We were flying home from New Orleans to Denver … via Washington DC. No amount of begging, pleading or whining could get United to put us on the direct New Orleans to Denver flight. At one point they said for $200 they would put us on the waitlist. So we showed up at the airport and asked to fly standby. They said no, because the direct flight to Denver was 30 minutes after the DC flight. Argh. But then, while we are sitting at the gate waiting for the DC flight, they page us, and give us vouchers for free roundtrip tickets and confirmed seats on the direct Denver flight! Turns out the Washington DC flight was overbooked and up until then nobody had realized that we would have been happy to help them out with that problem. We would have done it for free but we’re delighted with the free ticket vouchers.
Home four hours early with free tickets for our next vacation.