Travel Tales

I had good flights to and from Springfield this Christmas. No snow. No rain. No delays. There were a couple of things that were a little strange.

The flight out from DC to Dallas/Ft. Worth was overbooked. They made an announcement about it. They also said that people in Group 4 would have to fit there carry on luggage under the seat in front of them. If it didn’t fit under there, the luggage would have to be checked. They came on again asking people to volunteer to check their carry ons because again they were overbooked and there would not be enough overhead bin space. The luggage would be checked to your final destination and there would be no charge for it.

Later they came on and asked for volunteers to give up their seats because the flight was overbooked. They offered a $300 travel voucher. They made a point of adding that it had no restrictions on it. Also that you would be booked on the next flight out to Dallas. If Dallas had been my final destination, then I might have been interested in doing that but it wasn’t. So I stayed put.

On the way back there was an even better deal. The flight was from Springfield to Chicago. They started out offering a $300 voucher. You also would have a confirmed seat on the 1:45 flight to Dallas. A little time passed and they made another offer a $500 voucher. The final offer was 1500 frequent flyer miles and the $500 voucher. If they couldn’t get someone to take that then someone would have to be bumped. That would be the last person to purchase a ticket. I think someone tried to take them up on the offer As I learned from the person sitting next to me on the flight to Chicago, a guy did volunteer but he wanted to be rebooked to a flight on Dec. 30. The airline wasn’t able to accommodate him. But the thing is I’m not sure anyone was bumped from the flight.

And those are my travel tales from this December.