"Bump Tips"

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From:  "The Strassners"

From:
"Anonymously Evil in Chicago",

By following most of the rules below, (not the slightly illegal or shady
ones, of course), my wife and I have enjoyed over $4,000 in free travel
vouchers over the past few years and have accrued many tens of thousands of
frequent flier miles for free.  I can honestly say that I have not paid for
many flights in the past few years and don't plan to anytime in the near
future.  Good luck and good flying, my friends.

My story goes as follows:

A few years ago, my wife and I spent spring break week (she was in grad
school) in Las Vegas and then Los Angeles to visit her brother and
sister-in-law.  Since we were traveling for pleasure, we were relaxed and
in no rush to get home to Chicago.  On the Sunday morning of our return
flight, we arrived at the airport around 9am and were informed that our
10am American Airlines flight was overbooked.  Although we are by no means
financially needy, I always involuntarily salivate at the prospect of
anything free (especially airline vouchers) and nearly leaped over the
counter to place myself on the waiting list to be bumped.  As the fates
would have it, the airline did take us up on the offer and handsomely
rewarded us $300 apiece to wait 90 minutes for the next flight.  Not a bad
deal for an hour and a half of sitting around doing nothing!!  Being the
seasoned (and scheming) travelers that we are, we made special note of the
fact that the later flight was mostly full and there still were many people
that could not make it onto the earlier flight.  As such we deduced there
would also be many folks trying to standby on the later flight and insisted
the agent give us the last few seat assignments for the later flight
instead of putting us on the standby list (very key point).  Aha!!  The
plot thickens.

After the 10am flight departed without us and we walked away from the gate
counter $600 richer, we immediately went to the next gate and were first in
line to check in (another very key point) for the 11:30am flight.  By the
time, the gate agents opened the counter, there were about 70 people on
line behind us.  Even though the gate agents informed us they were not
taking volunteers right away, we left our boarding passes with them just in
case.  Again, as the fates would have it, the flight ended up slightly
overbooked and we were the first volunteers on the list.  The bad news was
the next available flight wasn't until 5pm, but the good news was that they
gave us another $500...apiece!!

Granted we spent an entire day (9am-5pm) at LAX, but those 8 hours netted
us $1,600 of free air travel!!  That works out to $100 per hour (each) for
an entire eight hours!!  I'd say that's not too bad for a vacation day!!

The following is my personal list of traveler tips to maximize bumping
opportunities, frequent flier miles, and cash savings in your travels:
 

• ALWAYS volunteer to be bumped for any flight unless you absolutely have to be at your destination ASAP.  Remember, you never lose anything and can always change your mind later and keep your ticket on the original flight (although you will have to board last and will probably have to check your carry ons at the gate).

• Often the airlines will often give you a $25 discount coupon if you volunteer and they don't  need your seat (United Airlines).

• ALWAYS book the earlier flight on a busy travel day so you will have room to get bumped back if you need to get there the same day.  That  way, you will have the opportunity to get bumped back and make some cash and still get to where are going (Sundays and Fridays are usually ripe with opportunity).

• ALWAYS volunteer to be bumped overnight if you can catch an early flight the next morning.  Most people consider this the option of last resort, but consider the following:  the airlines often pay more if they bump you overnight and will put you up at an airport hotel for free and give you free meal vouchers.  You can often get a decent night's sleep at the airport and arrive at your destination by the time you would have woken up had you flown the night before.  Example:  My wife and I got bumped off the last flight to New Orleans this past spring break.  American Airlines gave us each $500, paid for dinner, put us up at the airport Hilton, and put us on the 8am flight the next morning.  We arrived in downtown New Orleans before noon, which is about the same time we would have gotten up had we arrived on our original flight the night before (about 1am).  I figured we made about $1,200 ($1,000 in vouchers, two free dinners, one free night hotel, one less day rental car) with little or no inconvenience.  This also works well when traveling for business if you can get an early flight the next morning.  If you can keep the vouchers then everyone wins.  You'll look like a team player by saving the company the expense of a night's hotel.  You win by having the vouchers for future trips, your company wins, the airline wins, and the person taking your seat wins.  Its the greatest of all of mankind's inventions!!

• ALWAYS get to the airport early and be the first person on line.  If you  want to get bumped, there's no use in being 128th on the     volunteer list. Often flights are only overbooked by a few seats, so why not be the person to get the first shot at the green stuff?  Besides, who likes rushing around like an idiot and waiting in line for 45 minutes to check in. The difference between first and 128th is often only fifteen minutes,  anyway.

• ALWAYS insist upon seat assignments when you book all tickets.  If you    do not have a seat assignment when you get to the counter, you will not be eligible to be bumped because you do not have a seat to give up.

• ALWAYS call the airline at least a week before your flight to ensure you have a seat assignment.  If they do not have a seat assignment for you, raise a stink and they will bump some other poor slob out of his computer generated, randomly selected seat to make room for you.  This  is absolutely vital whether you wish to get bumped or not.

• ALWAYS insist upon a seat assignment and boarding pass if you get bumped to a later flight.  When they ask you if you wish to give up your seat,    have them make sure you can be guaranteed a seat assignment on the next    flight because often times they will put you on the standby list for the later flight if you don't ask.  When you are on standby, you lose all bargaining power.  You will not be able to volunteer to be bumped again and you may even be bumped involuntarily if the later flight is full  (involuntary bumping is not cool if you need to be somewhere).

• ALWAYS book your flights many months in advance.  If you go to Florida in December every year, why not book your ticket in August?  You can often get the lowest rate, you are guaranteed the seat of your choice, and you can almost guarantee yourself a ripe opportunity to be bumped if  you plan your trip at the busiest times (i.e. the day before Thanksgiving, Christmas, July 4th, Memorial Day, etc...).

•  ALWAYS do whatever it takes to accrue frequent flier miles.  They add up.  Get a credit card that earns miles and charge everything on it (If you charge over $521 per month, you will at least break even on the $60 annual fee: $521 x 12 months x 4 years = $25,008 =25,008 frequent flier points = a free domestic ticket = $250 = $60 annual fee x 4 years.  If your free domestic ticket is worth more than $250, you make a profit). Hook up all your phone services to get miles.  Get miles for rental cars.  Take advantage of special bonuses at hotels for frequent stays (check in and out of different hotels each night to qualify for minimum number of stays to get bonus points).  Check your airline frequent flier mailings for double and triple miles for rental cars and other deals (flowers, supermarkets, retail stores, etc...).

• Southwest Rapid Rewards credits are worth more than miles from other airline mileage programs. If you play your cards right (and book flights on-line to get double rewards credits for fights), you will average a free flight for every three round trips (with rental car).  And that's just if you just play by their rules as they intended it.  If you play by their rules as you should interpret them...you can really do some damage and get free flights quick.  Since every Southwest flight is one-way (including connections), you can really rack up the rewards points by booking one continuous trip that makes numerous stops (few cross-country trips on SW are non-stop) as numerous trips on numerous tickets.  Example: Instead of booking a round trip from Chicago to LA  that costs $299 and has two stops (Kansas City and Las Vegas), you can book three round trips (Chicago to Kansas City, Kansas City to Las Vegas, and Las Vegas to LA) for the same $299 and be on the same exact planes the entire trip. The only drawback is that you have to get on and off the plane at each destination and check back in with your new ticket to get back on the same plane...but the beautiful part is, the plane is going to stop there anyway!!  You get the chance to stretch your legs and (if you book on-line to get double credits) you will earn 12 rewards credits for the trip instead of four...and it will cost exactly the same!!  If you play the game right, you can earn as many as 12 rewards credits for just one round trip...and it only takes 16 credits to earn a free flight.  After one trip, you'll be 75% there!!  This is an extreme example, but since almost all SW routes have the option of at least one connection (if not two or three), you can almost always do this on every flight.  Now that's working the system!!

• Hotel points are often worth far more than airline miles.  Not always, but you can often get a $150 hotel room for as little as 7,000 hotel points, whereas a $250 domestic round-trip will almost always cost you 25,000 flight miles.  In my opinion, Marriott has the best program    (Marriott Hotels, Resorts, and Suites, Fairfield Inn, Courtyard Inn, Townplace Suites, Residence Inn, etc...).  It has the most flexibility for earning and using points and has far lower reward thresholds than Hilton.

Last fall my husband and I went to the wedding of some very close friends.  Because the bride and groom were leaving on their honeymoon the very next day, they asked me to carry home her wedding bouquet of 24 roses so they would be safe and could be dried as a memory of this wonderful day.

Many people around the airport saw me holding this bouquet and congratulated us on our new marriage.  A few people were told the truth but for the most part we just said thank you and went on our way.  As we were waiting to board our flight I held the bouquet in my hand, some little girls asked me if they were real and if they could smell them as I bent down and let each of them smell the flowers a very kind airline attendant watched each of them take their turn.  Then to our surprised the attendant asked to see my tickets, my husband handed them to her and she handed them back and said have a nice flight home.  She had bumped our seats to first class!  As we boarded the plane the next attendant pointed out how sweet "we had the same last name".  My husband and I have been married for 10 year and I'm glad that we are so much in love that we could pass for newlyweds.

We then took our cozy flight to our next stop where we were scheduled to change planes, there is where we were asked if we would like to give up our seats for vouchers.  My husband and I each came home with $300. vouchers and we have decided for future flights we should purchase a wedding bouquet before we fly.

Happy flying...Marilyn

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 From : Mark Marshalko,Eastpointe, MI

I was reading your article about flying for free, one of you comments said you have to be traveling on a paid ticket in order to be eligible for this offer.  Let me share my story that contradicts this. In December of 1999, I purchased a ticket ......... to travel from Detroit to Las Vegas.  When leaving Vegas, I took a voluntary bumping (4 hour wait) for a $300.00 dollar voucher.   (America West Airlines) In March of 2000, I used my voucher for a return trip to Vegas, while flying out, I volunteered in Phoenix to get bumped (2 hour delay) for a $400.00 dollar voucher.  (From a free ticket).  (no cash was paid for this ticket) In December of 2000 I used the second voucher, and once again took a bumping.  (Over night bumping), received food vouchers, free hotel, and a $500.00 voucher). I am flying out again this fall with hopes of another free flight. So far I have received four flights for the price of one.  Not a bad deal.
 

Editor's Note: Mark is right, you don't need to be flying on a paid ticket to get bumped, as you can see by his examples, but you must start with a paid ticket to gain the original voucher, that you turn into a FREE ticket.  Similar to my $1,000 year story. Notice he started in 1999 with a paid ticket.
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