maclarenv12 wrote: Did you consider:
1. The religious woman doesn't put a price tag on a "regular weekly mass". I give her credit for sticking strong to what she believes in, you seem to want to "beat her up".
2 The $500 "same as cash" value to you may have had "next to zero" value to your friends, depending on their travel habits.
I believe your first point was well-addressed by vpplayer88. That said, those of us who monetize or numericize the religious activities of others know we are opening ourselves up to attack. People sometimes go to war over perceived religious slights. I hope this doesn't come to that.
As to your second point, I tried to communicate that the $500 travel voucher was fully transferable --- which includes being usable by anybody. (Not all Southwest vouchers are fully transferable --- but these are). That means you can sell them or give them away if you don't find them personally usable. On occasion I've purchased these vouchers from others at an 80% rate (which is another way to gain a small edge.) This would make the $500 vouchers worth $400 --- which is still significantly higher than "next to zero." Had any of my friends been bumped I would have explained this to them. I doubt any would have wanted to sell Shirley and me their vouchers but at 80% we were willing buyers if they were willing sellers. My four friends (plus Shirley) saw this article WAY before it was posted. Three of them agreed with my major point that their biggest problem with signing up for bumping was that I sprung it on them at the last minute. These three people believe they would have agreed to try to be bumped had we discussed it a couple of days earlier. None of them felt I was beating them up. The one "holdout" has her "never-again" philosophy and nothing I said in the article
came close to changing her mind. I suspect that if the other five of us signed up for bumping she would too (albeit kicking and screaming) because her "from McCarran to home" transportation was going to be in the same car as three of the others --- and she was NOT the driver. Someone posted that bumpees usually board last and get center seats. Yes, this often happens if the later flight is close to being full. I'm fairly large (220# --- 6'1" --- prefer to read a book) and aisle seats are more comfortable. But this is not a showstopper for me although I knows others for whom it is. I am willing to put up with slightly less comfort for $500. Shirley is much smaller (110# --- 5'8" --- likes to talk to most anybody) and middle seats aren't such an annoyance to her. This definitely needs to be part of your decision in deciding whether to try to be bumped.Bob
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