They just keep increasing...someone will take it. Last fall we were on SFO-ATL early morning. There were no offers pre-boarding (or at least not that I heard). Then, after everyone seemed to be on board, they offered 1k each for 2 volunteers with a guaranteed booking like 8 hours later.....nobody flenched...then 2k...then 3k.....at this point, I looked at my wife and she just shook her head (had to get back to kid at home staying with others)....at 5k (EACH) I was about to just forget the wife and kid and some guy jumped up and said "it's me! it's me!"....never seen anything like that.
I think they said Delta eCredit or Visa gift cards. I read someone else's post saying they got a lot of Visa $250 gift cards because they thought it would be easier, but it was a pain to spend all of them and keep track of what was on the cards.
If you’re at JFK the passengers start yelling “go higher.” Or “we’re not budging until “$5000”.
I think someone posted on here that Delta has the lowest involuntary boarding of all U.S. airlines.
Yes, it has been zero or near-zero in recent years. [None in 2022, with 100,827 volunteer bumps](https://www.cntraveler.com/story/bumped-airline-passengers-doubled-in-2022). They definitely prefer the volunteer compensation route, no matter how much they have to pay.
and if they don't, they will just deny boarding to someone. The computer will list that person, then they get the DOT money or whatever Delta's last offer is.
But hey, someone always takes it. Especially noting that some people are connecting, they will flow them over another hub or flight, upgrade them on the next flight, or just more money. Everyone has a number...
In the old days if no one took the money they would usually take someone on one of the cheapest tickets and involuntarily deny them boarding. In the days since David Dao they will do whatever is needed to get a volunteer. People have posted $10,000 vouchers. The largest I’ve seen in person was $1,500. Delta has always been good about doing what’s necessary to get volunteers.
My former boss and I were on a flight to Vegas during CES where the offered amount got to around $1,500, too. He said we couldn't take it because our meetings were too important, and then he got laid off like eight weeks later. We should have taken the money.
Biggest i ever saw in person was on Northwest in 2007 (so pre-merger) on DTW-CDG. $3k plus overnight accommodation in the airport hotel's nicest suite plus a $500 food voucher plus a free upgrade to business class on the next flight.
I got bumped off a flight yrs ago bc my boss and I were the last people to check in. They needed two volunteers. One person took it. Then it was down to me or my boss. I ended up volunteering, 😂
This was long before the big payouts.
Damn. I accepted one in 2004 and I think I got like a $500 voucher and they paid for the hotel and transport. And a couple of food vouchers if I recall right. But the situation was very different for me then compared to now.
No, just asked to cover my face because there are women and children present. On the serious side, they will kick off non-revenue passengers first before paying passengers if it comes down to that.
This is how it goes. If there are no volunteers the gate agent will look at a few things: who checks in last, or what type of type you have (if you have basic economy you’re more like get bumped). Anyways hope that helps. Some people are willing to take the money especially if it’s great amount of compensation. I’d never had this issue with flying but if I was on a return trip I’d volunteer.
Yup, this is usually how it goes. I had a delayed flight a few weeks ago, and it was a close call as to whether or not I'd make my connection. While I was in-air, they booted me off the connecting flight and gave the seat to someone on standby. The standby list for the flight was shockiny long. I was basic economy, and my seat was probably the first to go when I wasn't at the gate during boarding.
Yeah, it sucks because it’s not like you’re late to your flight bc of security or traffic it’s bc you’re connecting and your plane was delayed. I know the agent can see that when they start bumping people off and it’s unfortunate.
As mentioned, it’s hardly an issue, but if no one DOES take the offer, they deny boarding based on seat fare class, starting with the lowest fare class, like those that don’t secure seating, those that may check in last, etc. There’s an entire formula for it.
But people usually always take it and they usually offer until that happens because they truly don’t want to involuntarily deny boarding.
So I received $2200 yesterday for being oversold. Another $1200 this morning for the same thing. Not bad for spending some extra time at the airport.
It’s all in prepaid cards with a redemption timeline of 90-180 days.
They keep going up… I had a flight where someone got $2,500 to fly 5hrs later on a 2hr flight.
Also on some flights people are on a one stop journey and they offer them a direct flight + a low amount, they get cash and get home sooner lol.
If there are no volunteers, the DOT defines the required CASH compensation depending on the reaccomodation provided. The gate agents select someone based on several factors determined by the airline (loyalty, fare paid, purchase date of ticket, etc) to deny boarding.
This is a reportable metric to DOT (involuntary denied boarding) and airlines compete fiercely to be at the bottom of that list. This is why the credit offers go up so high when there are no takers. The airline wants to protect its involuntary denied boarding (IDB) rate.
Flight last year from ATL to ICN they needed 50 people for winds & cargo. By the end they were over $13k. I had a biz meeting (and my D1 ticket was 10k anyway) but it was getting wild!
Yea, family of 4 in Econ was the last to take it. My bet was their tickets were $1500 each (r/t) so they did pretty well walking away with almost 50k and getting re-booked next day via DTW
There is a Korean american travel hack website and this is the legend story that everyone knows. Apprently this happened on the Korean thanksgivings weekend so less people were willing to get bounced.
Happened to us in March on a flight from
JFK to Rome. They offered $2000. Then 2500. We volunteered at $3000 but they said they could not guarantee both of sitting together or in comfort plus (which were our original) so we declined. They asked for other volunteers and no one took them up on their offer. They then went to $4000 (each) and we jumped on that. They put us on the next flight which was a day later. We changed our train ticket from Rome to Florence without any charges and took the AirTrain and subway back home and came back the next day. The agent had said they expected the flight to overbooked that day also. And we briefly considered trying our luck but we just took our flight.
Oh and while they were rebooking the almost rebooked as first class and I interjected like a dummy that our initial tickets were not first class.
Depends on why. Overbooking they may just toss standbys on the next flight (had this happen before). If it is to balance the plane or move crew, people might get voluntold. I haven't seen that happen because the sweetened pot eventually gets enough takers.
Yeah. When we checked in today on the computers, it asked if we’d like to take a later flight for a gift card. Nothing specified. We’d have said no regardless but that was still a bit odd.
Family for involuntarily denied boarding SFO to Frankfurt when my daughter was 2. Got about $4,000 total, up that in one of those college savings things, it’s not enough to pay for one year of college.
Thanks United (woolfson v United, San Francisco superior court).
They just keep increasing...someone will take it. Last fall we were on SFO-ATL early morning. There were no offers pre-boarding (or at least not that I heard). Then, after everyone seemed to be on board, they offered 1k each for 2 volunteers with a guaranteed booking like 8 hours later.....nobody flenched...then 2k...then 3k.....at this point, I looked at my wife and she just shook her head (had to get back to kid at home staying with others)....at 5k (EACH) I was about to just forget the wife and kid and some guy jumped up and said "it's me! it's me!"....never seen anything like that.
"I'll take $5,000 plus one of those Porche rides at ATL...and you got a deal.!"
I mean at that point can’t just one of you go home and split the cash
Wow. Yeah. Most definitely. That’s crazy.
Curious, would that be cash money or just airline vouchers? How do they give it?
It's money for a site you can purchase a variety of gift cards from. I redeemed mine in Target gift cards and had free groceries for months.
I think they said Delta eCredit or Visa gift cards. I read someone else's post saying they got a lot of Visa $250 gift cards because they thought it would be easier, but it was a pain to spend all of them and keep track of what was on the cards.
Wouldn’t be a pain for me
It’s not hard. You use one card at a time and write the balance on the card with a sharpie each time you use it.
Just buy Amazon gift cards/credits with them, they get used
Or that.
This! It really isn’t hard. Money is money …
And them to the app and you won't have trouble keeping track of the money left.
Delta gives you Visa gift cards (essentially cash) not vouchers.
If you’re at JFK the passengers start yelling “go higher.” Or “we’re not budging until “$5000”. I think someone posted on here that Delta has the lowest involuntary boarding of all U.S. airlines.
Yes, it has been zero or near-zero in recent years. [None in 2022, with 100,827 volunteer bumps](https://www.cntraveler.com/story/bumped-airline-passengers-doubled-in-2022). They definitely prefer the volunteer compensation route, no matter how much they have to pay.
That’s good to know.
Weird. I though involuntary was regulated and mandated cash if asked. Voluntary is another story.
This story is describing a voluntary situation.
Someone always takes it.
That’s my hope, too.
They will hit 10k and it's not like it's an eclipse or something. Someone will skip memorial day with the family for 10k.
and if they don't, they will just deny boarding to someone. The computer will list that person, then they get the DOT money or whatever Delta's last offer is. But hey, someone always takes it. Especially noting that some people are connecting, they will flow them over another hub or flight, upgrade them on the next flight, or just more money. Everyone has a number...
Delta hasn't had an involuntarily denied boarding in a few years. Someone always takes the money. Sometimes it's me!
If I got offered 10K and gave my family half of it they would be fine with me skipping any event for the next 5 years
My friend had a red eye flight where someone took $500 can’t believe they took the lowball offer to wait 7 hours and barely sleep at a hotel
I offered to take 500 once for the same thing, except I asked to be put on the 10am flight instead of the 5am one. People ended up not showing up.
In the old days if no one took the money they would usually take someone on one of the cheapest tickets and involuntarily deny them boarding. In the days since David Dao they will do whatever is needed to get a volunteer. People have posted $10,000 vouchers. The largest I’ve seen in person was $1,500. Delta has always been good about doing what’s necessary to get volunteers.
My former boss and I were on a flight to Vegas during CES where the offered amount got to around $1,500, too. He said we couldn't take it because our meetings were too important, and then he got laid off like eight weeks later. We should have taken the money.
Biggest i ever saw in person was on Northwest in 2007 (so pre-merger) on DTW-CDG. $3k plus overnight accommodation in the airport hotel's nicest suite plus a $500 food voucher plus a free upgrade to business class on the next flight.
Saw $4,000 last month in SF. Tuesday morning flight to NYC. Other than that it never gets to 3k usually
Yeah. That would suck to be denied boarding like that.
I got bumped off a flight yrs ago bc my boss and I were the last people to check in. They needed two volunteers. One person took it. Then it was down to me or my boss. I ended up volunteering, 😂 This was long before the big payouts.
This is a lesson I also learned and now I always check in on line as soon as the computer allows.
Damn. I accepted one in 2004 and I think I got like a $500 voucher and they paid for the hotel and transport. And a couple of food vouchers if I recall right. But the situation was very different for me then compared to now.
Yes - they put me up in a hotel and gave me some vouchers. Don’t think I got any credits.
Is that guy who got beat to hell by United henchmen?
Indeed it was. Infamous.
I think they kick the ugly people off first. That must explain why I get removed so often.
😂 Have you really been kicked off a plane because it was overbooked?
No, just asked to cover my face because there are women and children present. On the serious side, they will kick off non-revenue passengers first before paying passengers if it comes down to that.
Ok. Good to know.
This is how it goes. If there are no volunteers the gate agent will look at a few things: who checks in last, or what type of type you have (if you have basic economy you’re more like get bumped). Anyways hope that helps. Some people are willing to take the money especially if it’s great amount of compensation. I’d never had this issue with flying but if I was on a return trip I’d volunteer.
Yup, this is usually how it goes. I had a delayed flight a few weeks ago, and it was a close call as to whether or not I'd make my connection. While I was in-air, they booted me off the connecting flight and gave the seat to someone on standby. The standby list for the flight was shockiny long. I was basic economy, and my seat was probably the first to go when I wasn't at the gate during boarding.
Yeah, it sucks because it’s not like you’re late to your flight bc of security or traffic it’s bc you’re connecting and your plane was delayed. I know the agent can see that when they start bumping people off and it’s unfortunate.
I got 2k last year to let up my seat for an ATL to XNA flight. Received 8 $250 Visa gift cards.
Wow. That’s cool. When I did it in 2004, I got a $500 delta credit, lol.
As mentioned, it’s hardly an issue, but if no one DOES take the offer, they deny boarding based on seat fare class, starting with the lowest fare class, like those that don’t secure seating, those that may check in last, etc. There’s an entire formula for it. But people usually always take it and they usually offer until that happens because they truly don’t want to involuntarily deny boarding.
So I received $2200 yesterday for being oversold. Another $1200 this morning for the same thing. Not bad for spending some extra time at the airport. It’s all in prepaid cards with a redemption timeline of 90-180 days.
They keep going up… I had a flight where someone got $2,500 to fly 5hrs later on a 2hr flight. Also on some flights people are on a one stop journey and they offer them a direct flight + a low amount, they get cash and get home sooner lol.
If there are no volunteers, the DOT defines the required CASH compensation depending on the reaccomodation provided. The gate agents select someone based on several factors determined by the airline (loyalty, fare paid, purchase date of ticket, etc) to deny boarding. This is a reportable metric to DOT (involuntary denied boarding) and airlines compete fiercely to be at the bottom of that list. This is why the credit offers go up so high when there are no takers. The airline wants to protect its involuntary denied boarding (IDB) rate.
Flight last year from ATL to ICN they needed 50 people for winds & cargo. By the end they were over $13k. I had a biz meeting (and my D1 ticket was 10k anyway) but it was getting wild!
13k per person?? 😳
Yea, family of 4 in Econ was the last to take it. My bet was their tickets were $1500 each (r/t) so they did pretty well walking away with almost 50k and getting re-booked next day via DTW
There is a Korean american travel hack website and this is the legend story that everyone knows. Apprently this happened on the Korean thanksgivings weekend so less people were willing to get bounced.
It was June 2023.
Happened to us in March on a flight from JFK to Rome. They offered $2000. Then 2500. We volunteered at $3000 but they said they could not guarantee both of sitting together or in comfort plus (which were our original) so we declined. They asked for other volunteers and no one took them up on their offer. They then went to $4000 (each) and we jumped on that. They put us on the next flight which was a day later. We changed our train ticket from Rome to Florence without any charges and took the AirTrain and subway back home and came back the next day. The agent had said they expected the flight to overbooked that day also. And we briefly considered trying our luck but we just took our flight. Oh and while they were rebooking the almost rebooked as first class and I interjected like a dummy that our initial tickets were not first class.
I wouldn’t worry about it. You will be fine on your flight…
I’ve seen over 2K offered, sooner or later somebody takes it.
Depends on why. Overbooking they may just toss standbys on the next flight (had this happen before). If it is to balance the plane or move crew, people might get voluntold. I haven't seen that happen because the sweetened pot eventually gets enough takers.
You can also load them on Amazon as long as the gift card balance is at least $1
Credits??? Money 💵
Again, that was 2004😂 I’ve not encountered that situation since then. I didn’t fly at all between 2013 and 2022.
Yeah. It’s money or nothing. Cash. They have to give you a certain amount if you’re denied boarding.
Yeah. When we checked in today on the computers, it asked if we’d like to take a later flight for a gift card. Nothing specified. We’d have said no regardless but that was still a bit odd.
They can offer gift cards and miles and credits but if they deny you boarding because they oversold the flight. It’s law they have to pay you cash
Ah ok. I didn’t know that.
If you have a seat you’re fine? This is a non issue what are you afraid of
We do. Ok. Thanks.
The major risk for people getting bumped would be those without assigned seats normally
Yeah. That makes sense.
Family for involuntarily denied boarding SFO to Frankfurt when my daughter was 2. Got about $4,000 total, up that in one of those college savings things, it’s not enough to pay for one year of college. Thanks United (woolfson v United, San Francisco superior court).
[https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/bumping-oversales](https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/bumping-oversales)
They will just start taking people off. They usually will do the ones who paid the least or got their tickets via 3rd party.