Passed it up twice, both times because I *had* to be on the other end
for business reasons before the next available flight. One of those
times, Delta had overbooked by five passengers CVG-CDG and by the
time I boarded, they still needed a couple of volunteers, even though
the ante was up to $1k, hotel room, and free seat on the next
available flight.
The other time, Southwest had to raise to a free RT voucher, a s fre
hundred cash, free seat on the next plane out, and hotel room in order
to escape their predicament.
I would have taken their offer on one or two other occasions but
wasn't quick enough when they made the announcement.
I haven't encountered an overbooking/bumping situation on Southwest
in the last few years, just standby people failing to get onto a
particular flight. *Did* once see a young couple flying standby who
really, really had to get somewhere for some family matter, whereupon
some people who overheard this offered to give up their seats. I seem
to recall that the gate agent rewarded this gesture of samaritanism in
some small nice way even though she didn't have to.
I've never seen or heard of a reason not to take the airline's offer
at face value or doubt that they'll deliver. Just make sure of two
things:
(1) That they *confirm* you on a subsequent a flight that serves your
purposes, right then and there. Standby is a crapshoot.
and
(2) That the consequences at your destination, such as change fees for
rental car or hotel, nonrefundable tour tickets, don't bite too
hard. I've read that some business-type hotels have gotten really
snaky about changes made in your reservation without the amount of
advance notice called for in the fine print, for instance. (If such
businesses balk at what you need to do, or threaten to bill you for
it, push back nicely but resolutely, of course.)
Here are the regs for what they *have* to do:
http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/publications/flyrights.htm#overbooking
Other than that, it's a simple negotiation to see what the market will
bear, as new as "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (well, thousandaire
anyway) and as old as the village marketplace...
Cheers,
--Joe |