CaptainEasychord

I have a question about the compensation UA offers for voluntary bumps...

I got one a couple of months ago on UA for a free flight voucher, which, of course, did not earn any miles upon use. I was curious if vouchers for specific dollar amounts (say $200) meant that the flight for which it was used would not earn any miles. Would it make sense if offered a free flight voucher to request a dollar amount instead of a "free flight" for that reason? And would they even entertain that request?

Also, I've read that it's possible, if bumped voluntarily, to request an upgrade on the subsequent flight. When I took a voluntary bump, I was pretty particular about what hotel I was put up in (flight from IAD, and I would only do it for a downtown DC hotel, rather than the Dulles-wasteland area). It occurred to me to ask for an upgrade, but I didn't want to press my luck. I'm curious what the odds would have been, and if there is any irritation factor with the agents if you are too demanding.

Thanks.

---

Ich heisse Superfantastisch!

awness

Welcome to FT!

If you get dollar vouchers as bump compensation, the flights you use them on *will* earn miles. I think the free flight vouchers are only for flights within North America (is that right?). So I think if you are on an international itinerary you could legitimately request travel credits instead of the free-flight vouchers, as you wouldn't necessarily be able to use them easily. I wouldn't see any harm in asking for travel credits anyway but I'm not sure how accommodating UA would be...

In my experience, they are usually quite receptive to upgrade requests after voluntary offload - particularly if you have status. Again, there's no harm in asking. On a recent SFO-LHR bump, I was offered $200 at check-in, for redirecting via CDG with an upgrade to business. I thought this was a fairly low $ amount to offer as $800 - $1000 credits have recently been posted on bumptracker bumptrackerfor west-coast/Europe bumps. But when asked, the agent said they wouldn't go any higher when they were also giving the upgrade. On the other hand, in the past I've been bumped JFK-LHR with an upgrade and $600.

I think what it boils down to is that they'll be as generous and accommodating as you like if they really need you. If there are lots of other volunteers and/or they're not overbooked by much, they don't need to give so much. I'd negotiate for the important points first and then ask about anything else as I wouldn't think they'd renege on previously agreed terms.

Swiss Tony

The agents must have a pretty good idea of how pax on a specific flight are going to respond to a request for bumps. If they're confident they can get more than enough volunteers at the basic level - say $200 for a 2hr delay, then they're not going to start meeting your every need.

awness just out of interest how late were you in getting to LHR? If it was 2-3hrs, I think you got a pretty fair deal.

However, I was on a UA flight out of YYC that was so busy they were looking at transferring us to another carrier for our flight back across the Atlantic, but then they managed to snag us a couple of seats in F on UA (ug'd from C). Whilst the agents wouldn't necessarily go back on an earlier offer, if you start trying to impose extra conditions on them after they've made what they think is the final offer, I think you're pushing it.

EmoryFlyer

Always ask for $-off certs!!! The free ticket they give away is almost worthless as it won't earn miles/segments, isn't upgradeable, and is heavily restricted. ANY UA station has the capability to give you a $-OFF cert instead of the free ticket if you ask (not all the employees are aware of this however).

On a recent bump out of LAS (Sundays out of LAS are heaven for people looking to bump), I was put on a TED flight to DEN leaving an hour later and given $250 in bump vouchers (I was expecting only $200). Yes I had to ask specifically for the $-OFF vouchers and yes, they had to call a manager to help with that request, but it worked.

Also of note, all $-OFF vouchers have no residual value after they are applied to a ticket. So UA gave me four $62.50 vouchers which means I can break them up and use them for more than one ticket which I thought was quite smart.

Justin Does...

Is there something you can say to the agent to help them along? I have been asking agents for $-off instead of free tix but they say they can't do that. Any advice on what I can say to help remind them how to do this? Thanks.

FlyinHawaiian

This thread pretty much sums up UA's policy for domestic voluntary bumps - it includes how to exchange VDB free tickets into travel vouchers ...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ferrerid=19831

denis in denver

I and my companion took a voluntary bump last week out of CDG. We had been scheduled on 943 to ORD and then DEN. We had been in E+ (I had wanted to buy up to an H fare to upgrade the trip, but no upgrade seats had been available so stayed in E+) and they upgraded us to C (C+ on the 777) on a flight to IAD an hour and a half later, then F class on the A320 IAD to DEN. We also received $400 worth of $50 off certs each.

We arrived in DEN within 15 minutes of our originally scheduled arrival time.

all in all, a swell time.

I don't think they had originally planned on the F class upgrade for the IAD - DEN leg. the agent printed out E+ tickets. I looked at them and said, "gee, I thought this was supposed to be F?" He looked at them and said, "oh". Went back to his computer and came up with two in first class.

goonbutt

Are the transatlantic flights still pretty full? I'm doing ORD-FRA at the end of April and I'm hoping to do a VDB from the 6:20 to the 10:00 flight with maybe an upgrade attached. I can't count on it obviously, but what would be my chances?

CaptainEasychord

For what it's worth, I just did IAD-FRA a couple of weeks ago (and FRA-DEN on LH a few days later). Both were very full but not oversold.

Also, thanks to all for the answers to my original post. I'm hoping for some VDB action this weekend when flying back from EWR, so hopefully that information will come in handy.

awness

The route via CDG gave a 6-7 hour delay on the original itinerary. Everyone seemed to have trouble flying into LHR that day as the BA flight they put us on CDG-LHR was also full. Agents at CDG told us flights were busy all day... Presumably they would usually have put us on a BMI flight and not BA if available!?

All-in-all I was quite happy with the upgrade & $200. Particularly since we were given an operational upgrade on the way over "for flying so many miles" with UA. ^