Got bumped - how to use and what to do with free ticket?

[gopher's girl]

I got bumped last year. My ticket - good for any of the 48 contiguous states - needs to be used by 1/7/06. United Airlines tells me that this means I have to select a flight by that date, it can be used anytime after that.

 

Has anyone done this before? How did it go? Do I need to watch for special rules?

 

Also, any suggestions on where to go? If they are picky and don't let me use it on any date, how would I pick a cruise or something else?

[hazeof3dd]

seeing as how you live in Philadelphia, I'd recommend using it on a flight that would normally cost you a pretty penny, namely west coast flights. Visit Los Angeles or something, don't use it on a flight to Florida you could get for $150 round trip on Southwest. Get the most out it. I have enough AA miles for a off-peak round trip anywhere in the 48 states, and I am certainly not going to be using it to go to Florida where fares can be as cheap as $100 round trip. I'm going to use it to visit somewhere out west where I'd normally pay several hundred dollars.

[greatam]

I got bumped last year. My ticket - good for any of the 48 contiguous states - needs to be used by 1/7/06. United Airlines tells me that this means I have to select a flight by that date' date=' it can be used anytime after that.

 

Has anyone done this before? How did it go? Do I need to watch for special rules?

 

Also, any suggestions on where to go? If they are picky and don't let me use it on any date, how would I pick a cruise or something else?[/quote']

 

Better check the dates again. Bump vouchers usually must be USED within 1 year. However, airlines can do anything they want, so what United told you may be true TODAY. BOOK the flight NOW, don't wait any longer. You have less than 1 month before your year expires. MAKE sure you do not wait until after the 1st of the year. Airline rules have a mysterious way of changing around New Years. And with United in bankruptcy, who knows what rules you will encounter.

 

I use bump vouchers all the time, for all kinds of different scenarios-some are for certain dollar amounts and some are for free tickets. I usually ask for a fixed amount of money to reduce the cost of an expensive ticket.

 

You can fly anyplace-just don't book your ticket to someplace you could purchase cheaply. You will most probably be subject to the same rules as a FF ticket-blackout periods during holidays, no availability during peak travel periods (Spring Break and President's Week vacation) and everything else subject to availability. I would pick a date in early May-not a heavily traveled time. Do you ski??? Tickets to ski areas are usually pretty expensive. How about a trip to California, Portland, or Seattle? That would be the best use of your free ticket. But I would book SOMETHING NOW and now wait until too close to the expiration date.

[triplover]

I had a similar situation but with AA. I never did find a flight that I could use our vouchers for because everywhere we wanted to go was cheaper to use another airline so if I booked using the voucher it would have negated any savings. The day before it was to expire I called AA to see if they could extend the expiration date. They said no but that they could book me on a fully refundable ticket using the voucher and that if I found something later I could cancel this flight and would be given another credit that I could apply to the new flight. Thus extending my credit for about another year. I fully expected to toss the voucher but the reservationist came up with this idea quickly almost like they do this all the time. If you don't find anything to book you might want to check if this airline would do the same thing to extend your book by date. Good luck!

[BelleStarr]

We were bumped on the Salt Lake to Anchorage portion of our flight last June, and waiting at the airport for a few hours gave our family of 4 $1600 in vouchers - in addition to First Class SLC to ANC, with the vouchers needing to be used within one year of the bump date.

 

I just booked Alaska again, paying only $392 in addition to vouchers for our family of 4 to fly to Alaska again. I LOVED the bump and would do it every chance I had. I just don't know how to manage it on the upcoming trip:D!

 

I know our vouchers were transferable, but the transferer had to go to the airport with the transferee at the time of booking. If you don't want to use it, perhaps you could give it to a loved one???? Ours was with Delta, maybe different set of rules...

[Globaliser]

I know very little about bump vouchers - I'm hardly ever in a position to be either offered a bump or able to accept one - but people I know who do play the bump game seem to be agreed that if you have a choice, it's better to take a money value voucher than a free ticket voucher.

 

The reason, apparently, is that free ticket vouchers have to be booked into award ticket space, which is very limited. The money value vouchers, however, can just be spent as money against any available revenue ticket - so there are much higher chances of there being a ticket that you can actually use the voucher against.

 

I know this doesn't help the OP, but anyone else reading this thread and thinking about taking voluntary bunps might want to research this a bit more. And I know that some of our resident US domestic travel experts may have something to add on this issue.

[greatam]

Short story about bump vouchers. Yesterday was a BAD day for AA in Jackson, Mississippi. 9:00AM flight to DFW was cancelled due to mechanical. Pax were told they would be accomodated on later flights -4 more for the day and all on RJ, which were pretty full to begin with.

 

I was at a conference in Jackson. Booked on the 6:38PM to DFW. Conference ended at 12:15 instead of 4, so I wanted to standby for an earlier flight. I got to the airport as they were trying to load the 1:05 (late) to DFW. I watched the bump thing going on, with people voluntarily giving up their seats and AA didn't offer compensation and no one asked. Still about 25 people from the 9:00AM flight.

 

When it was time to load the 3:30 flight (about 4:30), same thing was going on-AA asked for volunteers and only one guy asked for compensation. I started grousing in the gate area about all this, as I watched with amusement.

 

The 4:20 (at 5:15) flight went the same way-I am telling people they should negotiate for their seat-not just give it up. I am a big AA fan, but they should have have brought in another plane to handle all the overflow. They were trying to do it on the cheap and what's fair is fair.

 

Now it became a negotiating game with the gate agent-no one was giving up their seats without compensation. All of a sudden my name was called. I figured they were going to tell me I was off the 6:30 plane. Instead, the GA offered me a voucher for the cost of my flight ($680.00) if I would keep my mouth shut about compensation. Back to the bar I went, voucher in hand. Not a bad days work for a big mouth!!! It is definitely true that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. I got on my 6:30 flight all smiles. I wonder if they would have given me another voucher if I would have given up my seat on the flight?????? 18 people from the 9:00AM flight spent the night in Jackson.

 

For the poster who wanted to know about bumps-when you get to the gate, ask the gate agent if the flight is full. If so, put your name on the voluntary bump list. You will be the first asked, if your seat is needed, before they call for volunteers.

 

Some frequent flyers book what are known as "bump" runs. They deliberately book flights which have NO availability in the discount coach seats. A close friend just did this over Thanksgiving. Enough bumps on 9 segments to accrue vouchers worth a little over $3000.00. Not a bad 3 days work.

[wrp96]

A good leg to be bumped on is AA out of San Diego or into San Diego. I usually fly AA into San Diego and the last 3 or 4 times I've flown out there, they've called for volunteers. Only one time was I able to take the bump, but it paid for my next trip to San Diego. And they called for volunteers on that flight as well.

[Globaliser]

Instead, the GA offered me a voucher for the cost of my flight ($680.00) if I would keep my mouth shut about compensation. Back to the bar I went, voucher in hand. Not a bad days work for a big mouth!!! It is definitely true that the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Nice work! Sometimes, I wish that the airlines I fly would bump pax more often, although I'd still have the problem that I could seldom take one.

[Coolmama_1]

A good leg to be bumped on is AA out of San Diego or into San Diego. I usually fly AA into San Diego and the last 3 or 4 times I've flown out there, they've called for volunteers. Only one time was I able to take the bump, but it paid for my next trip to San Diego. And they called for volunteers on that flight as well.

 

Delta in Atlanta is another good bump airport. Since it is a hub, they are almost always overbooked!

[kimcruiser]

A good friend of mine had her family of three bumped. they had to use their tickets within one year (continental) and they decided they would fly into a port to go on a cruise. the great thing about it is they have a relative who is a travel agent and she got them a great deal along with the free air. it worked out great for them and I am jealous;)