Delta: The king of overbooking

[jetstream]

Well its 0200 and I'm sitting at a computer looking at loads. Why? My daughter has been stranded for over a day now. Every time we find a flight (going anywhere) it looks like she could get out on, when the time comes the standby list suddenly fills up with revenue pax bumped from a previous flight because over overbooking.

 

[shon7]

just buy a ticket on Southwest. worst case - buy it on Delta.

 

[8sugarsugar]

^ agree

airlines aren't in the business to provide free and easy non-rev to their employees. Its a perk that isn't what it used to be. If I really need to be somewhere, I just fork up the extra money.

 

[SpyFlysDOTs]

Jetstream, it's spring break!
AA and DFW had quite a few flight cx due to hail.
Bad time to nonrev no matter which airline.

 

[jetstream]

Jetstream, it's spring break!

Spring break didn't cause the problem. The sudden appearance of involuntary bumps from previous flights did. As I said, she would show up for a flight that it looked like she would make only to have a bunch of bumped passengers appear on the standby list and push her off.

Can't count how many times a week I walk past a gate and hear announcments asking for volunteers cause the fight is oversold.

Bought her a ticket on SouthWest.

Over and out.

 

[regionalcap]

When you have generally full flights on a holiday weekend it is to be expected. Passengers miss their connections so it just rolls down hill. Bad time of the year to nonrev.

 

[Jar Jar]

How old is your daughter?

 

[nwaf16dude]

Well its 0200 and I'm sitting at a computer looking at loads. Why? My daughter has been stranded for over a day now. Every time we find a flight (going anywhere) it looks like she could get out on, when the time comes the standby list suddenly fills up with revenue pax bumped from a previous flight because over overbooking.

I sympathize with your plight as I have been there myself, but to assume that it is caused by overbooking is a stretch. Sure, there is some overbooking, but it's more likely that it is caused by missed connections from earlier late or cancelled flights.

 

[Andy]

Well its 0200 and I'm sitting at a computer looking at loads. Why? My daughter has been stranded for over a day now. Every time we find a flight (going anywhere) it looks like she could get out on, when the time comes the standby list suddenly fills up with revenue pax bumped from a previous flight because over overbooking.

Unfortunately, that's the new normal in nonrevving. I don't care what time of year it is; the flights are full. You have to choose something like midweek or Saturday travel to have a chance of nonrevving. And it has to be the first flight of the day to have the best chance.
It stinks but that's the way it's been for a while now. I don't like giving nonrev passes to people for this reason.
I recommend that, in the future, you consider having a ZED positive space ticket as a backup. Hope this helps.

Edit: When I only had nonrev tickets available to me, no jumpseat and no ZED while on furlough, I would buy fully refundable advance tickets on Southwest/AirTran/other carriers. I'd buy them a few weeks in advance and made them for flights after my last nonrev option. They weren't too expensive and I would cancel them when I got a nonrev seat. I think that the best fully refundable deals were on AirTran and second Southwest. ... just another tool to consider.

 

[scoreboardII]

How old is your daughter?

Nice......