Last year, airlines gave me roughly $2000 in free flights. I used that money for a visit to Maine, cross-country flights to San Francisco and Seattle and a Labor Day getaway to the Dominican Republic.
I "paid" for all these flights by deliberately getting bumped.
Airlines try to oversell most flights, anticipating that a handful of travelers won't show up. If everyone who bought a seat actually shows up at the gate, you'll hear the agent ask for volunteers.
When that happens, I'm frankly shocked that more people don't jump at the opportunity to be bumped. I was once given a $500 voucher and a confirmed seat on the next flight -- an hour and a half later. In other words, I earned $333 an hour. Another time, I was bumped off one flight for $500, put on a flight a few hours later and bumped off that for an additional $400.
You can get a number of perks by giving up your original seat. Sometimes airlines will offer to place you in first class. If you've got a layover, you can also ask to fly directly to your destination. For example, I once got bumped in LAX as I waited to kick off my Los Angeles-Dallas-Washington DC journey. An hour later, I was on a flight directly from Los Angeles to Washington DC with a cool $400 in my pocket. Finally, unlike flights you book using frequent flyer miles, you actually earn frequent flyer miles when you pay using a voucher.
Getting bumped is, of course, a crapshoot. You rarely know in advance if an airline will seek volunteers. But there are a number of steps you can take to maximize your chances:
- Know your chances -- When you get to the airport, check in at a kiosk and look at the seat map to see if the flight looks pretty full. If there are just a couple empty seats, or better yet none, chances are decent the airline will need volunteers.
This article was excerpted from Scott Keyes's new e-book How To Fly For Free: Practical Tips The Airlines Don't Want You To Know.