At this point most seasoned travelers know the drill. Want a cheap ticket? Pay for a nonrefundable ticket, and pay again for any changes. Which is one reason being bumped can be so frustrating, especially as the airline compensation is often less than it would have cost to voluntarily change the reservation.
But now Air Canada is working with a site called Optiontown.com to add a wrinkle to the process. No, they aren’t waiving penalties, but it will discount fares up front for travelers who volunteer at the time of booking to be bumped if necessary.
The new program, called the “Flexibility Reward Option,” gives an immediate discount, and then further credits when passengers are actually bumped. And the airline promises two to four days notice.
It’s an intriguing idea, but the discounts, $7 at time of booking (yes $7, not $70) and up to $50 for actually being bumped to a different flight, don’t seem worth the hassle. Maybe for a starving student, but even leisure travelers like to know their schedules in advance.
Presumably, however, these amounts can be adjusted according to demand, or lack thereof. In fact the discounts are currently so low that I would guess Air Canada expects low usage at first, while it tries to fine-tune the plan.
But passengers who are interested now can simply go to the Optiontown site, enter their Air Canada booking number and indicate if they are willing to take a flight either a few hours or a few days later than their current flight. Then the program will offer a choice of possible alternatives and of possible advance notification dates. (The discount is higher for those willing to be notified closer to departure date.) Optiontown will then notify them on or before that chosen date if their flight has changed.
If this catches on, there are all kinds of possibilities. Presumably airlines could offer higher up-front bumping bounties around the holidays, and in popular high-yield business travel markets.
If it catches on I can also see more and more potential issues. As in, what happens when travelers don’t get or don’t see the email notification? Or what happens when the new flight is also overbooked? Or canceled? And will there be any provision for things like priority on seat assignments? It’s one thing to fly a few hours or few days later; it’s another to be stuck in a middle seat.
And even scarier, what about the potential step of not only discounting for volunteering to be bumped, but charging more for a reservation where they promise NOT to bump you?
One thing is for sure: if Air Canada makes money with their “Flexibility Reward Option,” and passengers don’t revolt, we will soon be hearing the answers to these and other questions.
