and of course, does an economic analysis of decision making.

Bob Schiller, Professor at Yale and creator of the CAPE (Cyclically Adjusted Price Earnings) ratio, was recently bumped off a flight, after he had taken his seat.

The airline, recognizing the overbooked condition, announced a monetary reward of around $300 to each person who would voluntarily give up their seat. Since no one volunteered, Schiller and his wife were removed from the plane because they had paid the lowest fare.

But because he and his wife were bumped, the airline had to pay $2700.00 ($1350 each). So by only offering $600, the airline paid $2700.

Schiller mused that anyone understanding economic theory would have realized that two people would likely have volunteered for something (far) less than $1350.

The problem is that United has specific guidelines for how much they will offer volunteers.

Link

I've had it with these motherfucking Nobel prize winning economists on this motherfucking plane!

Its happened to me a couple of times.

The critical thing when this happens is to tell the airline. "I'm not going to accept airline miles in lieu of my FAA rights. You will have to provide every accommodation under the law and any attempt to delay or refuse it will result in FAA complaints."

What many airlines (American - to their credit - doesn't do this) do is try to rip the consumer off by offering them 400 bucks in 'United Gift Certificates' without telling them that they are entitled to much, much more. This should be illegal. They should be required to tell the customer their rights. Less than 10 percent of IVDed persons actually get what they are supposed to. If I had wanted to be bumped for a gift certificate I would have volunteered.

United, as they are with everything else, is the worst. I had to file a FAA complaint after they refused to obey the 'involuntary bump' rules. American, just wrote me a check for 1500 bucks and put me on a Southwest flight. Air Canada - well they got refused.

Here's a conversation I had with the lovely morons at Air Canada a while back when they told me that my 1700 dollar ticket was going to be IVDBed.

Me: "Well that's going to be very expensive for you as I will be asking for every last penny I am owed under FAA guidelines and will be filing multiple complaints if they aren't immediately provided. You can start by getting me 1700. You have until midnight tonight to either get me the cash or a check."

Air Canada: "We don't do that"

Me: "US law says you will. And since this flight originates here, you're under US law. You literally have to place a check or US currency cash in my hands by midnight. Call your station manager in Toronto and ask them. Oh, and I see that Southwest to Salt Lake plus Delta has a flight leaving that will get me to Calgary in 5 hours. Its showing a price of 3800 bucks. You'll need to buy that ticket for me. Unless you can find me another flight routing that gets me there before that. I don't see one."

Air Canada: "We don't have a deal with Southwest"

Me: "I don't care. I don't think the FAA will either. Again call your station manager in Toronto".

Air Canada: "Let me check...(pause while she calls Toronto).. here is your ticket ..we found a seat for you...(it was first class)"

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My brother got the best story on that. Southwest IVDed 5 people including him from the last flight of the day. My brother made sure everyone knew 'dont take the miles, demand the cash (at that time they had to give you cash - immediately)'. Southwest finally had to pull the plane back to the gate and raise its incentives to get 5 people off the plane. No one at the gate or the station had the 5grand in cash to fulfill the requirement. I wish that requirement was still valid (immediate cash) as it was an automatic 'get on the plane now' card.

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If you are IVDBed, ensure that you just look up what the current rules are from the FAA before agreeing to anything. If you ask for cash, they'll probably put you on the plane. Airlines hate cutting checks. And if you have a right to have them put you on the fastest routing possible...pray that it is really expensive or just complicated (involves airlines they don't have common carrier agreements with). Usually that will get you on your way quickly.

yup always ask for cash unless you want the miles or vouchers, etc. Asking for cash usually gets you back on that plane.

Last time I did it we got a couple of free flights and they paid for our nights stay in a hotel.

(09-29-2015 02:18 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  Last time I did it we got a couple of free flights and they paid for our nights stay in a hotel.

Which is great if you've got an open schedule.

For me, if its' business I either need to get up there now or I want to get home from a place I'm pretty much sick of.

If its leisure, I frequently either need to get to a destination as I'm needing to go somewhere else from there or I need to get home so I can get to work.

Its possible every once in a while that I could take a voluntary bump. But its not really that common right now.

If I'm on business I want the cash.

(09-29-2015 03:42 PM)fsquid Wrote:  If I'm on business I want the cash.

I just want to get to my client site or home. Its been a while since I've been working in a destination city. Getting stranded in Calgary, Regina, Midland, or Tampico ain't my idea of a good time.

If I can't avoid it, I'll take the cash.

Different strokes, I can use the cash and I usually put a decent buffer in there so I can meet job requirements