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Home » United Airlines » Bump Strategy: Take the Earlier Redeye
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Bump Strategy: Take the Earlier Redeye

Matthew Klint Posted onMarch 3, 2010 7 Comments

Sunday evening I travelled from BUR-SFO-IAD-PHL, including a redeye from SFO-IAD. United is currently running two redeyes from SFO-IAD Sunday evenings, a 767 departing at 2230 and a 757 departing at 2315. I am used to taking the 2230 flight, but chose the later flight for the following reasons:

  1. To give me time to grab a snack in the Singapore Airlines’ lounge
  2. So I would not miss my connection to IAD if my flight from BUR was delayed
  3. I prefer the 757 to the domestically-configured 767
  4. I am a night owl, so the later the flight, the better I sleep
  5. Many passengers who show up early may standby on the earlier flight, giving me more room on the later flight

Unfortunately for me, when I arrived at SFO I noticed a huge crowd at the gate for the 2230 SFO-IAD flight and had to listen to a gate agent attempting to solicit volunteers to take the later flight. You don’t know how much that hurts.

There would not have been a $600 voucher for this bump, but a r/t voucher for taking a flight 45 minutes later would have been nice (btw, I wonder why UA didn’t IBD a few passengers since they would be arriving at their destination less than an hour after originally scheduled, meaning UA would not be obliged to provide any compensation?).

Maybe this was an abnormality (though I’ve been bumped off a Sunday night SFO-IAD flight before), but this week I booked the 2230 redeye for Sunday night, when I’ll fly the same route again.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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7 Comments

  1. whakojacko Reply
    March 3, 2010 at 8:04 pm
    1. Actually 198 isnt a 763 on less busy days, generally Tuesday and Saturday.

    2. You missed another benefit of the later redeye: Since the first flights out of IAD dont leave until ~8:30 or so (PIT is that way, PHL seems similar) you dont actually get there any earlier, you just wait around IAD more (uggggh). Unfortunately I more often than not end up on 198 since IME it generally has more availability of the cheaper buckets.
      3.Whats your success % for getting into the SQ lounge? The one time I tried, I was told it was “too busy”. Havent been back since, as its a bit of a hike.

  2. Rob Reply
    March 3, 2010 at 10:02 pm

    You’ve mentioned in the past being able to swap DBCFREEs for travel credits; I VDBd off a flight at ORD a few nights ago and due to GA overload, was handed a DBCFREE. The first few agents I asked were quite willing to do the switch, but didn’t know how to and said that it had to be done by the GA that originally issued the DBCFREE, and when I found someone who knew how to, she wasn’t willing. Eventually got it sorted out, but if you know any details on S* profiles or info that an RCC/gate agent could look up, I’d appreciate it so that I can then inform them and deal with someone who wants to help me 🙂

    Thanks

  3. Matthew Reply
    March 4, 2010 at 6:46 am

    @whakojacko: Good point about waiting around at IAD. I arrived early enough to stop by C17 for “breakfast” Monday morning and was disheartened to see that they have even eliminated the Quaker Oats bars. Yogurt, stale bagels, or packaged muffins only. Also, there were no bananas–only a few apples. I’ll take more time at SFO any day (any morning or evening to be precise, since the IAD LH Lounge is great in the afternoon)

    I have never been turned away from the SQ Lounge (dozens of visits), but I thought I would be Sunday night. I arrived about 10:20p and the lounge was packed. There were only a couple chairs unoccupied. I was let in, but the food was almost gone and the hostess inside said no more food would be brought out. I snagged a few meatballs though, which were quite tasty.

    If you are told that the lounge is crowded, you can put up a stink and will probably be let in. It may not be worth it in the evening, unless you want to grab a water bottle for your redeye or take a shower, but the SQ lounge is great in the morning. Hot breakfast items that rival some of the restaurants in the terminal.

    @Rob: Next time, ask the agent to look up S*UAL/DENIED-VDB or take a copy of profile along (link below).

    http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/S*UAL/DENIED-VDB

  4. Rob Reply
    March 4, 2010 at 10:58 pm

    @Matthew the first agents I asked were willing to do the swap, but just didn’t know how to void out the DBCFREE and re-issue travel credits; that’s “howto void and re-issue” is more the information I hope to be able to provide to them

  5. Matthew Reply
    March 4, 2010 at 11:00 pm

    @Rob: Last time I had to do the swap the agent just printed out new vouchers, added a note about what she was doing on the record, and wrote VOID across the DBCFREE voucher. I don’t know what keystrokes she used to print out the new vouchers.

  6. Kaushik Reply
    January 9, 2013 at 4:09 pm

    How would you access SQ’s lounge at SFO which is in the International terminal when you fly domestic UA??

  7. Matthew Reply
    January 10, 2013 at 7:42 am

    The terminals are connected by a hallway planeside (past security).

    But SQ now only lets in Star Gold departing to an international destination from SFO and during peak times (before their A380 flight departs) only SQ passengers.

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