Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Bump Story #1 -- The funny bump

This is the first in a series of stories of getting bumped by various airlines. (It follows a posting with a few tips on getting bumped.)

I had been working in Chicago with Dr. A. We had an evening flight on the way back to Baltimore from Chicago's Midway airport on Southwest Airlines. The funny thing about this story is that Dr. A finds my bump habit just a little irritating. Sometimes, he will growl, "If you applied all that brain power to making money the old fashioned way, you wouldn't need to get bumped all the time." Actually, I rather enjoy the admonishment as I am flattered by the compliment coming from a man with considerable intellectual horsepower! I usually explain to him that even if I were rich, I would still go for the bumps. I just like the sport!

Anyway, Southwest called people to the desk, and offered $200 (in vouchers) plus the cost of your ticket. Of course, Dr. A was not interested, but I bounced to the counter almost as if it were a reflex reaction! So they took me off a flight that going to depart at 6:00 pm, and gave me a seat on a flight at about 6:30 that stopped in Cleveland (might have been Cincinnati). The funny thing about this bump was that Dr. A's non-stop flight from Midway got delayed. So I arrived back in Baltimore first with my precious vouchers before he did! I later used them to fly two of the Moyeys out to Oakland, California, when we took a spring break visit to see the Napa Valley.

Excellent bump with a funny twist! I would love to hear readers' bump stories -- please comment!

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