[inpd]

I probably have too much time on my hands ...

I was once at LHR in 1998 and United had over-booked
LHR to JFK. I was amazed to see they were offering
people $1000 in vouchers for voluntarily bumping
(i.e. due to over-booking giving up your seat for the
next flight)

I know that airlines don't like to talk about
payments for bumpings but can:

1) Someone explain to me how it works
(voluntarily vs involuntarily)
2) State what the typical payment they have received is

[Kiwi Flyer]

What must be offered varies by market. What is offered also varies by airline/status/class booked/fare paid/how long of a delay and whether an overnight is forced/etc.

Eg for EU airlines and also all flights (any airline) leaving from EU, there are rules for minimum compensation for voluntary and involuntary bumps, which varies by length. This excludes force majeur but AFAIK it hasnt yet been tested (fully) as to what an airline can and cant claim as force majeur.

[NM]

I have never been bumped from a flight. I have been bumped up a class on several occasions when the back cabin needed more space. And once I was almost bumped down a class by BA but got the last J seat when another pax failed to show at the gate.

So no bump compensation for me.

[neil_gardner]

Was travelling with my dad many years ago in J on AA from JFK to MAN (I think it was 1994!)

we were offered 40,000 Advantage points (good for a return economy transatlantic flight in those days), overnight accommodation in Manhattan and a seat on the plane the next day if we bumped voluntarily. Unfortunately, due to work commitments, he (and therefore I) couldn't take the offer.

Someone else gladly took it though.

[inpd]

I've never been bumped before, but I'm interested
in knowing what my rights are and if
its better (in terms of compensation) to be voluntarily bumped or involuntarily bumped. I understand that each
airline probably has its own proceedure, but any
general rules would be interesting.

In that Heathrow incident, people were literally
pushing each other over to get to the desk
to accept the compensation package. Interestingly,
they announced it over the PA system and did
not go and proposition individual passengers which
seems to imply that there is no apparent order to
bumping based on fare paid.

[NM]

Originally Posted by inpd

I've never been bumped before, but I'm interested
in knowing what my rights are and if
its better (in terms of compensation) to be voluntarily bumped or involuntarily bumped. I understand that each
airline probably has its own procedure, but any
general rules would be interesting.

An involuntary bump will generally reap more in terms of compensation. The rules for what is provided for invol bump is dependent on the location. Europe just introduced new rules recently (based on length of flight etc), and the USA has had specific compensation rules for some time.

Most vol bump compensation is in terms of vouchers that can be spent with the airline for future travel. Once the bump becomes involuntary, they are generally required to pay compensation in cash, not vouchers or other "in kind" offers.

Sometimes the value of the vouchers may exceed the cash compensation required for invol bump and that is done to avoid the need to report the invol bump to the ruling authorities who maintain statistics on such things. So an airline may offer a $500 voucher to make it a voluntary bump instead of paying $300 cash for an involuntary bump just in order to keep it out of the reported stats.

Some people, particularly in the USA where overbooking is the norm, will book flights they know are popular and likely to be oversold and hope to make money from the bumps. They will book travel on busy holidays just to sit at the airport all day bumping from one flight to the next. not my idea of a travel day.

[clifford]

I was offered USD 700 a couple of years ago to be bumped on a UA LAX-ORD flight (I was going on to CDG). I declined because they couldn't guarantee C class on the later flight.

Earlier this year I was at BKK checking in for a LH flight to FRA and noticed a sign saying that they would give 600 Euros to anyone willing to spend an extra night in Bangkok (at LH's expense). A tough call, but I had to be in Europe on time.

This kind of thing happens all the time, but I've never had the opportunity to take the money.

[odoherty]

I have never been bumped, but by the sound of it - hopefully I will sometime soon!

I'm travelling around the world at the end of the year. Booked in DONE4. Hopefully I might be offered an attractive "bump"!

[thadocta]

Originally Posted by odoherty

I have never been bumped, but by the sound of it - hopefully I will sometime soon!

I'm travelling around the world at the end of the year. Booked in DONE4. Hopefully I might be offered an attractive "bump"!

Highly unlikely if travelling in D.

Dave

[dajop]

Here's a question - when was the last time anyone on this board was bumped (off not up) travelling domestically on QF? Never really heard of it happening, although with some of the loads often seen (ie not an empty seat) surely it must happen.