Many of our experienced travelers have heard this announcement at the gate before: “Ladies and gentlemen, today’s flight is going to be very full. If you have flexible travel plans and would be willing to take another flight, please come see us at the desk.”
We know that soliciting volunteers to rebook to a later flight adds time for us at the gate and can lead to departing after the scheduled flight time, which we always try to avoid.
In November, we moved this announcement earlier in your travel process for U.S. domestic flights by allowing you to volunteer to take a later flight as soon as you check in (assuming you have flexible travel plans). This allows us to eliminate the “auction” process at the gate, lets you tell us how much value you place on changing your travel plans and gives our agents more time to rebook you and get the flight out on time.
Once you tell us you’re interested we’ll ask how much you’d like to receive in travel vouchers in exchange for your flexibility. The system allows you to enter any whole dollar based on typical values offered to customers during the volunteer process.
Your offer is forwarded electronically to the agents already at the departure gate for review, which allows our agents an early start on rebooking you on the next available flight while you’re en route to the gate area. This new technology is a great time saver for our flexible customers because it allows us to have your revised travel options ready to discuss with you when you arrive at the gate in the event we decide volunteer seats are needed.
Of course, if your travel plans are not flexible, there’s no need to volunteer. By soliciting volunteers early, our goal is to avoid inconveniencing anyone. If, however, an involuntary denied boarding occurs, our standard policies apply which provide up to $400 if you’re scheduled to arrive 1-2 hours later than your original arrival (1-4 hours later internationally) and up to $800 if you are scheduled to arrive more than 2 hours later than your original arrival (more than 4 hours later for international) should you be forced to take a later flight.
Over the last few years, we have made substantial improvements in reducing the number of customers asked to give up their seats involuntarily, in large part thanks to our customers who are flexible. For the first nine months of 2010, only about 0.04 percent of mainline Delta customers were asked to give up their seats involuntarily – the best rate among major U.S. airlines according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Across our system we’re continuing to innovate and find ways to put you in control of your travel options as early in the process as possible. From online and mobile check-in to accepting bag fees online and notifying you immediately of a potentially oversold flight, we want our technology to tell you as much about your travel as possible from your first click.
If you have seen or used these new options in your travels with us, we’d like to hear from you. How did it work? Did you like the new options?
Cheryl B.
Product Specialist
delta.com and Self Service
January 6th, 2011 at 11:44 pm
Are the bids binding? If it is, I find it problematic that Delta doesn’t show the alternative flights available when bidding. If I volunteer to be bumped but can get a flight in the next hour or two, my bid will be much less than if I am bumped to a flight many hours later.
Has this been taken into consideration?
January 7th, 2011 at 12:08 am
Please keep in mind that the $6 you get for dinner, $3 for breakfast et al should be part of the offer if you have to overnight! In my mind I will not “EBAY” less that $395! I am all for my beloved Delta not having to pay out more then they NEED to for a bump but still…
I think the FLYERTALK chat about this should be considered!
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-skymiles/1169200-delta-going-ebay-us-their-new-voluntary-denied-boarding-procedure.html
January 7th, 2011 at 1:14 am
Question: Does the system tell you what flight you will be rebooked on? That would influence the amount I enter. If I am only delayed one hour, I might take $100. But, if I will be at the airport all day, I would obviously want more.
So, will you know what flight you will travel on before you bid?
January 7th, 2011 at 1:24 am
Biggest challenge here is that I’m not told about the impact to determine my bid.
Is Delta booking me in the next flight in an hour, or is it tomorrow at 9pm? Are you giving a hotel? What if I’m at my home airport, do I get a hotel in addition to my bid or just an additional amount on top of my bid? Is the flight the next day confirmed or standby? What class is it in?
Extreme questions… is it on another carrier (has happened to me on other airlines)? Is it the same routing or longer?
Ultimately once I know that information, my bid WOULD change. Since you’re not letting customers update their bids, and because you’re not giving this information, it’s really only a half-baked system.
January 10th, 2011 at 12:40 am
I have mixed feelings about the idea. While I really like being able to volunteer from home & know “Ok, there might be a chance!”, I’ve got a bad feeling I’ll get stuck because I put in what I think is a fair value and Delta takes someone else because they bid $5 less than I did (or doesn’t know what they’re doing and bids $15.99 or something like that).
Does this show volunteer requests for both of your flights (assuming a typical itinerary with a connection), or only the first flight on the trip? For example, I’m flying from CMH to PHX via ATL and the ATL-PHX flight is the only one needing volunteers…will that show at check-in?
I still have a bad taste in my mouth from getting robbed in Orlando in a volunteer situation despite being first in line to offer our seats & no help from Delta afterward…this may add to it.
January 10th, 2011 at 10:24 am
As a frequent traveller, I echo the above. I cant make an informed decision or bid unless I know what my alternate flight options are and what amenities are being offered. Would you have the option to decline once you get to the gate and still have your seat intact, etc. if you don’t like the alternate options?
January 11th, 2011 at 6:01 pm
I think you should stick with a dutch auction where all the “winners” get the same amount. Is it really good for Delta if Ma and Pa Kettle get $100 because they don’t know any better and Corporate Junior VP gets $400 for the same seat because he does?
January 12th, 2011 at 6:02 pm
Thanks for all the great comments. Here are some answers to your questions.
Once you place your bid, that information is forwarded to the agent working the flight you are originally scheduled on. A list of volunteers who have placed bids is presented to them in order of lowest bid first.
Let’s say the flight has 124 seats, we are looking for 2 volunteers to be re-accommodated and 6 people place bids for $200, $250, $275, $275, $300 and $300. The agent would call the customers who had placed the $200 and $250 bids to come to the counter so they could discuss their routing options (including any impact to connections in your itinerary). During this conversation, the person with the $200 bid decided they don’t want to take the rerouted option because the next available flight is farther out than they anticipated. The gate agent would move on to the next bidders on the list which would be the customers who bid $250 and $275 in this example. If both of them agreed to the alternate travel options as presented by the agent, they would be issued travel vouchers in the amount of their bid and all other bidders would be released from the auction. On a case by case basis, other accommodations like meal vouchers, etc may be added as an additional courtesy. Customers are advised by the agent at the time they are called to the counter if their travel options are standby or confirmed and in what class of service they will travel.
January 17th, 2011 at 6:39 pm
I think there are several misconceptions about the role of the Gate Agent.
1. How early do you think the Gate Agent is present at the departure gate and has opened the flight? In most circumstances almost all passengers have already checked in and are at the gate. This is not really about saving time for the passenger, but about allowing Delta to reduce it’s costs to obtain volunteers. Most passengers don’t know that Delta previously offered $200 for the shortest of delays, easily on up to $400 or $800 if the alternate flight was more than two hours later. A few low-ball offers lower Delta’s cost significantly.
2. Gate agents are very busy as it is, and now on top of it all they are going to have to supervise an auction game. Previously they could choose passengers with easy rerouting options and quickly rebook them, all for a set compensation amount, allowing them to turn their attention back to getting the flight out on time. I would be very surprised if gate agents are able to manage this without great additional burden.
In addition, what if there are not enough bids submitted? How are additional volunteers obtained?
January 18th, 2011 at 1:06 am
@ Cheryl B
Thank you for your post. I find it very disturbing (BTW I am PM now 2 years running and working already for yr 3)!
My and others fears are:
1. What happens to our seat if we say NO? Do we keep our upgrade etc?
2. Do all get the HIGHEST BID?
3. It is crazy to bid so low (IMO we need GOV action to set LOW limit here)!
4. How about some REAL food compensation (have you priced airport food?)
How about some real help here.
I love DELTA. I know this is to save money. But my beloved DELTA had to be REAL. Please think about this or you will drive even MORE DM, PM and GM to UNITED as I have status match now and more items like this will make me and other think.. hummmm….. FYI!
January 18th, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Dear Cheryl and others on the blog,
I think this is a GREAT initiative and I would be surprised if other airlines do not follow suit very soon. The reality is that on any given flight there are a wide range of passengers with extremely different valuation of their time. It is only common sense to use a reverse auction in this case. Well done Delta!
@ DeltaGoldFlier and all other frequent fliers, this really should not concern you, and I cannot understand why you would be upset. As a high-yield business traveler, you are not the target of this initiative, nor should you ever be concerned with voluntary denied boardings at all. You represent the highest value customers who would normally have the highest valuation of your time. You book your first/economy seat, hope for the upgrade, and move on to your destination on your booked flight. You or more likely your company paid for you to travel from A to B, and this initiative ensures that Delta will be able to do just that. It is the student, the backpacker, the extremely cost-conscious traveler who should “be subjected” to voluntary denied boarding. The fact that some airlines have offered overly generous VDB compensation that made it almost worthwhile for you to give up your seat is another story. Consider that an inefficient selection that resulted in large amounts of consumer surplus.
I would not be surprised if bids go as low as $50, $80 or $100 depending on the specific market. A 20-yr old college student on spring break will be happy to get $50 towards their next trip in exchange for 2hr of their time. You might think it’s too little money, but we’re not talking about YOUR time. I’m sure your time is much more valuable, which is why you’ll be flying on your originally scheduled flight, sipping a drink in first class
Remember we are talking about VOLUNTARY denied boardings here. Now when it comes to involuntary denied boardings, the DOT regulates the minimum compensation and I agree they should even be bumped up a little.
Happy Flying!
palgia
January 19th, 2011 at 5:19 pm
I agree that this is a way for Delta to pay out less on vouchers to save the company money rather than as a courtesy to flyers.
Like JSprague24, I was also “robbed” on previous flights in volunteer situations. On my last flight with Delta (because I doubt I’ll fly with them again) I was asked to volunteer, they rebooked my flight and connecting flights and I was told I would receive a voucher for giving up my seat. Upon my original flights call to board, it was announced that volunteers were no longer needed and everyone should board. I was not given the voucher and was told to board or my other flight would not be valid. My connecting flight was delayed over 8 hours (due to rebooking) and on top of that, my luggage was lost because they tagged it to go with the original connecting flight, even though I repeatedly checked with them that it would be retagged for the rebooked flight and meet me upon final destination. When my luggage was finally returned to me, it was damaged! (torn, frame bent, zipper broken)
Oh, and as for having a “not-so-fun travel experience that we need to make right and requires special individual attention from our team,” I sent emails as well as a mailed letter to Delta, and their only response for compensation was a $25 coupon towards my next flight with them. Delta, how am I expected to fly with you when you have caused so many problems with me not only on that flight, but also on another previous flight?!
January 19th, 2011 at 11:44 pm
Where can we sign up to do this? I don’t see a link anywhere.
January 22nd, 2011 at 7:43 pm
where do we sign up to access the voluntary bumping? i do not see it on the Delta web site.
Recently there was a documentary short film about people who basically live to Bump… how do these people do it? what are their strategies?
have many people seen this movie? i believe it is on You tube as well as somewhere on face book or i guess it could be googled.
I try to bump when i can, mostlyit is when i travel alone, so as not to inconvenience anyone i might be travelling with. I once bumped on Airfrance and received 600 euros which they gave to me plus hotel for overnight, generous food vouchers, then the next morning i put my name up to bump again and they accepted my bump as thye were overbooked and i received another 600 euro voucher.. at the end they said i could board the flight and ALSO keep the 2nd 600 euro bump voucher. NOW
thats generous! please ADVISE im looking for as much info re how to successfully bump as possible.. such as: routes that are historically overbooked, dates that are usually over booked, times of flights that are most overbooked. thank you one and all. Peace!
January 22nd, 2011 at 7:44 pm
BTW please respond to me
January 24th, 2011 at 7:41 pm
@selenewickersham Thanks for the question. We know that volunteering to be ‘bumped’ is popular with some travelers, but we only present this option during the check-in process when it looks like we may need volunteers for an individual flight.
January 27th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
I don’t mind being bumped from my flight today, but does it necessarily mean I will be leaving later than original? I would like to leave earlier if at all possible. Flight DL347 to ATL…
January 28th, 2011 at 10:57 am
Thanks for sharing your comment with us. If you need immediate assistance with a flight change, please call reservations at 800-221-1212 or tweet us @DeltaAssist. Our agents will be happy to assist you. Thanks!
February 8th, 2011 at 9:52 pm
I am not sure how often Delta customers get overbooking. The post said it is as low as 0.04. My question is “Is it worth to apply this to every single flight?” with all the works, procedures? How many boarding-denied cases per flight? If it is many, I think the Reservation and Booking team is the one who should be on the line to prevent the overbooking.
I understand this might help save money but it is not reallly effective, to Delta employees and customters.
April 20th, 2011 at 7:15 am
@Cheryl
So how will the new DOT rule work with this now:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/04/20/passenger.rights/index.html?hpt=T2
Will the bids START at $650?
Thanks!
November 14th, 2011 at 11:33 pm
aw yeah, Delta bringing the social media thunder! great post with NO LINKS TO CORRESPONDING WEB PAGES! Well played, Delta. Well played. Way to be worthless while appearing cutting edge!