Giving up your seat for money

"tim....." wrote in message
...

"Sharx35" wrote in message
news:OxqZk.2232$si6.1918@edtnps83...


wrote in message
...
On Dec 1, 8:11 pm, chithanh119
wrote:
You are standing in the checking in queue and someone from the airline
calls out that they need 2/3/4 or whatever number of people to give up
their seats. They offer those people a hotel for the night and X amount
of money.

I was wondering if anyone has ever accepted this and what did they
received for the inconvenience? I've never had the opportunity to
accept such an offer, mainly due to time restrictions, but I'm well up
for a deal like that on my forthcoming trip


$250 for giving up a seat on COEx about 15 years ago. Was put on a
UAEx flight that left about 45 minutes later.

$250 for giving up a seat on America Worst. Was then put on a
Southwest flight that left a few hours later. As the airlines did not
an interline agreement the people being bumped were given a check to
pay for their airfare on Southwest. By the way I only paid $139 for
the flight with taxes and fees.

Twice on SkyWest, once for UAEx and once for DLcont I almost got $500
for giving up my seat on flight that was overweight. On the first
flight there were a number misconnects, so they did not need anyone.
On the second flight they once needed two volunteers and so they used
a mother/daughter combo. I however did get 500 or 1000 FF miles on DL
from the nice gate agent.

Also several other times I had the opportunity to give up my seat on
commuter flights with Skywest that were overweight, but for one reason
or another I did not.

i will consider this if I am going home, as figure this just extends
my vacation. Also I would rather miss a day or two of work than a day
or two of my vacation.

M. Graham

It's also a good excuse: even the grouchiest of bosses has to understand
that if one gets bumped they obviously can't be back to work in time. No
need for boss to know that one VOLUNTEERED to be bumped!!

I thought that the US rule was they you always have to volunteer. They
keep on upping the ante until they get enough people

tim

Could be, Tim. I've only flown from Canadian airports and have never been
involved in bumping.

In message "tim....."
was claimed to have wrote:

I thought that the US rule was they you always have to volunteer. They keep
on upping the ante until they get enough people

Google for "involuntary bump" -- It does happen and there is legally
requires compensation.

"chithanh119" skrev i meddelandet
...

You are standing in the checking in queue and someone from the airline
calls out that they need 2/3/4 or whatever number of people to give up
their seats. They offer those people a hotel for the night and X amount
of money.

I was wondering if anyone has ever accepted this and what did they
received for the inconvenience? I've never had the opportunity to
accept such an offer, mainly due to time restrictions, but I'm well up
for a deal like that on my forthcoming trip

Not exactly for money but I was offered a seat in the cockpit (MD80 and
FRA)

"Lennart Petersen" wrote in message
...


"chithanh119" skrev i meddelandet
...

You are standing in the checking in queue and someone from the airline
calls out that they need 2/3/4 or whatever number of people to give up
their seats. They offer those people a hotel for the night and X amount
of money.

I was wondering if anyone has ever accepted this and what did they
received for the inconvenience? I've never had the opportunity to
accept such an offer, mainly due to time restrictions, but I'm well up
for a deal like that on my forthcoming trip

Not exactly for money but I was offered a seat in the cockpit (MD80 and
FRA)


That sounds like one hell of a deal. Usually one can't buy those seats for
ANYTHING.

"chithanh119" ...
You are standing in the checking in queue and someone
from the airline calls out that they need 2/3/4 or whatever
number of people to give up their seats. They offer those
people a hotel for the night and X amount of money.

If you've got the time, go for it. We volunteered once on an
ASA flight to Asheville. They put us on a later flight to Tri-Cities,
drove us by private van to Asheville the same day, and gave us
vouchers for a free R/T anywhere in their system, which we did
not use until they almost expired. Take the money, if its decent.

Originally Posted by Sharx35

...
On Dec 1, 8:11 pm, chithanh119
wrote:
You are standing in the checking in queue and someone from the airline
calls out that they need 2/3/4 or whatever number of people to give up
their seats. They offer those people a hotel for the night and X amount
of money.

I was wondering if anyone has ever accepted this and what did they
received for the inconvenience? I've never had the opportunity to
accept such an offer, mainly due to time restrictions, but I'm well up
for a deal like that on my forthcoming trip


Hi friends, I also agree with the above post. I have also the same opin

$250 for giving up a seat on COEx about 15 years ago. Was put on a
UAEx flight that left about 45 minutes later.

$250 for giving up a seat on America Worst. Was then put on a
Southwest flight that left a few hours later. As the airlines did not
an interline agreement the people being bumped were given a check to
pay for their airfare on Southwest. By the way I only paid $139 for
the flight with taxes and fees.

Twice on SkyWest, once for UAEx and once for DLcont I almost got $500
for giving up my seat on flight that was overweight. On the first
flight there were a number misconnects, so they did not need anyone.
On the second flight they once needed two volunteers and so they used
a mother/daughter combo. I however did get 500 or 1000 FF miles on DL
from the nice gate agent.

Also several other times I had the opportunity to give up my seat on
commuter flights with Skywest that were overweight, but for one reason
or another I did not.

i will consider this if I am going home, as figure this just extends
my vacation. Also I would rather miss a day or two of work than a day
or two of my vacation.

M. Graham

It's also a good excuse: even the grouchiest of bosses has to understand
that if one gets bumped they obviously can't be back to work in time. No
need for boss to know that one VOLUNTEERED to be bumped!!

Hi friends, I have the same opinion as the above post. I completely agree with him.

On Dec 2, 10:11*am, chithanh119
wrote:
You are standing in the checking in queue and someone from the airline
calls out that they need 2/3/4 or whatever number of people to give up
their seats. They offer those people a hotel for the night and X amount
of money.

I was wondering if anyone has ever accepted this and what did they
received for the inconvenience? I've never had the opportunity to
accept such an offer, mainly due to time restrictions, but I'm well up
for a deal like that on my forthcoming trip

--
chithanh119

'Vacation in vietnam beach resort'
(http://www.waytovietnam.com/resort.asp) | 'Victoria Sapa Tour Package'
(http://www.waytosapa.com/tour_list_V...ackages_6.html) |
'Mekong excursion' (http://www.waytomekong.com)

http://www.tourdulichvietnam.com

On Dec 1, 8:11 pm, chithanh119
wrote:
You are standing in the checking in queue and someone from the airline
calls out that they need 2/3/4 or whatever number of people to give up
their seats. They offer those people a hotel for the night and X amount
of money.

I was wondering if anyone has ever accepted this and what did they
received for the inconvenience? I've never had the opportunity to
accept such an offer, mainly due to time restrictions, but I'm well up
for a deal like that on my forthcoming trip

--
chithanh119

'Vacation in vietnam beach resort'
(http://www.waytovietnam.com/resort.asp) | 'Victoria Sapa Tour Package'
(http://www.waytosapa.com/tour_list_V...ackages_6.html) |
'Mekong excursion' (http://www.waytomekong.com)

Hey there

I have a friend that often books flights on United at the last minute,
if their online reservations system will not allow him to select a
seat for the flight. He does this with the hope that are no no-shows
and they need volunteers. His success rate has been fairly slim, but
on one occasion he did a vohcure for several hundred dollars. I guess
he missed the first call for volunteers and they ended up increased
the compensation. This first offer was only a few hundred, while their
second offer over double that amount. He of course does this only when
he has the time and can fly out to a destination a day or two in
advance of his meetings.

M.M

Not exactly for money but I was offered a seat in the cockpit (MD80 and
FRA)


That sounds like one hell of a deal. Usually one can't buy those seats for
ANYTHING.

Once apon a time, before 9/11, when I did my first flight, sitting in a
nearly empty BA plane from Frankfurt to London and looked ready to bolt for
the exit, a friendly flight attendend asked me wether I'd like to come into
the cocpit for takeoff. It's a good way to calm anxies passangers, she
claimed. The fool I was, I declined

Those were the days...

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/publi...tm#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