Things You'll Need:
- Plane ticket
- A bit of extra time
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Step 1
Consider booking a ticket on a more crowded flight. Obviously, the more overbooked the flight, the more likely you are to get bumped. Flights a couple days before or after major holidays are good choices, as are Mondays, Fridays, and Sundays in general. Flights between major hubs tend to be crowded.
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Step 2
If possible, check the seat map for the flight before booking it to make sure that it is relatively crowded. Check again a couple days before your flight. Also, consider using Seatcounter to check the availability of tickets for the flight, to determine how full it is. If there are no empty seats, there's a decent chance that you'll get bumped.
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Step 3
Arrive at the gate reasonably early, say 45 minutes before departure, and sit near the podium. When the gate agent arrives, politely ask if the flight is full. You can usually ask to be placed on the volunteer list. Even if they don't need to bump you, they might give you an upgrade for being nice.
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Step 4
After you talk to the gate agent, continue sitting near the podium. If they ask for volunteers, you can hop in line quickly if you're nearby. The standard compensation is a voucher for a free domestic round-trip ticket.
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Step 5
If it looks like they'll need a lot of volunteers, you might consider waiting. If there aren't enough volunteers, the airline might sweeten the deal by offering, for example, a first class seat on the next flight.
