We have received ten voluntary bumping coupons in the last four years. Most of those have been in Atlanta, but one set was in Salt Lake City. The last time we took a voluntary bump we went to the gate for our flight to depart and that flight was also over-sold so we were bumped again. Delta paid for our hotel room, meals, phone card and booked us out on first class the following morning with $1600 of flight coupons in our pockets.
I would like to plan our flights to increase the possibilities of this happening more frequently. I read one article that said flying later in the day was a good technique and then a second article that claimed that first flights in the morning were best. I bought a travel book that suggested that passengers who were better dressed were more likely to be selected. Several sources have suggested that making reservations for heavily traveled days, like the day before Thanksgiving, yield more voluntary bumping opportunities.
Are there any people on the forum who have a good plan to obtain voluntary bumping vouchers or, in the alternative, some suggested resource for this information?
