That’s one of the reasons why one way tickets are expensive. Back when Saturday night stays were the norm, people did this all the time. They’re coming back - we’ll see how it works.
Only in the airline industry do the carriers rip off their best customers and get all high and mighty about it.
Do you happen to know what the involuntary bumping rules are in Europe?
This is a good deal when it works for you. Coming back from Vegas once my wife volunteered. She wound up on a flight with a connection, which was also overbooked and which she volunteered for again. She wound up at a different airport, but only about an hour later than my direct flight, and with lots of credits. Since I could easily pick her up, it worked great.
So, when was the last time anyone here has witnessed a true involuntary bump?
I was on a flight last Christmas Eve (American) that was overbooked and they needed 3 volunteers for to be bumped to the next flight. It was heading to a hub so everyone on-board had a connecting flight issue. No one bit at $200, $300, or $400. No one wanted to be delayed even when they raised the compensation to $750.
I was meeting family before my connecting flight and we were all traveling to the final destination together or I would’ve volunteered but they were counting on my help ( they have health problems) at the connecting airport.
So then they started making specific offers to specific groups…“we know you are going to Atlanta, we will give you first class tickets on both flights + $800 per person”. Still no takers.
Finally, a party of 5 (not the 3 they needed) accepted the following offer:
First class seats on the next flight out to the hub and the next connecting flight
“Captains Club” or (whatever they call the fancy lounge) privileges while they waited for the new flight at both airports
Meal vouchers ($25 a person) for a meal in the airport before the new flight and another voucher for a meal before the connecting flight
$1000 PER PERSON compensation – for a family of 5, 2 parents and 3 kids
It seems to me that this was so far in excess of what the airline was required to do that they really want to avoid involuntary bumping and I can’t recall ever being on a flight where they couldn’t find volunteers.
The mandatory compensation has been increased substantially recently, by the EU, to €125-€600 (= up to $900), plus expenses. Unsurprisingly the low-cost carriers objected to this strongly. There was a smaller compensation requirement prior to this, but only for overbooking, whereas the new rules also cover cancellations.
I was involuntarily bumped from a flight a couple of years ago. Three other gentlemen were bumped as well. One of them, in fact, was allowed to board the plane and take a seat, until they determined that some other passenger had already claimed the seat but had gone to use the bathroom. He was summarily kicked off the plane.
That’s not what the airlines say when a morbidly obese person can’t fit in one standard seat. Then the story is that you are indeed buying a seat; and if you can’t fit in it, you’ll have to buy two.
People were involuntarily bumped from a flight from Reagan National down to Louis Armstrong last October. I ended up volunteering when it came down to the wire, but about a dozen people on a not-huge jet were left bumped involuntarily. There were no rounds of escalating compensation. What I got was a night in a hotel (which I didn’t take since I could just go back to my parents’ house), a meal ticket to be used in the airport, and a voucher for a “free round-trip ticket” anywhere in the lower 48 states.
But it turned out the voucher was not applicable to any round-trip airfare within the lower 48, but only a scant few tickets. When I had to use it, the best I could do was $200 off a flight from New Orleans to Los Angeles by way of North Carolina. Basically, there’s a dozen flights you can actually get free, a hundred or so you can apply a $200 discount to, and tons of terms and conditions on the exact timing of even those few opportunities.
“Compensation”, at least from U.S. Airways, is a complete ripoff.
Anything from US Airways is a complete and utter ripoff.
All forms of transport require a certain degree of flexibility from all parties. There is no way to plan for weather delays, etc.
US Air story. My brother had to get from Cincinnati to Zurich. Had a flight booked from Dayton via Philadelphia. In Dayton everything was delayed, canceled etc. (no weather issues) so finally US Air routed him via Washington DC and Paris. So he flies to Washington and discovers his onward flight does not exist. US Air’s desk there says they can’t help, so have a nice day.
So he rents a car, drives all the way back to Cincinnati (12 hours all night), and gets rebooked the next day via Newark and (I think) Paris. On the return flight (which was going to Reno), US Air cancelled it in Zurich and sent him via Manchester where his flight was again cancelled and he slept on the floor of the airport overnight, then went via Chicago and Phoenix.
A letter to US Air resulted in no compensation at all. Just “We hope you’ll fly with us again”. hmmm not likely. 
Reno Air: We were returning from Vegas to Reno the Sunday after Thanksgiving (original price $99 ea) and agreed to be bumped for two round trip tickets anywhere on Reno Air and first class to Reno 4 hours later. We used the vouchers to go Reno-Vancouver, BC and on the return had a 13 hour delay and were given new RT vouchers which we used Reno-Chicago.
So for $99 we got Reno-Vegas, Reno-Vancouver and Reno-Chicago trips.
Reno Air is out of business and US Air is still around. 
I don’t know if your brother was aware of this, but any flight from Washington to Paris would have been on United Airlines, code shared on US Air, not on US Air itself. He should have gone to United. US Air never flew from Washington to Paris. I hope he realized that.
Ed
Yes, the ticket was for Air France, which does have flights, just that the flight on my brother’s ticket (which more a hand written thing that US Air in Dayton gave him) didn’t exist.
After asking at all relevant counters (this was about 11:30 at night)… USAir blew him off and said he needed to go back to Dayton but they couldn’t help him get there. He was able to rent a one way car, which ended up being a minivan and drove all the way back.
I don’t think USAir will see much business from him or from his colleagues at the hospital.
There is now a running joke between us that all flights on USAir require a lengthy segment with a rental car in the wrong direction.
I have been bumped off a flight back to the Netherlands from Johannesburg, South Africa.
The only thing I got was a free overnight stay in the crappy airport hotel, a meal voucher and a 50 Euro discount on my next KLM flight which was only good for a few months.
I have never been as pissed off before as that day.
I think it is ridiculous that airlines can get away with this behavious, especially when you already have your seat-number and actually called a few hours before to make sure you had a seat.
Fortunately I was staying with some friends and they came back for me so I could spend another day down at their place.
In that case I totally agree with you – US Air messed up big time.
Ed