How to get bumped: the guide to earning free travel

Several years ago, I spent months compiling an ebook containing all of my most effective travel secrets. My master plan was to sell said ebook on the internet and make lots of money to finance more travel and
adventure, but I suck at marketing so it flopped. So now you fellow
savvy travelers get the benefit of my extensive travel knowledge and
experience – for the price of free. This is the first in a series of
posts about how you can understand the travel world and leverage that
knowledge to your benefit.

Earning free travel

With the possible exception of JetBlue, all U.S.-based carriers do it – they sell more of their product than they actually have. And believe it or not, this is completely legal and is standard practice in the
airline industry.

The reasoning behind this policy actually makes a lot of sense from an airline’s perspective: for almost every flight, there are passengers who don’t show up or who misconnect due to a late arriving flight. By
selling more seats than are actually on the plane, the airline is able
to secure additional revenue and fill the maximum number of seats
possible, as the airline is counting on a certain number of no-shows.
An empty seat on a flight, while ideal to have next to you, is not
making the airline any money. Airlines use complex formulas and
historical data for each route to determine the ideal number by which to
oversell a flight. This is called yield management, and its goal is a
flight that goes out completely full with lots of high-fare passengers.
The chaos of an airport, however, is the place where idealism and
reality part company.

Years ago, long before your blogger became knowledgeable in the ways of travel, I was denied boarding on a flight for which I had a ticket. It’s understandable for a ticket holder to be confused as to how his
ticket doesn’t translate into a seat on the flight he has booked, but it
does occasionally happen. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the
process.

Voluntary and involuntary

If a flight is oversold, an airline will always ask for volunteers to go on a later flight before forcibly denying anyone boarding. In exchange for taking a later flight, these volunteers typically receive
either a voucher good for a round trip in the contiguous 48 states or
dollar-denominated vouchers that can be used like cash to purchase
future tickets on that airline. The savvy traveler will always take the
“bump” if she can spare a few hours. This is also known as voluntary
denied boarding, or VDB. I have taken many bumps in my travel career
and used the thousands of dollars in airline vouchers to send myself to
new destinations. I’ve even been bumped from a flight that was paid for
with vouchers earned from a previous bump.

On some occasions there are not be enough volunteers to balance out the number of seats the airline has oversold. In this case the gate agents will have to deny boarding to one or more passengers. This is
known as involuntary denied boarding, or IDB. If you don’t have elite
status and don’t want to end up getting bumped involuntarily, be sure to
check in as early as possible. Elites have boarding priority, so they
never get bumped without volunteering. Among non-elites, airlines use
time of check in to determine who gets a seat in the plane and who gets a
seat in the airport.

Should you get bumped involuntarily, you will need to know your rights. If this happens, take out the airline’s Contract of Carriage (which you should carry with you) and look for Rule 240. This rule
details the compensation the airline owes you, which you may elect to
take in cash in the case of IDB. The amount will vary, and depends on
when the airline is able to transport you to your final destination.
Amounts are increased with every two hours of additional delay, subject
to a maximum. Airline gate agents do feel genuinely bad about denying
boarding to unsuspecting passengers, so instead of getting upset with
them, request that they put you in first class on the next flight. You
might be glad you asked.

The major airlines (save Southwest) have agreements with one another to accommodate you in this event, so if another carrier has a flight leaving soon for your destination, make sure you point this out to the
gate agent and request to be placed on it. As a rule an airline will
try to accommodate you on its own flights, as this keeps costs down, but
you have a right to get to your destination as quickly as possible,
especially in the case of an involuntary bump.

Taking bumps is one of the key concepts in making the airlines’ system work for you. I flew to New Orleans in 2001 on American Airlines and took a bump on the way home. After receiving a $400 travel voucher
I flew home in first class, arriving about four hours after my original
schedule. The $400 was more than my original ticket to New Orleans
cost and enabled me to book several more trips.

How do I get bumped?

If your schedule is flexible, be sure to check how full your flight is in the days before departure. This can be done by calling the airline and asking if the flight is oversold. There are also ways to
check your flight’s load factor online; the best of the available tools
is ExpertFlyer. Its basic service costs $4.99 a month and gives you tremendous insight as to how full your flight is.

This tool will take a little bit of training. After logging in, go to the Flight Availability tool and enter the departing and arriving airport codes. Input the date; if it’s one-way journey, leave the
return date blank. Fill in the two-letter code for the airline you’re
traveling on (AA, CO, DL, etc.) and specify your connecting airport, if
any. Click the Search button, and your results will appear on the
page.

Here’s how to read and understand the results. Let’s say you’re traveling from Seattle (SEA) to Chicago O’Hare (ORD) on American Airlines and your flight looks like this:

F7 A7 P7 Y7 B7 H7 K7 M7 L7 V7 W7 G7 S7 N7 Q7 O0

Odds are you won’t be getting bumped from this flight, as there are at least seven seats (and likely more) left to sell in both coach and first class. In American’s case, you can’t see more than seven seats in
any fare bucket, but you can see less. So if your flight looks like
this you have a much better shot at a bump:

F3 A1 P0 Y2 B2 H1 K0 M0 L0 V0 W0 G0 S0 N0 Q0 O0

Note that the seats listed for each cabin are not cumulative; in this example there are three seats the airline will sell in F class, one of which they are willing to sell at the A class price. And in coach there
are two seats for sale total, at either Y or B prices, one of which the
airline will sell at the H price.

So your flight is a good candidate for a bump, now what? First, a word of caution: never count your bump vouchers before they’re in your hand. The world of airline reservations is extremely fluid and changes
by the minute. That said, if your flight is mostly zeroes the night
before, be sure to leave a little earlier than usual for the airport.
Once you’ve arrived, checked in (you should have done so online already)
and cleared security, proceed to the gate for your flight, and make
sure you’re there at least one hour before your scheduled departure
time. Approach the counter, smile and state that your travel plans are
flexible and that you’d be happy to volunteer, if needed. The agent
will check the real-time load factor for the flight and, if volunteers
are needed, will take your name and put it on the volunteer list. If
you’re absolutely determined to be first on the volunteer list, the
ticket counter agents before security will sometimes add you to the
list. In many cases, however, they will direct you to inquire at the
gate. Not checking bags will also help your case, as agents don’t want
to deal with having to offload your luggage in the event they use your
seat.

Volunteering is not without cost; you will need to remain in the gate area until most passengers have already boarded before you find out if you’ll be getting bumped. If the airline doesn’t use your seat, you’ve
probably lost any chance to bring that rolling suitcase aboard. On the
other hand, if the agent needs a seat in coach but there are open seats
in first, your odds of an upgrade to first class are pretty good.

If the agent tells you that your seat is needed, congratulations! Sit down and let him get the plane out on time. That is his priority, and you will be taken care of you after the plane departs. Be patient.

Types of compensation

There are two types of compensation issued to a passenger who volunteers to give up her seat. The first is a free ticket voucher. These are valid for travel anywhere in the 48 contiguous states. Rules
vary by carrier, but most have few or no blackout dates and aren’t too
badly embargoed. For example, United’s vouchers book into Q, V or W
class and Alaska’s book into V; these fare classes are relatively easy
to find on many flights. Be aware that you will not earn mileage with
these free tickets.

The savvy traveler requests the airline’s dollar-denominated vouchers. These can be used for any new booking (domestic or international) and you will earn miles on your future flight. All you
need to do is find a flight you want to book and use the web or airline
call center to put it on hold. You will then have the option to go to
the airport and use your vouchers to pay for the ticket, or mail them to
the airline.

In certain scenarios, the free tickets can be a better value if, for example, there is a trip you know you’ll have to take and airfare is coming up at $500 to $600 or more. Some vouchers have advance purchase
requirements of a week or two. Read the rules on the back of the
voucher for specific information.

That’s it! Happy bumping, and enjoy your free travel. See you out there!