One hundred twenty-two seats. One hundred twenty-eight passengers waiting to board. Someone’s going to be bumped.
That travel nightmare may play out more frequently this year as airlines continue to cut capacity in an effort to keep up with rising fuel prices, leaving fewer seats for passengers. Last month, Delta said it would cut 25 percent of its flights departing from its Memphis hub and is reducing capacity on some trans-Atlantic routes. US Airways said capacity later this year could be down 1 percent. And United, which is in the process of merging with Continental, said it would reduce domestic capacity by 4 percent at the end of the summer.
Airlines regularly overbook flights to help offset no-shows and to ensure that flights are packed with paying customers. Last year, out of 595 million passengers, about 681,100 were denied seats on planes, according to the Department of Transportation. Most of those people volunteered to give up their seats in return for some form of compensation, like a voucher for a free flight. But D.O.T. statistics also show that about 1.09 of every 10,000 passengers was bumped involuntarily.
Airlines are required to ask people who are not in a hurry to give up their seats voluntarily, in exchange for compensation, before passengers who do not want to give up their seats are kicked off. But with capacity cuts, getting customers to volunteer is tricky. Full planes mean that the next flight out with an open seat might not be until the next day or even the next.
Getting bumped can be lucrative
Still, there are some travelers who see the flight crunch as a lucrative opportunity. Among them is Ben Schlappig. The 20-year-old senior at the University of Florida said he earned “well over $10,000” in flight vouchers in the last three years by strategically booking flights that were likely to be oversold in the hopes of being bumped.
“I don’t remember the last time I paid over $100 for a ticket,” he boasted. His latest coup: picking up $800 in United flight vouchers after giving up his seat on two overbooked flights in a row on a trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Or as he calls it, “a double bump.”
Obviously not your typical traveler, Mr. Schlappig is among a small, but passionate group obsessed with accruing frequent-flier miles. An elite flier on United, American and other carriers, he regularly makes “mileage runs,” crisscrossing the continent in a day with multiple airport stops simply to rack up miles, a pursuit he chronicles (writing under the name Lucky) on the One Mile at a Time blog on BoardingArea.com, which is geared to road warriors. Along the way, he deliberately seeks out flights he thinks will be oversold.
“Every time I book a ticket, in the back of my mind is which flight has the best chance of being bumped,” he said. His strategies — which include booking the last flight of the day, telling the check-in clerk or gate agent that he is willing to give up his seat even before an announcement has been made and praying for bad weather — have already earned him more than $2,800 in flight vouchers so far this year. But his experiences also provide some education for travelers looking for ways to avoid being bumped.
Tips from the pros
Below, insider tips to the bumping game. In most cases, do the opposite if you want to keep your seat.
Be the first in line. Tell the check-in clerk or gate agent that you may be willing to give up your seat. That way you will be first on the list if they need volunteers. Alternatively, passengers who don’t want to be bumped should check in early to help ensure a seat. If a flight is oversold, the last passengers to check in are often the first to be bumped.
Fly through hubs. Be aware that flying through busy hubs at peak times increases your chances of getting kicked off a flight. To up his chances of being bumped, Mr. Schlappig said he opts for flights through Chicago O’Hare, a busy hub, in late afternoon, when many international flights are scheduled to arrive. “They assume some people will get stuck at immigration and people will misconnect because a flight is late,” he explained. “If I see all the flights from Europe are coming in on time, I know they will need five or so volunteers.”
Take the red-eye. As delays and cancellations build up on any given day, those last flights out can quickly fill up with displaced passengers, increasing your odds of getting bumped. “Gate agents call them cleanup flights,” said Mr. Schlappig, who scored a $400 voucher and a hotel room by volunteering to give up his seat last month on an overbooked red-eye from Los Angeles to Washington.
Choose the right airline and the right day. You have a better chance of landing an oversold plane by flying American Eagle, which had the worst bumping rate (or the best, if you’re trying to be bumped) last year — 4.02 involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers. JetBlue, which prides itself on rarely overbooking its planes, bumped the fewest passengers. In general, busy flying days like Monday, Friday and Sunday as well as holiday travel periods can also up your chances of being bumped.
Check the weather. Mr. Schlappig intentionally flies in December, January and February through Washington, Chicago and Denver because of the potential for winter storms. Weather-related cancellations, he said, often result in overbookings as airlines work to accommodate passengers.
Know the rules. Passengers who are involuntarily bumped and rebooked on another flight within two hours after their original domestic flight time (within four hours for international) are entitled to $400 in cash under Department of Transportation rules. As a volunteer, don’t accept any flight vouchers worth less.
In November, Delta added a new twist by accepting bids from passengers willing to give up their seats on oversold flights. At a check-in kiosk, for example, passengers can input the dollar amount they would accept for volunteering to be bumped. But they could end up being outbid by a passenger who is willing to accept less for giving up a seat.
Ask for more. The more desperate the airline is to get people off the plane, the more bargaining power you are likely to have. Will the airline provide free meals, a hotel room or an airline lounge pass? Most airlines give their staff the authority to up the ante when a flight is oversold and volunteers are few to none.
One exception: United standardized its voluntary bumping compensation last year, offering a flat rate of $400 in travel vouchers to those willing to give up a seat on a domestic flight.
Be nice. Being polite amid the chaos of an oversold flight can go a long way. “You don’t want to nag the agent for an upgrade when 20 people are on line,” said Mr. Schlappig, who will occasionally ask for an upgrade for giving up his seat after the oversold flight departs.
“Gate agents don’t care who you are, they care how you treat them,” he said. “If you treat them with respect and you’re easygoing, it makes all the difference.”
This story, "," originally appeared in The New York Times.