From Teresa Plowright,
Your Guide to Family Vacations.
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In today's world of air travel, overbooked flights are a fact of life. And when too many passengers show up at the boarding gate, an airline will seek volunteers willing to fly later, offering compensation for their troubles such as cash, vouchers, or airline tickets.

If you're a family of two adults and two offspring, you might feel that compensation-times-four equals a tempting offer.

Such were my thoughts en route with three boys from Vancouver to Paris via Frankfurt: we changed planes in Calgary, where, in the departure lounge -- to the distress of a lot of Germans wearing cowboy hats-- we learned that our flight was seriously overbooked. The four of us, however, had confirmed seats. As I sat gloating, an Air Canada employee announced: "If anyone would like to volunteer to take a later flight, you'll receive either a voucher for travel on Air Canada or $200 cash."

Hmmm, two hundred dollars times four would be a welcome bonus on our under-funded trip. I decided to inquire when we could arrive in Paris if we gave up our seats. "One hour later," I was told: two upcoming flights each had forty empty seats.

In five minutes, the deed was done. I was sent to an adjacent boarding area, where an agent was supposed to book new flights.

Well guess what, no one appeared at all; and by the time we finally made our way to a ticketing area, all those empty seats had gone.

Suddenly, we had no flight.

After monumental stress, seats were found on a flight leaving three hours later. Pouf! one of our three evenings in Paris was gone forever.

The airline staff were helpful, and gave us vouchers for a meal while we waited. My sons still remember buying $15 worth of Tim Horton donuts.

More Turbulence
Further trouble waited in London, where we needed to change planes to Paris; but our seats on the connecting flight hadn't materialized. Two of my kids were near the breaking point after our long flight. Miraculously, seats on another airline were found. More waiting, more food vouchers...

We arrived in Paris, four hours late, with $800CDN in my wallet. Did we make a good bargain? No. Had I known that the deal included major stress, the loss of a precious evening in Paris, and a high risk of getting stranded in London, I would NOT have volunteered to leave the flight.

Lesson learned:

• insist that staff confirm your seats on a replacement flight BEFORE you give up your seats on an overbooked flight.

More advice:

• If your replacement flight is not until the next day, make sure the airline will cover costs of accommodation and meals

• If the compensation is a free airline ticket, check if there are restrictions on the ticket

Interestingly, a travel agent later told me that, with four seats, I could probably have gotten a better deal than $800: airlines frequently up the ante.

Choose Me
For people with flexible schedules, a voluntary bump can yield a nice bonus in cash or free flights. Some folk even want to get bumped.

Forced Bumps
But what if not enough people can be persuaded to leave an overbooked flight? In that case, someone will be "involuntary bumped", a procedure regulated by the FAA to make sure that a traveler gets reasonable compensation. But if the airline puts you on another flight scheduled to arrive within one hour of your original arrival time, you're not entitled to any compensation at all.

So, when that tempting offer is called out...
...should you volunteer to miss the flight? Maybe: if you have a flexible schedule, and if your kids can handle the delays and uncertainty.

To paraphrase: They also serve, who stand aside, and wait.