The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Friday, April 28, 2017

There wasn't any kicking and screaming from us!

Well, this was an interesting day!

Let me back up to Wednesday morning when we were first able to "check in" online for our 9:00am Thursday flights from Ottawa to Toronto and Toronto to Regina. At that time, our seat assignments for the first flight from Ottawa to Toronto came up normally. We had seats side by side and on a larger jet that had economy seating three rows on each side with an aisle in the middle.

But on the Toronto to Regina leg of the trip, I noticed that things seemed abnormally "full". In fact, when the system tried to assign seats, it put Ruth in an upgraded seating section with no extra charge, and me in a single seat in the economy section at the rear of the plane.

When I saw how few seats were available, I cancelled check in all together. That still left us with our assigned seats though, because we couldn't reverse it once it was assigned.

When we arrived in Ottawa, it was a foggy start to the day...

Foggy morning in Ottawa.

We got on an earlier flight than what had been planned from Ottawa to Toronto, and that was fine. We arrived in Toronto and got ourselves settled at the next gate. Some time went by, and eventually Ruth went to check on getting some food for us. While she was doing that, an announcement came from our gate agent saying that our flight was oversold and they were looking for three volunteers to go on a later flight.

I was up in a flash. I left our bags alone right where they were and I went straight to the gate agent. I said that I had two tickets that we were willing to give up for a later flight. At first, the guy said that we would be offered $400 CAD vouchers to be put on the 4:00pm flight, but he quickly realized that the 4:00pm flight was also sold out in economy. He called his boss and asked if we could be put in business class, but the boss declined on that. 

Then, I said that we would be quite happy to fly tomorrow (Friday) morning. The gate agent heaved a sigh of relief and said "that flight is wide open, and we'll give you $800 each in vouchers plus a hotel room" He asked if we were still interested.

"Yep. That's fine"...I said, trying to keep my enthusiasm muted.

There was no negotiation involved. We were happy, and so were they. I spoke to the gate agent afterwards and he said that sometimes they actually have a hard time finding people to volunteer. We don't get it.

Funny enough, there was only one other woman from economy who came forward. She wasn't happy with the $400 voucher offer, and chose to keep her seat. But a guy from business class came forward and accepted the $400 offer and flew on the next flight out.

Everybody was happy.

They gave us our new boarding passes for Friday morning, and I went to the customer service counter to pick up our vouchers. What a deal... $800 each to spend towards another flight, and they are transferable if we wish (with some conditions). You can't put them towards taxes, so we still have to pay the taxes and fees on any flight that we choose.

The woman who gave us the vouchers and hotel coupon was not the most cooperative. It almost seemed like she was trying to get away with reversing whatever had been offered to us. Anyhow, I kept a smile and stood my ground. 

She gave us the two $800 vouchers, a one night hotel stay at the Radisson Suites Hotel near Toronto airport, and lunch and dinner coupons worth $50 in the hotel restaurant and upgraded seating for our 8:00am flight Friday morning.

There wasn't any kicking and screaming from us! What a deal! We can't figure how anybody wouldn't accept something like this. No negotiation on our part at all.... we were totally happy with what was being offered.

Made it to our hotel room at the Radisson...





Not bad!

And so, we had to try to figure out what to do with our new found time in Toronto. We decided not to go to downtown. It would have cost either $12 each on the train (each way) or minimum $14.00 on city transit in rush hour traffic. We've been to downtown Toronto many times before, so we just decided to go for a walk.


Every day in Toronto.
No thanks!

Lots of construction, even near the airport.

Some kind of hawk.

This is the same bird. He flew to the top of the hydro pole.

We walked almost 10 kms (6.2 miles) of urban roadways near the airport. Not the best scenery, but we needed some exercise!

Had dinner and a couple of drinks at the hotel restaurant and ended up out of pocket $20. Not bad, but it was way overpriced. Good thing Air Canada paid the better part of the bill!

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Good deal on new towels...




24 comments:

  1. WOW....now that is really a great deal. Paul and I tried several times to take the bump but were too late. I think some people stand by the counter waiting for the announcement to be made and just step forward and get the bump.

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    1. We are pretty happy with the deal! :-)

      Yes, I expect that there are people that try to do this on purpose, in hopes to they can get bumped and we don't blame them.

      Delete
  2. Sure sounds like a wonderful deal pretty easy to settle for that especially if you have the time.

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    1. Totally agree, we had the time and it wasn't really putting us out too much and if it can help someone else out that doesn't have the time then it works out even better.

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  3. Brilliant, I love it. I don't believe Tony or I would be kicking or screaming (only with excitement) at such a great deal.

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    Replies
    1. Yep, I bet you two would have had a huge grin on your faces as well! :-)

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  4. "trying to keep my enthusiasm muted" - ha ha

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  5. Jim and I accepted a bump coming back from Hawaii many years ago. We were given dinner vouchers at a steak house at the airport which suited Jim just fine. Our luggage was already on the other plane but they told us they would deliver it to us when we got back to Washington DC. Our flight left about three hours later than the original flight and flew a different flight plan. The best part is - we got home before the other plane landed because they got stranded on the runway in Dallas because of a storm. We beat them home by more than 15 hours. Loved it.

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    Replies
    1. Ha that is funny, that you get bumped and are given dinner on them and you still made it to your destination before your original flight. I am sure that doesn't happen often.

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  6. I see more travel plans being made as i write this all courtesy of the airline.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Definitely more travel ahead but you can be guaranteed that Kevin will still be looking for a great deal or two!

      Delete
  7. Kevin y Ruth,Enthusiasm,Enthusiasm,Robert Dinero

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    Replies
    1. Yep, lots of enthusiasm from us for this deal! :-)

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  8. Some people just can't take the bump offer due to work or other obligations. Like you, we certainly would take it so long as we weren't flying with our dog. What a great deal you got!

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    1. We totally get that not everyone can take advantage of being bumped but when you have a plane load of people you would think that there must be a few on board that can give up their seat to others that can't afford to be bumped and in this case we were two of those people and if we can help out those that can't afford to be bumped then we are happy to help out and I would hope that others would think the same way.

      I can understand when you are flying with a dog. There are always circumstances that can and would prevent wanting to be bumped.

      Delete
  9. Congratulations! Such a deal. I'd take it, too, if I didn't have a firm commitment on the other end. Win-win.

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    1. Yes, there are always circumstances that affect the willingness to give up your seat and we would possibly be the same but if we were told that we were bumped then we would just accept that fact and deal with it after all once you buy your ticket you are accepting the terms and conditions of the ticket and one of those is the fact that they have the right to bump you. It is looking like some airlines are going to stop overbooking after all the media lately and they should be stopping this practice!

      Delete
  10. Southwest and United have decided not to over book flights any more...yay!!! I too have given up my seat several times to high school group, military personnel, and other travelers...the voucher was not an incentive at the time. I was glad to do this since I was on my way home and had nothing urgent pending at home.

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    Replies
    1. Rita, since we are flying Southwest in June, I'm glad to hear that and, of course, that United followed suit (no pun intended!). Since the business flyers are the backbone of aviation travel, I know they must be happy, too. They are the airline accounts which primarily keep the planes flying, and Beach and I as retirees are just the "fluff" along for the ride.

      Delete
    2. Yes, we have heard that some of the airlines are giving up the practice of overbooking and they should be! Good for you for giving up your seat to help out others who can't afford to lose their seat on the flight.

      Delete
  11. When you are flexible and not in a hurry, there are great deals to be had! Welcome back. Can't wait to follow all your summer adventures :)

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    Replies
    1. So, so true and that is partly why we are also able to get some great airfare deals, not just being able to give up our seats on an overbooked flight. It doesn't really matter to us where we go as long as it's a great deal, so now Kevin will be on the look out for a flight in the fall so that we can use up those vouchers.

      I don't think we will have very many adventures at the campground during the summer but you never know!

      Delete

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