I would think the chance is low/nil.

united 1k flyer

TerryK

Math seems to be off by 1. Other than that, chances are flight will go out with many opups but few empty seats. Actually, it will likely go out full after nonrevs.

united 1k flyer

BThumme

Probably not. Wednesday is also a quieter day to fly. But you never know.

jjmoore

Not to mention that NRT is ANA's hub, and there are likely to be many missed connections onto the NRT-SFO United flight... it's pretty rare to see these long-haul int'l flights oversold. There is the occasional oversale in J as UA likes to overbook by 1 and everyone shows up in some instances.... It has been years since I've ever seen personally a long-haul int'l flight oversold and taking volunteers. I have to go all the way back to 2009 for my last VDB voucher of this sort.