dave_261

Yesterday (Saturday), flying BGR (Bangor)- PHL.

At boarding time, GA announces 'this flight is overbooked by 1 passenger, and we're offering $500 voucher to be moved to a later flight... which likely won't be until Monday morning.'

Not surprisingly, no takers. Every 5 minutes or so, the GA would come back with the same robotic tone, saying the exact same thing. Sometimes the offer would remain the same, other times, it would be raised (went $500, $750, $1,000, $1,200, $1,500, $1,700, $1,800).

During the entire process, she made it clear... 'We are unable to board until someone volunteers'.

Around the departure time, I went to the desk and asked why they couldn't just IDB someone. They cited BGR station policy that they wouldn't do that until absolutely necessary, and they would wait until 20 minutes post departure time to do that.

Finally, someone stepped up... at $1,800. Everyone cheers and we finally get to board. Would up leaving about 35 minutes late. Many people missed connections in PHL, which likely cost AA even more given it was 5:15pm when we landed and obviously many flights are full and can't accommodate misconnects.

A few notes:
- The captain was not happy, and even called his dispatch office who said the station manager decides the policy. Apparently his run was done in PHL and he needed to catch his own connection home
- The FA said that most stations will still start the boarding process. In fact, she said she experienced this in PHL earlier in the day and the entire process of raising the voucher amount took only a few minutes... not the 45 it took in BGR.

Obviously, nobody wants a repeat of the UA situation earlier this year, but there must be a better way than to hold 50 passengers hostage until one person steps up.

puchong

Help me understand this please: Had they actually issued BPs for more passengers than the plane could hold? If not, why not automatically deny the last person who holds a confirmed booking but has not checked in yet ?

dave_261

OP here... don't know the specifics. They simply kept saying 'overbooked by 1'.

JDiver

Sounds like a great idea, better than boarding everyone and then trying for a volunteer - until it generates a delay, then it's not so good.

But if it's reported to AA an analyst can sort out the pros and cons so the HQ can issue marching orders to the Statuon Chief if necessary.

kklems

Wow $1800 for a bump. I think I would have jumped all over that and driven the 8 hours. Or grabbed an Amtrak. The only downside is the vouchers expire in one year.

jordyn

Standard IDB process seems better--someone doesn't have a seat assignment, and they get left behind unless they can attract a volunteer.

You only risk a particularly bad situation when you board someone and try to kick them off, as UA discovered.

OccasionalFlyerPerson

That's an $1800 voucher, not cash.

I wonder what level of cash they would have had to go to in order to get a volunteer. Probably considerably less.

cmd320

Curious how high you could have gotten them. It would depend on where I was heading, what connections I had, etc, but for local domestic stuff I probably could have been bought for $1800 and a hotel assuming the next flight out was going to be the following day. That said it also wouldn't have stopped me from going and volunteering for a ridiculously high amount when it seemed like they were getting desperate and not finding anyone.

justhere

The poster you quoted said it was a voucher. Cash would have been $1350 at most.

On another note, I wonder if the station manager has a metric that they are accountable for that places IDB over delayed flight.

Mauibaby2008

I would have been thrilled with $1000 Lol

lobo411

$1800 is a lot even as a voucher. Maybe no one wanted to miss the eclipse...going to be 75% obscuration in Philly vs 55% in Bangor! :P

dgparent

It was a Bangor flight no one wanted to be in the Langoliers

JDiver

Several posts have been deleted.

It's a classic case of one person posting a nastygram / snark, followed by comments on the snarky post and ensuing posts, with some of those posts even going OMNI/PR.

If anyone would like a refresher on the Rules, use the upper right Help menu, select Rules.

/Moderator

aztimm

On a similar note, I'm at CLT right now. At a nearby gate, the equipment for CLT-FAY AA5256 has been downgraded, with 10 fewer seats than expected.

I'm not sure if it is a normal GA or a manager, but he started with a $400 voucher + hotel, out first thing tomorrow and within 10 minutes it has gone up to $1000.

Why do these things never happen to me, when I have flexibility?

rdrnnr

IDB likely would've been $1200 cash -- but for me... $1800 even as a voucher, in a heartbeat.