KatPen

One of the problems with being offered compensation, is that you usually need to wait til the last minute to board. Then they figure out exactly how many people they need to bump off. I was offered $400 each for myself and 3 children...I agreed along with several others. But afte waiting til about 15 minutes before boarding, we were told there was space and could board. Some of the people were furious as they had already spent the expected $400 at the airport shops!!!

sandys

Dave.
How can you be "sure" how many seats are remaining on a flight? Do you know someone at the airline or would the airline agent give you that information?
Recently we booked very late for a tour that included airfare on United. When we checked online on Orbitz to see the remaining seats on the logical flights for our tour, the seating plan showed very few seats still available - only a handfull of seats, and none next to each other. I was very surprised when we were confirmed in aisle and adjacent seats, that had shown up as booked on Orbitz.

P_M

Compensation is negotiable, depending on how badly they need volunteers.

A few years ago I was returning from Montreal to Austin via DFW. When I arrived at the gate for my DFW/Austin flight, they immediately offered me a $200 credit voucher to take a later flight (leaving in 2 hours). I told them I would think about it. I sat down and overheard several people getting angry, since they might be bumped. These people were breathing down the necks of the gate agents, so the agents were eager to get volunteers.

A few minutes later they called me to the desk and said I would get an upgrade to First Class if I take the later flight to Austin. I told them it's only a 45 minute flight so that's not much of an incentive. They called me again and offered a $300 credit voucher and a free lunch anywhere at the DFW airport. I jumped at this offer and this only cost me 2 extra hours of my time.

fishee

People pay for a subscription to a website service called expertflyer -- it shows you real-time seat inventory.

Seating charts on airline websites, expedia, orbitz, etc are not accurate representations of actual seat inventory -- seats get "blocked" off all the time to give gate agents flexibility.

It's true that with these tools you can enhance your chances for a bump but all it takes is one delayed flight for many seats to suddenly open up. There are many variables that we can't control -- don't count on a bump but you can be prepared, like not checking luggage.

amyb

A lot of the talk here is about being offered the chance to be bumped. I got involuntarily bumped on Saturday on Iberia. I was coming home from 10 days in Spain and was quite ill. I had confirmed the flight and gotten seat assignments that morning. I checked in 3 3/4 hours before flight and was told I was on standby. After nearly 3 hours of waiting, because I was first on the list, I was sent to the gate on the off chance that someone got lost between check-in and the gate. No beans. I had overheard the other 14 passengers who had been similarily bumped were offered 600 euro (nearly $800) and were booked the next day on the same flight. That flight was full so I got rerouted that night to London, where I slept in a Heathrow hotel and came home on American the next day. I had to ask for the 600 euro, but they gave it up pretty easily.

I'd like to know how I was picked for involuntary standby and how it's cost-effective to shell out $800 to 15 of us on a regular basis. I don't think I'd have minded if it wasn't so sick (intestinal parasite, by the way) but if it was the start of my vacation I might be peeved had they similarly bumped me and temporarily lost my luggage and I lost a precious day at my destination.