The perks of getting bumped off your flight

Fist bump, baby bump, airline bump.

Most of the time people would rate getting bumped off your flight the worst of that set of three, but in my case it turned out to be a major score.

My wife and I were all set to return to Bermuda last Saturday on American Airlines’ Miami flight.

We discussed on the way to the airport whether or not we would be willing to be bumped to the Sunday flight if it was offered as we didn’t have to be back at work until Monday.

Voucher

When American made the announcement that it was looking for three volunteers to give up their seats in exchange for $800 travel vouchers, I didn’t hesitate to make my way to the counter.

We were lucky in that we were sitting close to the gate and beat a stampede of other people willing to take up American Airlines on the offer — not that they would have been obligated to take the first people in line.

I had never been bumped before, but knew the procedure — we had to wait until everyone boarded the plane just in case travellers failed to show up and then they wouldn’t have to pay us as the airline would then have room.

As everyone showed up, American did indeed need our seats and we made room so a family with two little children could arrive back in Bermuda on Saturday.

So what did we get for our ‘troubles’?

We received $1,600 in travel vouchers for American Airlines, a free night’s stay at the convention centre Doubletree, and meal vouchers for dinner, breakfast and lunch.

Yes, it was inconvenient sitting at the airport for five hours on Saturday waiting for a flight we never ended up taking, but the $1,600 in travel certificates more than made up for it.

The airline retrieved our luggage and we caught a shuttle to the Doubletree (we also had the option of staying at a Regency but opted for the former).

We ate dinner at the hotel where my wife got a specially prepared gluten-free meal by the sous chef Paul, which was absolutely delicious, paid for by AA.

Food

I was able to use the breakfast and lunch vouchers at the airport where I filled up on Kripsy Kreme donuts and Nathan’s hot dogs and chicken tenders. But in reality, we could have used them at any of the airport’s restaurants.

Hopefully, the next time we have to book flights with American we can get both our tickets for less than $800 each and have some leftover to use towards another trip.

Some travellers make a habit of trying to get bumped. 

They purposefully pick flights that are full in hopes of landing the loot from being bumped. 

I wouldn’t go as far as making that my travel aim, but if I wasn’t in a rush to reach my destination, I would volunteer again. n