FlyngSvyr

UA 6047 MSP-IAD yesterday. Got the CPU around T-8. At the gate they announced 2 INOP FC seats (flight was full) and the initial offer was $1000 for 2 FC pax to VDB. I was first to the podium and one right behind me.

Got put on DL in FC to arrive 2.5 hours later. The DL flight was also over by 1 and I was the only volunteer. It looked promising but one pax misconnected, so no $500 gift card for me Oh well, I think I did OK.

That is 3 VDB's on UA so far this year for a total of $2300 ($1000, $800, 500). Hoping for a few more to fund my 2020 1st Qtr. TPAC MR

BThumme

Did they put you in first on DL?

FriendlySkies

Appears so

excinit

This is from a few months ago (late May).

I had a flight BUR-SJC as basically a free add-on to a SJC-NRT r/t (on NH) with a long layover 20 hour in SJC, which is fine since I live in the Bay Area. Was going to go home, sleep, come back to catch the flight the next day. The only negative was that I had to fly via DEN because UA doesn't do BUR-SJC, but booked it as it was cheaper and all the other flights were non-sopts.

At the gate, they asked for volunteers. I was second there, and got offered $700 credit AND put on a direct AS flight to SJC! So ended up arriving in SJC 3 hours earlier, on a better airline, and got $700.

JAXFLY

azfanboy

I am a 1K and booked on the EWR - DFW at 6:59AM tomorrow. I am travelling with 5 companions tomorrow, all on different PNR's. All have Econ + seating.

Due to the storms we have been having over the last couple of days at EWR there have been quite a few cancellations etc. While checking all of them we got the VDB screen and asking for bid amounts to give up the flight for a later flight to DFW. I would love to give up this flight in exchange for vouchers to get to DFW later.

I was going to show up early and let the gate agent know we are still willing and able to give up our seats. Is there anything different the FT brain trust would advise in this situation?

scracer14

I had this happen on IRROPS multiple times this year. What I found when getting to the gate is numerous seats had been "held" and not released the night before, so several standby ended up clearing (despite the flight initially being oversold).

They would page half a dozen people who had either been booked on another flight or otherwise accomodated but still showed they had seats on the morning flight.

You may get lucky though!

jsloan

The only thing I'd add is that if you're willing to be split up, you should say so, as the chance that they'll need five seats is very small.

That said: I wouldn't get my hopes up. In general, UA won't oversell flights due to WX cancellations -- at least, not by any more than usual. There will just be a bunch of people who get routed through other cities, or who end up on the standby list for a couple of days, or whatever. UA's not eager to give out vouchers in order to get the cancellation victims out earlier.

Often1

The flight may be overbooked, but it can't be oversold until more people show up on time with confirmed seats than there are seats on the aircraft. That is the rub. Massive weather-related IRROPS may well mean that there is a backlog of passengers bound for DFW, but it also means that many passengers connecting onwards to DFW won't make it to EWR. Thus, the situation identified above becomes reality. E.g., the flight is overbooked and actually winds up going out with empty seats or accommodating standbys.

Strategically, there is not more to be done than showing up a bit early (if you show up at T-35 to board at T-30, show up at T-50) and being flexible. Don't expect all five passengers to make the next flight and be prepared for that next flight to be 2-3 flights later.

iluv2fly

Remember this rule:
If you are planning on a VDB, the flight looks oversold for a VDB or it looks like no seats are available, then it probably won't happen.
If you get to the airport thinking they won't need a VDB, then it possibly could happen.

Collierkr

If your objective is to do this so you can get some compensation, then that is not likely to happen... certainly not for the whole party.
If you want to try and get to your destination sooner or at a different itme then just simply ask for a complimentary change to help UA deal with their potential oversold. I have done this before, even avoiding connections to go direct, and it is a win win. BUT I don't ask for anything more.

1KChinito

When your schedule is flexible, VDB is not needed.
When your schedule is inflexible, VDB is needed.

TylerYYC

miasmal

Should have 'reminded' them of $2k bid ... who knows, they might have taken it. Otherwise, "oh, your screen shows we bid $800 ... ok we'll take that."

jjmoore

Don't forget to double-dip and get credit for the AS flights, as well as the ORC for the UA flights.