It’s the Only Way to Fly, Say Veteran Travelers as They Ride the Bumps : Airlines: Some passengers not only jump at the chance to give up their seats for compensation, they arrange their schedules to improve chances. The day before Thanksgiving can be especially lucrative.

When you get to the airport gate, other passengers are standing around muttering that the plane is oversold and that somebody is going to get bumped.

For some people, it’s a hassle--sitting around the airport for hours, waiting for another flight. But for others, it means their timing is perfect.

Some passengers not only jump at the chance to give up their seats in exchange for free tickets or credit, they even arrange their schedules to improve their chances.

One seasoned bumper said he and his wife went to the airport on the busiest day of last year--the day before Thanksgiving--with no other purpose but to get bumped from flight after flight.

It’s a handout that makes frequent flier plans look like scraps from the table. For a few hours’ inconvenience a passenger can get credit toward a round-trip ticket and possibly negotiate for much more.

“If it works with my schedule, I’ll definitely go out of my way” to try to get bumped, said Michael McColl, San Francisco-based author of “The Worldwide Guide to Cheap Airfares.”

This summer might be the season of the frequently bumped frequent fliers. With fewer empty seats expected than any summer in the last 50 years, airlines are likely to face more oversold flights and to be looking for more volunteers to give up their seats.

If volunteers are scarce, the passenger who is willing to wait for the next flight can frequently bargain for more than the $150 to $200 first offer from an airline.

Some boast of getting as much as $1,000 in free tickets for giving up their seats.

“I try to get bumped every time that I get on a plane,” said Joe Luehrmann, a Cleveland-based auditor who won’t take less than $300 for a bump. Luehrmann said he doesn’t seek out crowded flights, but “if there is a possibility of getting bumped . . . I will take it.”

The best chances of getting bumped are times and places where the airline is busiest.

Flights between an airline’s two hubs generate heavy traffic and provide flights often enough that a wait for the next one shouldn’t be too long.

Friday afternoons, when business travelers are trying to get home, and Sunday flights, when vacationers head home after staying the required Saturday night for a discount ticket, are some of the best times. Monday mornings are also good.

On the last day of a computer convention in Atlanta, Jim McDonald of El Segundo, Calif., was waiting for his American Airlines flight to Dallas-Fort Worth when the gate agent started asking for volunteers.

“They started at $500, then went to $800 and finally said $1,000. That was enough to keep me in town for a few more hours,” McDonald said.

Airlines intentionally sell too many tickets for some of their flights. The idea is that they can assume some passengers will never show up.

That is a pretty safe assumption, but still, the major airlines didn’t have a seat for one in every 555 passengers with a reservation last year, Department of Transportation figures show.

And last summer, when airlines set records for full cabins, bumping increased 14% from the summer before. Airplanes are expected to be even more cramped this summer.

But the heavy traffic that can make it easier to get bumped might make it harder to cash in that free ticket.

Airline industry analyst Steve Lewins of Gruntal & Co. said airlines this summer will be working harder to increase revenue from each flight. That means passengers traveling on free tickets will likely find themselves on standby more often.

America West was the most frequently overbooked airline of all the majors in 1994. One passenger in 390 was bumped either voluntarily or involuntarily on America West last year, and in the first three months of this year, the airline averaged one bumping for every 209 passengers, according to the DOT numbers.

Northwest was able to attract the most volunteers. In the first three months of this year, Northwest had 112 voluntary bumps for every involuntary one. The industry average was 18 to 1 for the same period.

“We have no minimum or maximum; it’s up to the discretion of the agents,” said Jim Faulkner, a Northwest spokesman. “But obviously we don’t want to give away the whole store.”

Faulkner said Northwest agents try to recruit volunteers at check-in, rather than at the gate, if a particular flight is filling fast and could wind up oversold.

Airlines are required to look for volunteers before they bump a passenger involuntarily. If someone is bumped against his or her will, the airline has to pay between nothing and $400 as compensation, depending on the wait for the next flight.

But to avoid angering a customer, airlines will sometimes pay plenty to get volunteers.

If you’re bumped, you still get to use your ticket and, depending on the delay, you should be able to get meal and hotel money from the airline.

Avid bumper Chip Chan says he does his best negotiating with gate agents while standing on the jetway as the passenger who would be bumped involuntarily walks toward the plane.

With the pressure on, the 35-year-old Silicon Valley engineer says he can usually get the gate agent to go as high as $600.

Seasoned bumpers advise arriving early--some suggest two hours--to get your name as close to the top of the volunteer list as possible.

“I find out how crowded the plane is when I arrive at the airport,” Luehrmann said. He gives his name to the gate agent as a volunteer, “Then I wait for the offers.”

Even better than Fridays, Sundays or Mondays are the holidays. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after as well as the days around Christmas and New Year’s can be the best times to get bumped.

Chan said he and his wife spent the day before Thanksgiving last year getting bumped from flight to flight, collecting vouchers all along. After their day of bumping, the two returned home with $2,000 each in travel vouchers.

“I’m not doing it for the money; travel is a burden for me,” he said. “It’s more the fun, the chase and the excitement.”