Germany and France for under $200

This story starts with an Alaskan cruise with friends in August of 2006. I met my friends in Seattle the night before the cruise departed and stayed a couple of days in Seattle after the cruise was over. Because I'm my own boss, I wasn't in a hurry going or coming. When the Delta agents asked for volunteers to get bumped off the flight, I jumped at the change... a total of 3 times at $400 each.

I've used most of the money already. Now I'm at the point of having a little over $500 in flight vouchers that will expire if I don't use them. Today I booked a flight to see friends in Germany. I only had to cough up $200 for the difference between the voucher amount and the cost of the flight plus trip insurance. I figured why not spend $40 on trip insurance since the trip itself was so cheap.

I chose a flight that has a 5-hour layover in Paris. I've never been there so I decided to stretch my legs by seeing what I could in that small amount of time. While selecting my seats on the flight, I noticed that all of the seats from Paris to Germany were taken. I'm hoping that means I'll get bumped off that flight and have some money toward a future flight.

I paid $1200 for the cruise, got $1200 in flight vouchers by getting bumped. The greed setting in has me wondering how many times I can get bumped on this next trip. Who knows, maybe I'll get to go to Australia next. Either way, I'm happy with what I have. It's made a great story. Thanks Delta for overbooking your flights!