Here’s a great tip submitted by Bethany:
We have out-of-state family. While they take turns coming to see us, inevitably we need and want to go visit them. Our flights go from Seattle to Indianapolis and tickets usually come to $400 per person if we book early.
We found that Seattle-Minneapolis and Seattle-Atlanta fights are constantly overbooked. The airlines do this to insure a fully booked flight, because they expect some cancellations. When they do not receive cancellations as expected, they ask for passengers to give up their seat in exchange for ticket vouchers.
We took advantage of this not too long ago and found the travel time difference to our destination was only two hours. The $800 savings was well worth two hours of our time! Plus, on the rest of the trip, we enjoyed complementary first class.
While this worked out well for us, there are some considerations if you want to try this yourself:
1. Be quick to respond. With the economy as it is, there may be several ready for this option.
2. Ask when you will arrive at your destination and weigh the benefits. Are you going to miss a day of work? Do you have appointments that cannot wait?
3. When you travel during holidays and peak times you can expect to stay the night. You may get a free hotel stay, but you might be requried to stay in the terminal.
4. Traveling with a family is more difficult as well. If you have children, you’ll need to plan for an extra day of diapers, snacks, and formula for the little ones.
5. They may only have certain slots available. Could part of your family proceed as planned, and part wait for the next flight?
We got bumped after a loong business trip for my husband. We felt like we barely saw him the whole time we were traveling and it was so cool to have an extra night in a huge hotel suite with a gourmet dinner and no need to hurry up and be anywhere all on the airline’s tab! We sat on the huge bed and ate our special meal and watched funniest pet videos on cable. It was really fun and relaxing and actually felt like a vacation! The drawbacks were that we had very minimal clothing with us, so I was borrowing some of DH’s clothes and running a load of laundry on the commercials, lol and that it meant another trip through security in the morning with two little kids. But it was still completely a blessing for our family right then!
At least with the airline we regularly use, they said that they are now not allowed to give such generously-sized vouchers.
My hubby and I were able to do this years ago. We got hundreds of dollars in free tickets, and flew business class from Chicago to LA, which was heavenly!
One of my dear friends worked for an airline for years, and she always suggests trying to look nice-not uncomfortable, but like someone in first class wouldn’t mind sitting by you! Sometimes they’ll give upgrades to fit everyone on, but they don’t want to sit someone in stained sweatpants next to someone who paid the full first class fare!
I used to work reservations for Delta and yes, on some very popular flight routes overbooking was very common. However, don’t just assume that they will compensate you other than meal vouchers and hotel vouchers if you have to stay overnight. You have to make sure you ask if they are willing to compensate in other ways too (ie vochures for future flights, double frequent flier miles, etc) Since so many people know this trick now, some will actually ask to booked on flights that are overbooked in order to get bumped and further compensated. So if you want additional compensation other than meal and/or hotel you will need to ask if they are willing/authorized to do it. And if they aren’t, ask to speak to a supervisor who is if it’s important to you. Oh, also note they will not do this in cases of weather…they have no control over mother nature and when the FAA grounds them they have no choice but to comply…this only is valid in cases the airline can control (overbooking, late flights that cause you to miss connections, etc.)
Be sure to ask for the comps. my sil just flew and when the plane couldn’t leave because of mechanical issues and missed her connecting flight, the were just getting her here. When she was working out the details if she didn’t bring it up they didn’t offer. But when she did ask she got a 100 dollar voucher for all the trouble
pretty sure they just made overbooking illeagle or are in the process of it, there are now huge fees they have to pay you if you get bumped. this may not be accurate info any more but not sure on the details
This would be great for those without young children, I think. We fly STL-California once each year to see family, and we’ve concluded at this stage of life it’s actually worth it to pay a bit more for direct flights. Flying with young ones can be a challenge!
Thanks for the tip, though! I’ll definitely keep it in mind.
my parents love doing this! it is a great way to go if you can be flexible when you travel.
The savings come around the second round of visits. You’re sitting in the waiting area, ready to board the plane you have tickets for, and they call over the loudspeaker that they have too many passengers on the plane, could someone volunteer to go at a later time? My husband and I did this on a business trip last summer – for us, it meant arriving two hours later than we had planned, but we received a meal voucher for each of us, as well as ticket vouchers for another flight that were around the same value as the ones we currently were using. The expiration was in one year. We continued on our trip two hours late, and then about eleven months later, went to visit friends for fun. It was the best exchange for two hours we could have asked for!
Can anyone let me know how I could over-book from Houston to Michigan (I love going to see my grandparents..their so sweet!). I don’t think I am totally understanding this whole thing completely. How do I save more money? And how can I be sure that I will save? Thanks for any answers 🙂
Most flights technically are overbooked–it just depends if your flight is at the time it is boarding. This has happened to me, and I got vouchers + first class. You save money because even though you paid for the ticket you are using that day, your voucher is like getting your next ticket free…if that makes sense! 🙂
Well, it really just depends on your plane and how full it is. If you’re at the airport early and sit at your gate, the airline may make an announcement saying that they are overbooked and may need people to give up their seats. So, it’s never a guarantee but if you do hear an announcement and can be flexible about when you leave/arrive, then go get up and get in line and tell the airline you can give up your seat. Just ask if they are giving an incentive (i.e. bonus air miles, a check, vouchers for a free ticket, etc.) and then say yes or no. So you can’t guarantee this will work but being there early at your gate, especially on a busy flight, and listening is a good way to help your chances. You aren’t necessarily “saving” money, but you are earning it for future flights.
Great post! I try to take advantage of this when I know I’ll be flying again in the near future. Definitely be quick to respond, people definitely have the same idea!
I try this everytime we fly, but we always have too many people to be eligible! I’m glad you’ve had success- that’s a great way to save some money!!
My husband and I do this every time we fly (or at least we try if the plane is overbooked). Some airlines are more tricky than others with how you actually submit the voucher and they do expire usually in a year. I definitely encourage anyone to look into it when they are flying. We have received well over a $1000 in vouchers in recent years (plus some hotel stays and meals!).
Just have to comment about the expiration. My parents did this and had about $800 in vouchers, but didn’t pay attention to the expiration date. They ended up expiring before they used them!
My parents and my son had this happen coming home from London. They were given overnight lodging, their dinner and breakfast, and each of them received a gift card with $800 on it. They were thrilled!
Of course this always makes me remember a time way back over 20 years ago when my husband and I offered to be bumped on a flight home from Orlando. We had two round trip vouchers to anywhere in the US INCLUDING Hawaii, Alaska, and Canada. And my husband and I were on a cleaning purge and he threw them away by mistake……… carbon copy 2 piece tickets – back before anything was electronic and we had no other proof. Big disappointment!
Oh my goodness. I would be devastated! I guess it’s just “stuff” though. Could be worse.
! I did this too! Its a long story, but we ended up with three sets of $600 vouchers that we had to use within a year. I accidentally threw one of them away, but had used the other two to book flights for my whole family to go with my husband on business trips. I just tried to be grateful for the parts we used and tried not to beat myself up about throwing the $600 away. They were funny looking cardstock and I had them in envelopes next to my coupon envelopes…
this happened to me once… they started out offering $100 vouchers, but they couldn’t get enough people, so they kept raising the amount. i ended up waiting until they were really desperate and giving out $500 vouchers :o) i did have to stay overnight, but they paid for my hotel and my meals, and put me in first class the next morning!