Fly high after getting bumped

By Liz Pulliam Weston

My brief experiment with voluntary bumping ended badly.

After reading an article about how travelers could score free tickets by volunteering to give up their seats on crowded flights, I thought I'd give it a try. A few times, it worked great: I got vouchers for free future travel and a seat on the next flight out.

Then I volunteered to be bumped on a short flight to Las Vegas. Instead of a guaranteed seat, I was put on standby, where I waited, and waited, and waited. One flight after another left without me. Hours passed and an ever-changing cast of gate agents kept shaking their heads. I did finally make it out of Burbank, but I nearly missed the meeting I was flying to attend.

Oh, yeah, and the car-rental agency gave away my reservation.

You may have a chance to replicate my experiment, voluntarily or not, as flights get more crowded this summer. Passenger loads are up dramatically as more people want to fly, and airlines have gotten better at filling every seat and then some.

That means there will be a lot of bumping, and you should know the rules, some of which have changed quite a bit in recent years.

First, understand that there's a big difference between being bumped involuntarily and choosing to give up your seat.

If you're bumped against your will, the compensation you're entitled to is mandated by Federal Aviation Administration rules. Basically, it goes like this:

• If the airline can get you to your final destination within an hour of your originally scheduled time, it doesn't have to compensate you at all.

• If the airline can get you on another flight scheduled to arrive at your final destination within two hours of your original domestic flight or four hours for an international flight, you're entitled to an amount equal to your one-way fare, up to a maximum of $200.

• If you're delayed more than two hours domestically or four hours internationally, you're supposed to get double your one-way fare, up to a maximum $400. That's also the limit if the airline makes no alternate arrangements for you.

• The airline can offer a voucher for future travel, but you can (and probably should) insist on cash (actually, a check). The voucher or check must be issued immediately.

The airline's own policies may mandate other goodies -- meal vouchers, access to an airport lounge, hotel vouchers if you have to stay overnight. If not, you can always ask for extras, although what you'll get may depend on the gate rep's mood and your own negotiating skills.

A great dump deal

Speaking of negotiating skills, those are essential if you volunteer to be bumped. There are no mandates for what the airline must offer to get your seat.

Moreover, you need to understand that your biggest obstacle may not be the airline, but your fellow passengers. Lots of people know how to play the bumping game these days, travel experts say, and there may be 20 other people willing to give up their seats. That's making it harder to negotiate a really stupendous deal.

A decade ago, for example, it wasn't that unusual to get cash or a free round-trip ticket with few, if any, restrictions. Today, airlines are much more likely to offer vouchers with set limits -- $200 to $300 is common -- for future flights. So-called "unlimited" round trips, when they're offered, usually come with substantial restrictions, as Your Money message board poster MoonShot recently discovered after he volunteered to be bumped from a Portland-to-Sacramento flight on Alaska Airlines.

"The downside of the whole experience is that the flights that are available (to free ticket users) are very limited," he wrote. "I tried to use the ticket on a trip to Washington, D.C., taken back in April, but was unable to find a flight that was acceptable to both me and the airline."

He finally booked a trip to Barrow, Alaska, but "even the trip to Barrow has me staying in Anchorage for six hours in the middle of the night -- both directions!"

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