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> United offered coupons to passengers worth $200 or $400.

I'd be pretty surprised to see that now. On my last long United flight, which was 6-7 hours overseas, my in-flight entertainment system was broken, and they gave me a $25 voucher. I was not impressed.

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The amount of comp you get for small shit (e.g. broken light, no recline, no IFE/wifi) is largely dependent on your status. A no-status member might maybe get 500 miles on United, where as a Global Service might get up to 10K+ (depending on severity)

Do you have to request the comp? I've never been offered compensation for the often broken entertainment system, wifi, or power (as UA Gold).

They will often send you emails where you have to complete a form/survey to get the offer. I usually request the comp. You can call in or email - if you're 1K / GS, there are dedicated email addresses with 24 hr response

He's talking pre-merger. pmUA used to make $400 vouchers rain for basically anything. Once they tied the knot with Continental (and their team took over all aspects of UA) they went with the pmCO don't-give-anyone-certificates-for-anything policy. Oh, and every other policy for that matter :\

My family still gets those oversold-flight coupons when they get bumped to the next flight. I don't because that would require flying United :P

IDB/VDB compensation is very different from the compensation you get for a broken reading light. United used to give out absurd amounts of vouchers for the latter but that's pretty much dead these days.

IDB/VDB (what you get in an oversold situation) is an entirely different beast.

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