On busy travel days flying can be profitable. Your seat has value, and you can sell it. One Delta passenger found themselves on an overbooked flight, and took $2,000 as compensation to take a later flight. That later flight wound up overbooked, too, and they took $3,000 to volunteer for a bump from that one. That’s $5,000 in a day.
They wanted volunteers to give up their seat for an overbooked flight this afternoon. I run to the gate and me and an old lady got $2k each. They scheduled us for the night flight. We waited together the whole time and we actually sat together in the flight. We also discussed that if they need volunteers again we are gonna take it. As soon as we sat down, I heard the microphone about volunteers. I said I am doing it. I run and and got $3k. One other guy came also but I was first.
Which flights have the highest chance of that sort of payout? Traveling on popular days isn’t enough, since airlines have models for how many people will show up. They overbook flights but they do it for a reason – because they expect people not to show. The models are usually pretty good over the holidays (not many people skip their flight home after Thanksgiving). Historically it’s busy travel days where people do change their plans – less leisure, less holiday – that have the most overbooking where airlines take volunteers.
And don’t fly American. American Airlines has more involuntary denied boardings than all other airlines combined. In the first quarter of 2024 Delta didn’t have a single one. United had 75. American had 3,061.
That’s a choice. American chooses not to offer enough compensation to voluntarily get passengers to take later flights when they overbook.
- The most the Department of Transportation requires airlines to compensate passengers is $1,550 for an involuntary bump.
- Delta will give passengers more than this to attract volunteers. But an airline can save money by just involuntarily bumping them and paying out the DOT-required cash.
- When a flight is oversold because of an aircraft swap, the carrier doesn’t have to pay out cash at all. Whether they choose to offer compensation is up to them.
It makes little sense to look for bumps on American. United, which became very generous after the David Dao passenger dragging incident in April 2017, cut back on their compensation at the start of the pandemic. The days of $10,000 travel vouchers from United to give up your seat are long passed!
This is how badly United didn’t want to give me cash: pic.twitter.com/sI7vmbeB2Q
— Allison M. Preiss (@allisonmpreiss) March 22, 2018
Sometimes what to do as a passenger is a real conundrum when you’re offered compensation – one boyfriend got in trouble for taking $2,000 from Delta to delay visiting her. He should have spent half of it on her to make up for it.
Delta pays out actual gift cards and not just their own travel credits like most airlines do. In fact they are the only one of the largest U.S. airlines that still offers such extremely generous compensation to avoid kicking someone off of a flight when they overbook.
Here’s an agent literally begging passengers to take $1,300 (not travel vouchers!) to give up their seat and take a later flight, because more people showed up than they had seats. Shortly after the 2017 David Dao dragging incident on United Delta authorized gate agents to go up to $9,950..
Delta still takes the position that when they make a mistake and sell too many tickets, it’s their responsibility to own the cost and make it worthwhile for passengers to take a later flight – instead of ultimately just falling back on legal minimum cash compensation if there aren’t enough volunteers at lower amounts.
Flight was “oversold,” not “overbooked.” “Oversold” is when the agents have to solicit volunteers or “bump” passengers. “Overbooked” is what the sales agents do before the day of departure.
We were able to do $3000 between us recently for AS right after the 739 issue. We got $1500 each and confirmed seats on a flight in 3 hours. That flight also announced a $1500 per person credit and confirmation the next day, and we could have tried for $6000 between us, but opted to take the flight.
Still, $3000 for a few hours back in the SEA AS Satellite N lounge ain’t too shabby 🙂
Cheers.
People just keep getting greedier!
Back in 1999 when I was young and poor, I was flying Delta on a two-leg flight to a work meeting. Both flights looked for volunteers to be bumped, and I volunteered for both. I ended up arriving at my destination at almost midnight, but I collected about $1200 flight credit in compensation, which was a fortune to my young self. I used the credit to pay airfare for my first trip to Hawaii, and to pay for part of another trip, I forget what the second trip was. Was quite a boon to me. The last couple of times I’ve been eligible to volunteer, I really did not want to mess up my trip because of meeting a tour or cruise. But I don’t need the flight credits so much now anyway!
I know someone from NYC. Years ago she would monitor when Air Force One was coming in and immediately buy a ticket for a flight at that time. She’d go out and they would invariably delay or cancel the flight and she got paid.
She called them “Presidential bumps.”
That’s my retirement dream right there! And it’s not taxed
@Dana:
You got the wrong end of the horse. The airline created the problem. A smart person creates the solution. You should have learned that in kindergarten.
I recently got bumped at boarding by UA on an oversold flight in international business class to a flight about 4 hours later with a connection, but still in business, and got $2500. Unfortunately, this only seems to happen when I most need to be on the original flight. And, of course, my luggage went astray for a day. I have gone back to my habit of keeping my medicine and dopp kit in a carryon even when ticketed for a direct flight.
Almost 30 years ago my twins were using my miles for free tickets to Europe on AA. . Flight was oversold they volunteered as they were going for 3 months. They each got 1000 upgrade to business and free hotel room including food vouchers. Same thing the following day. Best deal ever.
@Alan z, Seems Dana has holier than thou syndrome. I’m sure if she were in the same senario, she would give up her seat and refuse the compensation. Yeah, right, what a bunch of bs. Airlines are constantly making the flying public endure unnecessary inconveniences, getting some of that back in compensation is sweet revenge and has nothing to do with greed.
What is the best strategy for (1) getting offered compensation and (2) maximizing the offer you accept?
@Dana YES. But it’s the airlines selling more tickets than they have seats. THEY created the problem through their greed.
Anyone who is a victim of their greed is entitled to as much as they can extract from said airlines imho
I am no longer friends with American Airlines. Connecting flight was from DFW to MCO. 1st flight arrived early and the connection flight was canceled without any explanation – thus no one could file a claim or complaint to the FAA. DFW is their hub, they had zero flights to Orlando the remainder of the day – not one flight. There was one to Tampa – we should have taken that and Uber to MCO and charge it to AA. But no more, I’ve given up on AA.
This person just outearned everyone spending on a Delta card in a single day. Got to love it.
I have NEVER witnessed more deadheading than on UA . . . 4 – 6 or more on many flights over the last year or two . . . It is really unbelievable. Yes they say the flight is TOTALLY SOLD OUT with empty seats at times also
Just here to read how Tim Dunn spins this into how profitable Delta is.
Overselling flights is GREED? NO. it’s business. If airlines didn’t oversell they would just jack up their rates. Consumers are so stupid. They vote with their wallet, buying the cheapest flight on travelocity, then complain when they get what they pay for.
Not sure if this story is completely accurate. They’re not going to just offer $2,000 or $3,000 for a volunteer right off the bat. Usually they start at $300 and go up in 100 or $200 increments. There’s almost always somebody willing to give up their seat for $500 or less.
I got vouchers from Southwest and used them to invite a friend I hadn’t seen in many years and I knew she could not afford to come visit and with the other half I had my 2 sisters come visit me. All three were very pleased. Thanks Southwest!!
Question: instead of paying people on the plane, why don’t they pay people getting after?
I think Airline companies need to change there booking practises Big time
@Stan, how right you are. I know an MD who’d finish a day at the clinic and always have a story of someone who was bent out of shape because “I arrived on time, but waited for you X minutes.” Yes, he could have a less dense schedule, see less patients each day, and have multiple breaks during the day. But, less people means he has to charge more per visit (not that insurance would pay). People don’t show for appointments, people have an emergency need to see the doctor, and the visit can be shorter or longer than allocated time.
People want to complain about oversold planes (without knowing the oversell is accommodating missed connections, etc. sometimes and possibly not selling more tickets than seats), but would be angry at the higher prices they’d have to pay to get rid of it. We want restaurants to keep “spare” tables open if our group of 4 becomes 5, keep “spare” pilots and planes at non-hub cities, etc., not realizing the cost the consumer would bear.
@Arther. Your comment frightened me, as I thought your solution was the norm. So let me do a PSA in case anyone doesn’t know this. You should always pack your carryon/personal item so that you have access to all necessities like medications (and minimal comforts, in my world) should you bags be delayed for multiple days. And, you should have a plan to replenish supplies if the bags never show up. The TSA is required to let you bring medically necessary items through checkpoints (e.g., liquids above 100ml).
*Arthur
Sorry
@Dave W, my carry on has more expensive and more fragile items in it. It usually also has a change of clothes and sometimes months worth of meds which can be expensive to replace. My waist bag has phones, money and identification. My jacket pocket has my blood tester and a one to two week supply of meds and test strips. It also has dextrose (glucose) in the form of Smarties candies. My jacket is going with me if I have to take the slide.
FLY DELTA AIRLINES!
I try to maximize opportunities to get bumped on my way home. I book seats into my favorite, busy airport (JFK) on the last flight out for the night. I monitor the flight (Delta) on the app and if there is even a hint that they might look for volunteers, I POLITELY speak with someone at the gate and tell them that Hubby and I would be willing to be bumped. They ALWAYS take our names and, since we both use wheelchairs to get around airports, they are able to keep track of us. The last time we volunteered, we received compensation which I elected to put on a Delta gift card to ensure that I use it for travel. This trip has been paid for using Delta gift cards from a previous bump. We were put up in a lovely Marriott Hotel and given meal vouchers and transportation to and from the hotel. I make it a practice to build in an extra vacation day at the end of my trip so traveling the next morning is not a problem. The compensation from that trip and the remainder from the prior trip is paying for 5 RT tickets (NY/MCO) in early December with a bit extra. Of I can get bumped again on the way home, I will definitely do so. By the way, depending on plans and who we’re traveling with, I can attempt to get bumped on the way to my destination by booking the first flight out and hoping for a large group of folks booked for a cruise or other type of trip who must get where they are going…this has worked out for us in the past and is worth a few hours delay in the airport. We did have 1 disappointment a few years ago. They were offering $4000 each to give up our seats to Europe and fly out the next day with an upgrade in seats. Unfortunately, our cruise line had booked our flights and we couldn’t guarantee arrival to our ship on time if we flew out the next day.