I’ve written about how airlines frequently oversell flights, which could lead to overbooking situations. This happens when there are more passengers booked on a flight than there are seats. The concept of airline overbooking made global headlines back in 2017, when David Dao was dragged off a United Express flight for refusing to give up…
Continue reading: 7 Tips For Getting Bumped Off Your Next Flight (And Why You Should Consider It)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I remember when AA would offer a physical future flight credit, which could only be redeemed in-person, so I had to got a ticketing office in Midtown to use it. Lame.
I received one of those (baggage issue though) in 2022. Had to go to the airport to use it because there were no offices anywhere in the city. It looked like those tickets of decades ago.
The issue with volunteering you will need to wait until the end of boarding which likely means no bin space around your seat or forced to check a bag. Also, while gate agents are not supposed to give your seat away it's happen to me where I lost an exit row for what? The juice usually isn't worth the squeeze.
I note that UA for example, has incorporated a VDB offering flow in its app check-in procedure, so that you can volunteer ahead of time and see whether there's any possibility. I guess it's not for sure, as it can't account for last minute surges in load, but it seems useful, I even recall once I was able to affirmatively get bumped in advance with compensation without even having to go to the airport, via this function. Maybe they've gotten more accurate about it since.
By my calculation , a priority economy fare entitles me to business class , and a business class fare entitles me to first class . That is what I tell the manager at the front check-in desk when I arrive . Works every time .
Alaska used to* send emails a few days in advance offering a small credit in exchange for switching flights. Usually it's a bad deal ($25 to delay your vacation by 2 days or spend 5 hours at Burbank), but it's always worth looking. Once or twice it actually got me on the more expensive flight I would have booked in the first place.
*Maybe they still do, but I haven't seen one in a while
My last IDB was on UA, when my First Class seat was broken and they downgraded me to economy, offering me $500. I was happy with that (IAD-CUN). My seatmates in Y was a UA gate agent, who advised me I should have asked for more, might have got up to $1,800 LOL. I'll know next time.
i've done this opportunistically over the years and have been rewarded. the key, really, is the first point ben made: this isn't even close to a guarantee.
It’s hit or miss but hopefully you’re going somewhere that you don’t need to edit the rest of your plan
Flew JFK-FLL mid-2025 on DL and they were requested 8 people to give up their seats for $1200 USD. I volunteered...it was tense towards the end, but they needed all 8 and honored it (Visa debit cards/amazon gift card/etc redemptions possible, so not just DL flight credit). Was pleased with that!
A few years ago on a SW flight we couldn't take off. I think we were to full i'm unusually hot day. Crew said they were trying to navigate baggage to clear weight limits. My gut told me to let crew know just in case; I was looking myself but didn't see alternative flights and I never told crew. I could've kicked myself.
They finally announced about 8 ppl needed to deplane. Offered about $800 in vouchers AND the alternate flight got to destination quicker. I couldn't get to the front of the plane quick enough so I missed out but lesson learned - go with my gut and let them do the rescheduling.