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Most of the time, getting bumped from your flight is the last thing you want to have happen. It can easily ruin your trip or cause you to miss work. Other times, getting bumped can work out great. You'll receive a huge amount of compensation for your inconvenience. The compensation can be so valuable that some travel fanatics make a hobby out of actively trying to be bumped.

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Likelihood of getting bumped
How to be the one that gets bumped
Negotiating for your compensation
Booking flights just to get bumped

TravelStrategies:*Getting Bumped/TOC

The best way to tell whether the flight might be overbooked, is to see if you can still buy a ticket for the flight. It doesn’t take much time to use your phone to try to buy a last-minute ticket. If they are still selling tickets, it is unlikely that anyone will get bumped. If they aren’t, it is time to swing into action. You can’t trust the online seat map for your flight—it can easily look full, when there are still plenty of seats left on your flight.
It can also be helpful to take a quick glance at the arrival board at the airport. If there are a lot of delayed flights, there is a good chance that there will be passengers that need to be rebooked on their connecting flights or crew that need to be repositioned.

Depending on several factors, problems with other planes can cause overbooking on your flight. If there have been significant flight cancellations due to weather or other issues, the airlines will be struggling to eventually get everyone home. They may want to use your seat to accommodate stranded passengers. More commonly, conditions may require the airline to switch to a smaller plane for your flight, potentially requiring many people to be bumped.

How to be the one that gets bumped

If you think there is a decent chance that your flight is overbooked and you are interested in being bumped, there are a few things you can do to increase the chance that you will be one of the chosen volunteers.

Let the gate agents know. The most important thing is to simply let the gate agent know that you are willing to give up your seat. If there is some chance that someone will get bumped, they will usually thank you and take your name down on their list. If they need to take volunteers, there is a much better chance that you will be towards the front of the line.

Some people suggest that this approach reduces your bargaining power if you do get bumped. By showing your willingness to get bumped, it will be hard for you to ask for much more than their initial compensation offer. That is probably somewhat true. Nevertheless, our thinking is that it is better to be more likely to get something, than it is to be less likely to get a potentially higher payout.

Sit near the gate agents and be there before boarding time. If they start taking volunteers, you'll need to be nearby.

Don’t check your bags. If you do, it is much harder for them to switch you to another flight.
There is a chance that you might wind up a little screwed. Sometimes an airline will start bumping passengers and then find out that there is more space on the plane. If that happens, they’ll put you back on your original flight and you won’t receive any compensation. That sounds like you are just back where you started from. However, while you were waiting, the airline may have given away your prebooked seat and the overhead luggage space may have filled up. You are taking a small risk, every time you volunteer.

Negotiating for your compensation

The gate agent will usually make an “offer” for what you will receive and how quickly you should expect to be put on another plane to your destination. Whatever they offer, you can, and should, ask for more. Just make sure to stay reasonable. If it appears that they are having a hard time finding volunteers, your negotiating power is higher; ,if there is a line of other people waiting to give up their seats, it is lower.

If you can, work out your rebooking options ahead of time. Go online and see what alternative flights are available. In most cases, you'll need to limit yourself to flights on the same airline. In extreme cases, you might be able to be rebooked on a different airline. By understanding your options ahead of time, you can ask to be put on a specific flight and you’ll have independent information about how much you are likely to be inconvenienced.
Ask to be matched to any higher offer. One useful approach is to agree to (a potentially slightly modified version of) their initial offer but ask to be matched to any better offer that they wind up giving to another volunteer. This is a way to lock-in your participation, while still reaping the extra benefits if the airline starts getting desperate and needs to raise their offer.
Ask for, but don't demand, premium cabin seats for your new flight. Often, there are premium cabin seats still available for fliers with elite status. There is no additional out-of-pocket expense for the airline to put you in one of those seats, and if you are going to be delayed, at least your next flight will be more comfortable. At the very least, ask for a better coach seat, like an exit row, that is typically only available for elite flyers or with a seat surcharge.
If you are flying a legacy airline, a lounge pass is another easy item for them to throw in. There is little out-of-pocket cost and it gives you a more comfortable place to spend the hours waiting during your longer connection.
If you need to stay overnight, make sure that your expenses are covered. The airline should give you a hotel room, transportation to and from the airport, and meal vouchers. Ask for the name of the hotel where you will be placed. If it doesn’t seem very nice, see if there is an alternative. Expect the meal vouchers to have limited value. It probably isn’t worth hassling the agents to get your meal vouchers adjusted.
Try to get cash and not a credit for a future flight. This is especially true if you are flying an airline that you don’t often fly. Just be aware that some airlines, by policy, can’t give you cash. The worst option of all is a credit for a free “round trip” flight (as opposed to a fixed amount of money), as there are often restrictions that make them hard to redeem.
The minimum payment for passengers who are involuntary bumped is 2x – 4x the ticket price (for domestic flights). Your entitled to 2x, if your arrival time on your rescheduled flight is 1 to 2 hours later, and 4x if you are delayed by more than 2 hours. And because the airline would prefer a happier customer, they will typically offer more than this, to find someone to volunteer.
Don’t expect to get trip delay coverage from your credit card, as well as compensation from the airline. They specifically exclude covering instances where you accepted an offer in exchange for being bumped. In any event, this insurance only covers your expenses, and the airline should have covered those already.

Booking flights just to get bumped

Taken to extremes, you can book a flight in the hopes of getting bumped. It may even make sense to buy a fully refundable ticket and then cancel the ticket, if it looks like it is unlikely to happen.

Flights that are more likely to be overbooked include the last flight of the day, flights through busy hubs, and flights during holiday periods. If you know that a big storm is coming, you might want to book flights for the following day.

TravelStrategies:*Getting Bumped/Main

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