Fjnovak1 From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 582 posts, RR: 2 Posted (8 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 1536 times:
I am taking a trip to Los Angeles to visit some friends for the New Year, and my days of travel are not flexible...i will be going BDL-LAX-BDL, outbound Tuesday December 27th and returning Sunday January 2nd. I'm kinda hard up on the cash right now so I'm thinkin of springing for the 50,000 mile rulebuster award ticket (i've got about 60,000 miles in my acct). I'm considering trying a priceline ticket but I think if that ended up being over $300 its worth it for me financially just to shell out the 50K miles for the award ticket. Here are my questions though that I need help on.
I know that both those days will be relatively heavy travel days; I'm thinkin of doing a double connection in each direction to increase my opportunities of getting bumped. Could someone that works for Northwest please check out the following flights for me and let me know what my chances are in your estimation??? I have not booked this itinerary yet but I think this will be the one that I choose that fits my schedule best plus provides some of the better bump opportunities....
Tuesday December 27th
BDL-DTW NW 1183
DTW-MSP NW 741
MSP-LAX NW 307 <-- this one is a 319 and shows up as having only the exit rows and 8 premium/handicapped seats available
Sunday, January 2nd
LAX-IND NW 206 <--Again, this one shows only exit rows and premium seats available
IND-DTW NW 1018
DTW-BDL NW 1188
Are there any other alternate combinations on those days (with 2 connections to maximize the # of flights and better chance at a bump)...on the way out it would be possible to go later in the day via Memphis if that'd be a better way to get bumped.... I'm trying to earn a free ticket or voucher to recoup the cost of having to use 50K miles on a domestic ticket (yeah, I know thats cheap but hey, I like challenges)....
NWA Man From United States of America, joined Jun 1999, 1828 posts, RR: 13 Reply 1, posted (8 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1468 times:
(I don't work for NW... I got all of this from the site below)
Stick with your original itinerary... I can tell you that 307 is almost assuredly overboooked and almost completely sold out (even seats in F are being purchased). If you can get a seat, that is... all of the flights between MSP and LAX that day are completely packed. Knowing my luck (with all of these flights being sold out), I'll have to travel that day - that's my luck for you.
At least for NW, P and F signify F availability. Y signifies full Y availability, of course, and on down the line. Contact me through the profile if you need any more explanation - and good luck.
M404 From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 2214 posts, RR: 5 Reply 2, posted (8 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 1453 times:
Hmmm. I'm probably missing something here. Fill me in.
You want a NW employee, who has been told he will be asked soon or has already been asked for concessions in his pay so his carrier can continue to keep his family fed, to provide you with the best chance of getting bumped. Now what would this get you and what would it get NW? Would you be one at the gate screaming at a NW employee that he has a reservation and they darn well had better honor it. Would you be the reason the flight may be delayed while some NW employee slogs thru the bin looking for your bags? Would you be the one receiving a delivered bag at NW expense? Do you know how overbooking stats are made up for each flight? Do the airlines now have to figure into those stats the people who WANT to be bumped and increase the chances of destroying a trip for someone who does NOT want to be bumped, who may lose a job for not getting back on time? To add to the ill will carriers already have to contend with? Do you want to take up the time of the rare live agent who has not been replaced with an E-Ticket kiosk and an outsourced res agent to rebook your trip?
If none of the above is true, then accept my apology and in the immortal words of Rosanne Rosannadanna "Never Mind" But if they are true then I hope we meet at DTW or MSP or MEM at I get the pleasure of rerouting you on the busiest traffic period of the year.
Less sarcasm and more thought equal better understanding
Fjnovak1 From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 582 posts, RR: 2 Reply 3, posted (8 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 1416 times:
Hey hey hey there, i never have screamed at an airport agent in my life...and I don't check luggage, I only carry on. I'm just a poor young professional that likes to travel...and i volunteer every time they call for volunteers and my travel plans are flexible-- I've volunteered on NW and DL before and they told me "thank you for doing them a favor" so that screaming person CAN get on their way. In return I thank them for providing me with the opportunity to earn free travel. It isn't like I'm just some frugal travel junkie--- before I take this trip I will have hit 25K status and will be NW silver elite. I know that doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things but I support Northwest and Delta - pretty much the only carriers I fly. I'm sorry you guys had to take concessions- I've found NW agents to be some of the better ones out there, but lets be realistic, the paycuts seem to be par for the course these days no matter where you are, but I'm not the problem traveler you see everyday- I'm the guy that makes a point to thank every member of the flight crew when I leave the plane and addresses the "humans" I deal with on the airlines as "maam" and "sir."
GSPSPOT From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 2749 posts, RR: 2 Reply 4, posted (8 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 1397 times:
Fjnovak1:
I share your pain, and I feel exactly the same way. There's a good bit of "passenger bashing" on this board. We're ALL airline enthusiasts here...."can't we all just get along?"
FlyABR From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 597 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (8 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 1379 times:
my position on this is why bother messing around to try and get a W class ticket. if you got bumped and were getting a Y class freebie...then by all means. otherwise why screw up a vacation...?
Fjnovak1 From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 582 posts, RR: 2 Reply 6, posted (8 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 1312 times:
Here's the reason: on the particular travel days, (Tues the 27th and Sun the 2nd) i have no timeframe (thus my consideration to use priceline)...the big deal about going to LA is to spend new years eve with some friends out there...everything else is basically just to spend a few days out of the increasingly cold state of Connecticut... If I can earn a W class ticket that can be used to take a weekend trip to Florida or to go home to see my family in Michigan at some point- point being, i'd put it to good use.
Plus who doesn't feel damn good when they get something cheap/for free?? I know I do!
GSPSPOT, thanks for agreeing....i think you deserve some respect for that there buddy! Respected list, that is!
Azjubilee From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 3555 posts, RR: 30 Reply 7, posted (8 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 1294 times:
Why don't you call reservations... it's their job to answer such questions. This really isn't the right place.
GSPSPOT From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 2749 posts, RR: 2 Reply 8, posted (8 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 1174 times:
GSPSPOT From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 2749 posts, RR: 2 Reply 9, posted (8 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 1164 times:
Well, I tried, that is... Don't know what the problem is. Said the user name was invalid for the Respected Users list.... (?)
Sponsor Message: 
From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 582 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
