On the benefits of volunteering on an overbooked flight

[fclbrokle]

Suppose that you're in a scenario in the airport when your current flight is overbooked and they're looking for volunteers. Should you take it?

Naturally it depends on a number of factors. You should be sure that your compensation is in a dollar-value certificate, not in a free flight --- because free flight certificates are often limited in use

Comments

[isomorphisms]

Sweet!

I volunteered to be bumped from an 11:00 am flight last summer, taking the noon flight instead. (Flight was Vancouver-Calgary, which is a little over an hour gate to gate.) I got $200 for this, and spent a leisurely hour reading at the airport. I didn't get a stay at a swank hotel, but $200/hour is more than I tend to get paid for actual work, so I was quite pleased.

[mathmike]

There is another circumstance in which volunteering is entirely a win.

I once volunteered for a later flight, before they determined that they actually did have enough seats on the plane. They had already given away my seat, so they bumped me into first class!

[emengee]

I'm sitting in McCarran Airport in Las Vegas right now after having given up my flight from Cleveland to San Francisco for a $300 travel voucher. Sitting here for a few hours is a bit boring, but there's free internet, I've got a lot of books, and I got to fly first class on my flight out here. Pretty nice.

Also, I got a $300 travel voucher for giving up my direct flight from San Francisco to Cleveland last week. There I flew through Houston and got in only two and a half hours later than I would have.

It's good 'cause I'm broke :-D

[fclbrokle]

Hehe.

For me, working in the airport is just as productive (if I have Internet) as elsewhere. So why not?

[emengee]

Being as broke as I am, travel vouchers are the best thing for me because they cost me nothing but time (of which I have plenty) and result in something I really love (traveling) but couldn't afford otherwise. I just get back into Ghana mode, where time means absolutely nothing, and bask in the awesomeness that is free travel. The best is when you can take one flight and parlay it into two or three (or four) flights for no additional cost.