Does anyone have the Canadian equivalent to the information reached at the
LINK down below?
"Ad absurdum per aspera" wrote in message
news:ecd7bae8-d406-4c91-ab86-b765a0a2d847@s9g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> 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
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