Flight Compensation Rules: Knowledge is Money - Mr. Thrifty Canada

Flight Compensation Rules: Time is Money

We recently outlined the new Compensation Rules for Flight Delays in Canada. Your knowledge of the Compensation Rules can help you to save money in other situations, as Mr. Thrifty recently discovered.

Overbooking Compensation

Airlines regularly overbook flights – overbooking is, after all, part of their business model. At the same time, airlines are loath to involuntarily bump passengers, if for no other reason than than the negative press that may ensue (who can forget the incident of the passenger being forcibly dragged off a United Airlines flight?)

Mr. Thrifty recently used the Compensation Rules as a marker for how much compensation to request to voluntarily relinquish his seat on an overbooked flight from Ottawa to Newark.

Name Your Own Price

United Airlines has integrated the concept of bidding for compensation into its online check-in process. It’s somewhat more elegant than the dreaded Air Canada gate announcement (“Folks, looks like we have a sold-out flight. We are looking for volunteers……..”).

When a United flight may be overbooked, a passenger checking in online is given the option to volunteer his or her seat. United’s check in program then asks the interested passenger to “bid” the requested compensation: and here is where your knowledge of the Compensation Rules comes into play.

Your Winning Strategy

United has various preset amounts, maxing out at $400, and then a field for a passenger to enter a custom bid. But, how do you know how much to bid ? Bidding for your own compensation is a terrific way of negotiating against yourself…….that is, unless you follow Mr. Thrifty. Using the Compensation Rules as a marker, Mr. Thrifty bid $1,000 (slightly under the required compensation for involuntary bumping, but more than double the United preset maximum) and, at the airport, Mr. Thrifty’s bid was accepted.

The Winning Result

In all, as compensation for delaying a 1 hr flight for which Mr. Thrifty spent slightly over $140, Mr. Thrifty walked away with….

a flight credit for $1,000,
2 cab vouchers ($50 each, but open to reasonable negotiation), and
$14 to spend on food at the airport, which made for a bountiful, healthy breakfast for Mr. Thrifty’s hosts (side note: $14 can go a long way at Tim Hortons….and apple fritters are a health food, right ?).

United also offered Mr. Thrifty a hotel for the evening, but he already had plans and politely declined. (As an aside, the United staff at the airport was efficient, pleasant and thoroughly professional.)

Don’t Leave Money on the Table

Clearly, changing travel plans is not for everyone. But if the stars align and you have flexibility, knowing the Compensation Rules can arm you with the ability to make the most of your situation.