Spring Break: The Season of IDBs
 

My tale of spring break bumpage - anyone seen worse?

Booked in paid F today for an IAH-DEN ticket on the 8:50am (ish) flight.

Checked in and casually asked if they were accepting volunteers.

The agent casually responded that they were; she put me on the list, told me I was #1. And come to think of it, I was the only one.

Went to the gate and it turned out the UA was oversold by 28! :eek:

...with only one volunteer so far on the waitlist.

There were tears, there was weeping, and there was gnashing of teeth along as folks had ski passes/onward flights/personal events/etc. to get to and everyone (UA, CO, DL, and F9) was sold out.

In the end, UA IDB'd 27 people off the 735.

The offer was $400 in cash (or a check to be precise) + accommodation + next open flight to the pax's destination.

In my case, UA was kind enough to refund, in cash, my non-refundable Z fare and kick $800 my way in TCs. (I had a second ticket on CO to fall back on the next day should the bump option be too good to pass up)

even Wednesday?
 

Just bought a paid F for ORD-SEA next Wednesday evening (coach was sold out)

I thought flying mid-week would help....guess not

Did they get you there somehow, or did you just not go?

I'm waiting at the SFO RCC, my flight is delayed (crew) and the 320 is oversold by 22! :eek:

I cant believe UA would oversell a 737 or A320 by 28 or 20 people.

Do they actually think they will have 28 no shows over spring break???

I understand you need to oversell to make money but by 28 on a 737, that is a little much.

The IAH-DEN flight in question was scheduled to be a 733, not a 735 ... so that's at least a dozen fewer seats.

My flight to OGG in April has been zero'd out since later last month :eek: It a 767...I wonder how many they have oversold...

Hmmm, possibilities :D

Pardon my ignorance, but when is spring break?? I have 3 flights this coming week, and none in such a hurry that I can't VDB...;)

Some folks began spring break this past Friday. I saw hordes of students all together at ORD Friday afternoon. I think the majority will begin next Friday (3/21).

The 21st is a holiday so the 20th should be busy as well.

Most of the high school kids here in LA/OC have the first week of April as spring break.

College kids have this or next week off.

Wow, congrats J. Edward! I'd also be curious to hear whether or not you just didn't fly or what happened.

Given the way most of the big CO ski resorts price lift tickets, I'd say that the final three weeks of March must be spring break for somebody, somewhere! A lot of the discounts/passes/promotions dry up during this time, as the resorts prefer to hit the college students and families hard.

Interestingly, that's also how UA prices flights into DEN during this time! Just try finding a good deal from New England to Denver in March! (Even 2-3 months ago!)

In the Chicago area, Spring Break is traditionally the last week of March. This year because Easter is so early, Spring Break begins on the Friday before the last week of March since it's Good Friday and there's no school that day regardless of its timeliness with Spring Break.

Many primary and secondary schools schedule Spring Break around Easter. However, colleges stagger theirs from mid-February through April; theirs appear to peak this week, with about two million collegians out on break.