Awhile ago, I spent a few days at a conference for work in the Raleigh-Durham area. I had bought a Basic Economy ticket – total fare of about $350 roundtrip, though I used part of my airline credits from credit cards to offset part of the cost. Basic Economy doesn’t come with a seat selection, which was fine since I was traveling by myself, and on Delta, you still get a carryon bag. My first inkling of potential trouble was on the outbound leg, where I ended up in Seat 19A of a 20 row airplane. I’m usually not that far back, so this portended a potential Delta Airlines bump voucher coming down. Thankfully it ended up working out for me unlike my friend Jeff, who was downgraded from his first class seat after taking a bump and then re-seated in economy
(SEE ALSO: Delta First Class Passenger Takes Bump Then Is Downgraded to Economy)
Getting a Delta Bump voucher
For the return leg, I checked in right around the 24 hour mark, and got 2 ominous messages. First of all, I didn’t have a seat.
Then, I saw they were looking for volunteers
I posted over on the free Points With a Crew Miles and Points Facebook group looking for suggestions and in the end, I decided to just put in $200, since this is totally non-binding and I figured getting on the list would at least give me options
Trying to find a better way home
My flight was a direct flight RDU-CVG leaving at 6:10 p.m. My conference was over at lunchtime, and there was a 1:30 p.m. flight leaving RDU connecting in Atlanta that would actually have gotten me into CVG a few hours earlier. I tried calling Delta the morning of the flight, but they said that it was only oversold by 2 and they wouldn’t do any compensation until the gate (by which time this earlier flight would have left).
So off to the airport it was. Even at the airport, I tried talking to a different Delta gate agent as well as going to the Delta Assist center, but neither of them wanted to work with me. I got to our gate about 75 minutes before departure time and talked with the gate agent. I told him that I had a price if he could get me home tonight, and a different price if I had to wait till the next morning. He said he couldn’t get me home that evening – there were flights leaving RDU to DTW and ATL right around the same time that would have gotten me home with a connection but he said they were full. I don’t know if they were REALLY full or if he just didn’t want to deal with the paperwork while he was trying to get the flight out the door
Getting a Delta Airlines bump gift card for being passenger #51 on a 50 seat aircraft
The Standby list did NOT look good….
After everyone was boarded, there was 1 other person with me (I assume HEW/J). I was talking with him and he said that he had also volunteered. I asked him what he asked for and he said that the gate agent told him it was also $1000. I asked him if they could only take 1, if he wanted to stay or go. He said that he’d stay. I was fine either way. $1000 is nice, but it’s not life changing money and I would have liked to see my family as well. It turned out that the pilot said that due to weather he could only take 49 passengers and 54 bags. But since there were only 36 bags, they could fit a 50th passenger and they took HEW/J.
Thankfully this all worked out for me, and not like the time that a Delta First Class passenger took a bump only to get downgraded back to economy
When the agent came back, there was a bunch of paperwork to sign and then I was off to the hotel!
Here’s a list of Delta Airlines bump gift card options that I was given
The way the Delta Airlines bump gift cards work is that you get an email within 24 hours or so (mine arrived within 2 hours), and then you can choose which card you want (I will be choosing the Amex Gift Card). I also got a hotel voucher for the Hampton Inn & Suites Raleigh-Durham Airport-Brier Creek, and 3 $15 meal vouchers. All in all, not too bad for a night’s work!
Ever been bumped by Delta Airlines? Have a good Delta Airlines bump gift card story? Leave it in the comments
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Out of curiosity, what was the deciding factor that made them choose the other guy to board, since both of you were interested in the compensation? Did you check-in first and therefore were able to choose whether you would go or stay?
I always assumed (incorrectly) that the “high dollar” comps were given to flights that were significantly oversold. Many years ago, I was on an AA flight from ORD-DAY that was oversold by 30 on Christmas Eve…that only garnered $500.
I don’t know. The gate agent did not give us a choice. When the gate agent was back down the ramp doing whatever he does, I talked to the other guy waiting, like I said. I thought we had kind of agreed that if they only needed 1, that he’d take the bump and I’d get on the flight. But the gate agent just came out and took him without really asking either one of us. I thought maybe he was taking him to retrieve his bag (he had checked a bag so they had to get it off the plane), but he never came back out. Maybe the agent REALLY “bumped him off” 🙂
If he checked a bag and you didn’t perhaps they picked him to fly to avoid the hassle of getting his bag off. Either way, kudos on the $1,000.
They said that they had to get his bag off because initially the pilot said that he could only take 49 passengers and 54 bags (according to the gate agent). But there were only 36 bags, so they took the 50th passenger (him)
so the fact that you chose $200 seemed to be irrelevant? if so, that’s interesting…
Yes – I believe that to be true and is consistent with what I heard from others. I don’t know if it had any BENEFIT (i.e. getting me on to the list in 1st place) but it certainly didn’t seem to lock me in to $200
And if a non US resident?
Hello just a question about the gift cards ! once you pick one do they mail it to you or how does that work?
Yes – it comes in the mail
So tired of your lazy reposting of old materials from 2019, as evidenced by comments. Write some new stuff or stay quiet, travel has changed a lot since then.
When i come to the boardingarea home page i expect a brand new story when I click or a meaningful update to facts or findings of a prior story.
‘your mileage may vary’ and stories like this are taking valuable home page real estate from people bringing new material to the table.
Thanks for the feedback. We try to strike a balance between new content and reposting of still-relevant past articles.
Can I pay off my VISA credit card balance using the VISA gift card I got for being bumped? And if I don’t have a physical address (only PO Box) how can I get an actual card (not a digital one)?
I agree with the comments but… this was a worthwhile read to new people to ‘the game’.
I still have $550 remaining on a $1000 UA bump voucher. Cough. Brag.