how not to get bumped

Travel forums relate countless stories of travel adventures — of once-in-a-lifetime accounts of transcendent moments that surpass expectations ... and of frustrating misadventures of travelers whose plans go awry. The latter was the case in the story, posted just five days ago, by a traveler flying to Buenos Aires to embark on a 16 day cruise around South America.

Things went terribly wrong. His airline flew him from LAX to IAD, then bumped him from his connecting flight to Buenos Aires. Even though he had purchased business class tickets from IAD to BUE, his seats on the second leg were cancelled due to an "equipment change" (or so he was told). Unable to board his international flight, he missed his cruise, an adventure he had been anticipating for an entire year. It doesn't get much worse than that.

Is there anything he could have done differently? Although there are no absolute guarantees when it comes to travel, here are some strategies you can use to lessen the chances of being bumped and ruining your entire vacation.

1. Get seat assignments when you make your airline reservations. If you book on the web, go to the seat selection page - and if there is none, call the airline to get a seat assigned, if at all possible. If you come to the airport without an assigned seat, you'll be at the top of the potential bump list.

2. Join the airline's frequent flyer program. Even if you don't fly enough ever to be able to use the miles you earn, doing this gives you a level of status that non-members do not have. Non-members are more likely to be bumped.

3. Check in online 24 hours before your flight. Go the airline's website, click the "check in online" link, and get your boarding passes. If anyone's going to be bumped, it will be the passenger who waits to check in until an hour before the flight.

4. Get to the airport early. If seats are limited, it's first come, first served. The last to arrive are more likely to lose out.

5. Build a cushion into your schedule. Are you flying to meet a cruise? Don't plan to arrive by air the same day that your cruise departs. If anything goes wrong, you'll miss your cruise's departure. Plan to arrive a day (or more) earlier and enjoy the sights of your port of departure. Surely this traveler could have enjoyed Buenos Aires for several days.

6. Insure against trip delays. Had this traveler booked his air through the cruise line, it would have been the cruise line's responsibility to get him to the next port on his cruise's itinerary. Or ... had he purchased travel insurance with a trip delay component, he could have purchased flights to the next port and been reimbursed to the extent of his policy.

Mishaps do occur when we travel, but these are strategies to minimize the possibility that they will happen to you and ruin your vacation.


copyright (c) 2009 by David J. Ourisman. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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