Are voluntary "bumps" really that common?
 

The Air Travel Consumer Report shows low numbers for voluntary bumps.

January - September 26 2006, voluntary bumps:

JetBlue: 63 (0.07 per 10,000 passengers)
Hawaiian Airlines: 1,876 (0.09 per 10,000 passengers)
American Airlines: 59,555 (0.83 per 10,000 passengers)

According to these figures, bumping seems extremely rare. Is bumping as popular a trend as some lead us to believe?

Source: http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/repor...r/0612atcr.pdf page 33

voluntary - yes, I'd believe it. I travel almost every week for work and am more often than not on flights where they ask for volunteers, especially if I'm on Delta for some reason.

I haven't flown where this was an option in a long time for various reasons (at least not voluntary ones). What are they offering these days as an incentive?

I too will say, about 15 to 5 years ago, it was rare that I'd be on a flight where they weren't asking for volunteers. But I don't recall hearing the request on a single flight in the last couple of years. Something seems to have changed.

I agree with Patrick for the most part, especially with regard to international flights. I haven't been on a single domestic flight this year (and I've been on 6, which is more than usual) where they didn't ask for volunteers.

But boy! Back in the day I got a LOT of extra nights in Paris!

We were returning from Barcelona last month (family of 5) and Delta asked us all to be volunteers. By the time we were to board, Delta only needed 2 additional so our 2 older children were "bumped", provided transportation to a hotel and given flights home to the US the following day. They unfortunately were told that the $1000 Delta dollars would be mailed to them. I am working with Delta right now to check into the compensation as no information is showing in the computer here in the US except that my children weren't on the flight. There were a total of 4 volunteers on the flight.

Not often enough.

Airlines are actually pretty good at predicting load these days, so they may ask for volunteers at the gate often, but it's not that common when they <b>actually</b> have to use them.

BTW, network carriers that operate hubs will be totally stupid to NOT overbook a flight. But Jetblue, Hawaiian, and some others that are mostly point-to-point are different.

For hub carriers, there will often (if not always) be misconnects. They need to overbook to compensate for those passengers.

From my understanding, if you voluntarily bump yourself from a flight, it's up to the airline exactly what you end up with.

For example:
If your departure is delayed an hour, you might get a $100 flight voucher

If 2 or more hours late, you may get a $400 voucher or a free flight

If the only flight available is the next day, they will most assuredly provide you with room and board for the night.

You can also ask for free upgrades for your flight (from coach to first class, for instance).

Probably not advisable to go out and book plane tickets JUST so you can get a chance at being bumped. There's alot of rewards, but it sounds like a risky game. Wouldn't it be cool to be bumped day after day and stay in your destination just ONE MORE DAY? (for several days!) ((y))

We had a total of 5 flights on our spring break trip to Barcelona and before two of them they asked for 4 vounteers to be bumped.

My husband's brother is a school teacher with a stay at home wife and three kids. He gets a lot of time off, but doesn't make a lot of money. They intentionally schedule their flights at the busiest times to increase the possibility that they will be bumped. Last week on the way to Florida, BIL and the daughter let themselves be bumped twice. He said that pretty much pays for next year's flights.

For flights from/in Europe it is often cheaper for the airline to get volunteers than have to bump people, due to the EU rules about overbooking and cancellations. Though I admit that getting your rightful compensation under the EU rules is like getting blood from a stone.

We received $400 each when we volunteered to be bumped coming back from Vegas a few weeks ago.

I usually hear $250 as the Delta offer, and then it goes up and up as they get more and more desperate.

Just wanted to update my post from yesterday. Delta called and e-mailed today that they would be mailing our two $1000 Delta voucher for being volunteers on the Barcelona - NY- Orlando flight. My kids, ages 21 and 18, were pleased to be able to help fund next year's vacation as well as have an extra day in Barcelona!

Wow! Two $1,000 vouchers? I should be so lucky this summer when I travel with my daughter. I have 5 days to play with if necessary before I have to be back for school on our trip this summer... :-)

Kellye: We were first in line so since the flight was overbooked, they offered the &quot;Volunteer bump&quot; to us first. We were at the airport 4 hours before the flight because our niece/nephew needed a ride there for an earlier flight! Worked out great for us!

This seems to be a purely American phenomenon. When we had a holiday in Florida and the Bahamas a few years ago we used several American Airlines flights and every one of them was overbooked (and late). It's the only time I've ever encountered it in 35 years of flying. Perhaps they employ people who can't count (and can't tell the time).

I have read several times by travel consumer reporters that it is best to get cash from the airline versus vouchers even if the value of the voucher is more. The reasoning is that vouchers are hard to use..rather like trying to use FF miles wherein cash can be put toward the next airfare of course. I have never been bumped voluntarily or nonvoluntarily so from a personal experience I really don't know. Just something I have tucked into my head to remember.

Nice, bella!

We took a voluntary bump on USAir last September. Our destination was SFO, but the alternate flight got us to OAK - and closer to our hotel via BART - before the first flight landed. They gave us each a voucher for a domestic round-trip. With the vouchers we <u>couldn't</u>:

book reservations on line - had to use a phone agent and <i>pick up the tickets at the airport</i> (a 60-mile round trip)

e-ticket - had to stand in line both outbound and back

select seats - outbound we had center seats in two adjacent rows, and back we got assigned the last row, even though both planes were practically empty when we booked

But we got from home to our $288 flight to Germany in Newark for free - probably saved us $600 each. Just don't expect the treatment afforded paying passengers.

We took a voluntary bump on Delta coming back from Boston in 2005. $250 was the eventual offer. Used the tickets last year to fly to Las Vegas. No such luck this year though.

A teacher friend of mine was voluntarily bumped on 3 flights on the way home from spring break last year on US domestic flights.

This weekend on her return flight from spring break she again was voluntarily bumped (from a free flight she earned from last year's bumps).

She always makes her flights late on Saturday night during peak holiday weekends so she can get bumped but still make it home to work on Monday.

Another teacher I work with said that the airline she flew dangled 2 and then 3 free flights for anyone willing to get off of the plane on Sunday (Easter) evening.

Maybe it's just me, but I can't recall the last time I heard the call for a Voluntary Bump. (Yes, I can Thanksgiving 2005!)

I used to get them ALL the time on American out of Nashville, but now that I fly out of either Atlanta or Birmingham I haven't gotten any &quot;freebies&quot;

Now that I think about it, the last calls I heard for voluntary bumps were when I was working and always HAD to be back to work the next morning or on my way to an important meeting. Now that I'm retired and could easily delay any flight, I never hear the requests for volunteers.

Thanks for the tip on being first in line, bella33! We are leaving from Amsterdam because that is where I got the most favorable terms. However, we will be ending our trip in London and flying over on VLM that morning from a ticket I bought on SkyEurope. It has us arriving 4 hours before our flight to the states since I wanted to be safe and be sure we would be on time for that flight. Maybe we'll get lucky and be asked to stay for some compensation. Overnight would be great since we won't have seen any of Amsterdam except the airport... :-)

We volunteered coming home from Florida in December and got free tickets. We only had to wait an hour and a half for the next flight and when we got to our home airport, our bags (which had been on the earlier flight) were ready and waiting for us. It was a great deal for us! I often hear them asking for volunteers, if necessary, but then the if necessary never happens.

For those wondering why the airlines do it, it's pretty simple. Because it makes financial sense.

There are two main reason why an airline overbook. First is that because not all passengers show up for their flights for whatever reasons - including missed connections at hub airports. If airlines do not overbook, you'll find empty seats on many flights when the airline can fill them. But when most people show up, they need to look for volunteers.

Second reason is pure financial. Airlines sell tickets at all different prices. In order to fill the planes, they may offer relatively cheap discount fares at various time points. But at the last minute, they only sell full fare. And they will sell them even if the flight was already totally booked. Because even if they have to bump someone off a flight with a voucher or other benefits, they can still make more money because of the last-minute full fare ticket they sell.

With flights this full (most airlines record load factor over 80%, except Southwest), you'll see more bumping. Which is often good for everybody.

The DH just got bumped involuntarily off a flight from Kona, HI to SFO. It was last flight of the day to the west coast. He ended up having to fly BACK to Honolulu, then take a red eye to SFO, arriving Easter morning. They gave him a $600 voucher (I hounded him a bit over the phone about arguing for first class upgrade but he was too exhausted to do anything but hop the plane).

For involuntary bumps you have the right to ask for cash compensation instead of a voucher, another reason airlines don't like to involuntarily bump.

On my DL flight out of SLC 3 days ago, the aircraft went mechanical. Our substitute aircraft had 20 less seats for a sold out flight. They were able to get 10 volunteers and had to IDB 10 others.