How to avoid the bump

It’s not unusual for flights to be overbooked. The TravelSmart newsletter offers the following advice to help you avoid being involuntarily bumped from a full flight:

Get a seat assignment when you book the flight. Arrive early and confirm your seat.

Get priority treatment by joining the airline’s elite member club or frequent flyer program.

Avoid the last flight of the day, when fewer people will volunteer to get bumped. Also, the earlier you fly in the day, the more options you’ll have for completing your trip if you do get bumped.

If you are being involuntarily bumped, make sure the airline has first asked for volunteers who might be happy to skip the flight in exchange for compensation.

Those who volunteer to be bumped are typically compensated with a free flight or travel voucher in addition to being rebooked. For travelers with flexible schedules, this may be a good deal.

If you want to volunteer, TravelSmart recommends calling the airline the evening before to ask if the flight is overbooked. If it is, arrive 75 minutes before departure and volunteer to be bumped. But ask questions before you accept any deals.

If your rebooked flight for the original route is hours away or the next day, will the airline pay for your meals while you wait or a hotel? If you’ve already checked your luggage, what will happen to it? As for your compensation, are you getting a free ticket or a money-off voucher? Does the ticket or voucher expire? Does it have blackout dates?

TravelSmart notes that involuntarily bumped passengers are not entitled to compensation if the airline can arrange alternative transportation that is scheduled to get them to their destination within an hour of the original arrival time. And if your flight was canceled due to weather or mechanical difficulties, or because the airline had to use a smaller plane than originally planned, TravelSmart says the airline is not required to compensate you.

But you are entitled to compensation under certain circumstances if you’re involuntarily bumped due to overbooking.

TravelSmart says if your substitute transportation gets to your destination between one and two hours after the original arrival time (or between one and four hours on international flights), the airline is required to pay you an amount equal to your one-way fare, up to $200. If the substitute flight gets you there two hours after your original arrival time (four hours international), compensation is equal to twice your paid fare, up to $400.

These rules only apply to flights departing from U.S. airports for either domestic or international destinations. They do not cover inbound international flights to the U.S. or other international routes.