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Some Delta Air Lines passengers received an offer this morning they couldn’t refuse.
Delta flight 3550 operated by SkyWest from Grand Rapids, Michigan (GRR) to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) apparently was oversold. There were more confirmed passengers who showed up at the airport than there were available seats on the Embraer 175 aircraft.
Airlines generally ask for volunteers to take later flights in instances like these. In return, the volunteers are given rewards such as gift cards, vouchers for future travel, etc. (Here on the blog, we call these “Bumpertunities.”) We’ve taken voluntarily denied boarding opportunities like these countless times and scored anywhere from $400 to $3,000. A few years ago, a woman traveling to South Bend, Indiana, received $4,000 in Delta bump vouchers.
Those amounts are nothing compared to what Delta reportedly coughed up this morning.
Delta Offers Passengers $10,000!
Well, it seems things were dire in Grand Rapids this morning — and Delta offered passengers $10,000 to take later flights.
You read that correctly.
Reader Todd commented on this post:
Ummm…well, this article did not age well. Today is June 27th, 2022. I just flew from Grand Rapids, MI to Minneapolis. Delta offered $10,000 to anyone willing to give up their seat. Actually, they said they needed more than one person willing to bump. There was no mad dash among the passengers, but several people did indeed get off the plane and receive $10,000 via a Visa gift card. I was and am still stunned. Just sorry I couldn’t do it, as I was flying with my Wife who is legally blind and has to have me nearby.
(In our defense: we think the post aged rather well — given a pandemic and massive changes in the commercial airline world that have taken place since the piece was published five years ago. 🙂 )
Inc. contributing editor Jason Aten tweeted:
On @Delta flight from GRR to MSP and they just offered $10,000 for people to give up their seats.…
Ten. Thousand. Dollars.
— Jason Aten (@JasonAten) June 27, 2022
Delta confirmed to us that this happened.
RELATED: My Tips on Volunteering to Receive Bumps and Compensation on an Oversold Flight
In the meantime, are you now fantasizing about that happening to you — and what kind of things you could accomplish with a surprise $10,000 Visa gift card? I sure am.
UPDATES: We have a post with some updates and more information!
How Did Passengers Get $10,000?
Things can get expensive for airlines if enough passengers don’t volunteer to take later flights. The US Department of Transportation explains passengers involuntarily denied boarding are entitled to “400% of one-way fare (airlines may limit the compensation to $1,550 if 400% of the one-way fare is higher than $1,550).”
Indeed, the next flight out of Grand Rapids wasn’t until about 11:30 AM. (DL3550 was scheduled to depart Grand Rapids at 6:45 AM but departed at 7:06 AM. The flight arrived in Minneapolis at 7:26 AM, just ten minutes late — no doubt full of people filled with 10,000 regrets!)
So, there either were a bunch of passengers traveling on expensive one-way tickets or an airline rep made a slight math miscalculation when figuring out how much compensation to offer. (Let’s hope it’s the former.) Or maybe there was a weight and balance issue? All of the above? That’s what comes to my mind.
Final Approach
Delta Connection flight 3550 from Grand Rapids to Minneapolis was apparently very full.
How full?
Delta reportedly offered $10,000 to passengers willing to take a later flight.
This certainly is an outlier when it comes to bump. But given the summer travel season isn’t halfway over, I wonder if we’ll see something like this again.
We’ve contacted Delta about this story and will let you know what information they provide.
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Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
wow WHat a great BUMP$$$$$
Nice to know how people got more money from what they wanted by getting a lower flight on Delta.
I fly Detroit to Pellston once or twice a week. It has been regularly oversold and/or weight-and-balance issues since May. $2,500 has been pretty common. A few $800 offers because no-nothing passengers jumped at the first or second offer made by Delta without holding out.
Thanks for the data point!
With the ultra high fares, maybe that was just the price of one ticket?
Delta “gave me $500” in April what I got was $0!!!! None of the online cards worked and I requested 2 × $100 visa cards I have never received. Easy to make offers that are worthless.
That stinks. What happened when you followed up??
Why would you accept $200 when you were owed $500? Please follow up with them. There must have been an error, they have always worked for me.
I completely believe you Sherri, but I had Delta ask me and my girlfriend to give up our seats and take their next flight . In return they gave us each a flight voucher that was good for a year. I forgot about them and even after they expired ( by about a month) they pulled some strings and honored them for us. Try calling them again…
My conment about Delta useless vouchers blocked!
How so?
No its not? Troublemaker
I don’t understand the whole “bump” procedure. Why ask people that are already seated to give up that seat for someone else who isn’t. Why not just place the unseated passenger on another flight?
@Mark – First up airline oversell all the time because, most times, some do not show up (for many reasons). Thus they fly 100% full and may have sold more seats than the jet holds. Next, if I paid for a seat, I want THAT seat not one on another flight. Thus the above happens but not often for $10,000!
That’s true but when they ask volunteers to give up their seats it is mostli because they have business people or sic and connecting flights that. Are limited out of the next airport helping them to connect swiftly.
They look at your fare class, for one, and also your status with the airline.
Wow, I wish I had been there
I have been volunteering ever since I was asked if I wanted to take a later flight to London in December 23,1987. I was upgraded to Business Class and also got a$400 voucher.
So I would fly during the 4th of July weekend as well as a day or two before Thanksgiving and Christmas. I would always put my name on the list if any. I secured at least 60% time either an upgrade or voucher or both.
I still do the same even after 37 yrs later. And most of the time I won.
Delta accepted my $1400 for bump offer on a short flight from Des Moines, IA to Atlanta. I was in DSMNS on business and when I told the gate agent my “bid” he raised his eyebrows. He did so even more when I got the offer. I was on a business trip so not sure how much the original ticket cost. This was several years ago. I used the $1400 in flight vouchers to fly my wife and I in Delta comfort class to Liberia, Cista Rica.
I need some help….bought Comfort plus seats from Vegas ( our home) and were downgraded to coach??? No explanation other than when my trip is over they will figure out a refund? I never heard they can downgrade you after buying tickets? Bought 3 months in advance.
@Richard Shanley – Sorry to hear about this and no they can not downgrade you without some kind of compensation. First call and see if they can put you back in C+. If it is full see about then moving you to first class (doubtful but you can ask). If not you can ask to be moved free to another flight with C+ open seats. Or, you can ask for a fare refund or an e-Credit for a few hundred dollars for the downgrade. Also see this post: https://eyeoftheflyer.com/2017/05/22/rights-delta-forcible-downgrades-upgrade-1st-class-delta-one-dirty-little-secrets-delta-medallion-regional-global-upgrade-certs/
Actually, airlines run different seating configurations on same aircraft type, and often it isn’t until the plane pulls up to the gate that the seatmap is updated to show, e.g., centre seats (e.g. CDE) in rows 14 & 15 are actually lavs. Often, airlines don’t ‘sell’ those seats in advance and leave them tantalisingly blocked, and sell them at the gate if they’ve become available; or give them away to loyalty flyers, also at gate. Aircraft schedulers are concerned with supplying equipment that can accommodate the number of confirmed passengers without regard to seat assigments. Seat assignment changes are the gate agent’s headache.
I was downgraded recently too. I purchased a seat with more leg room but my seat was not one of those. I called the airlines after the trip and they said I’d need to show my boarding pass which no longer had. I didn’t take the time to do all the research needed to get a copy of my boarding pass. I figured they were making to time consuming to pursue which worked.
THX for advise: Downgrade was last minute…no option offered. Traveling with husband and two children. They actually last day split our family up sending my husband to JFK and we went to Atlanta…final destination Charleston SC.. Like any vacation planned well in advance so didn’t want to cancel entire vacation…grin and bear it BUT want some compensation back for extra $$ spent.
Go to Delta website to file a complain. Most likely, you will get a voucher.
Our flight was canceled from Seattle to Minneapolis to Orlando due to weather a week ago. We stood in line to get help for 3 hours. We were rebooked for the following day from Seattle to San Diego, to Atlanta to Orlando, finally getting home at 2 AM. After asking they offered us food vouchers equalling $90. We got nothing for hotel or for our inconvenience. They said there was nothing they could do because of the weather. The best was all other airlines were flying into this weather at Minneapolis but not Delta.
We learned we could only use our food vouchers in the airport. What we weren’t told is when you used the certificate if any money is not used on the certificate you lose it. It does not allow you to use on your next meal. They gave us $15 on two seperate vouchers and we used a couple dollars to pay for breakfast. When we stopped for lunch we had to use our $60 vouchers and it was the merchant who told us if we used it for lunch we would lose $40 on the voucher. I paid for that meal. I then took my $60 vouchers and bought $60 of snacks. We spent every fricking penny on that voucher. We knew our turn around time in Atlanta and when we arrived would not allow us time to eat.
I WILL NEVER fly with Delta again!
Hmmmmm. Was the inbound aircraft canceled because of weather?
Same thing happened to my daughter flying with delta. It was her first time flying as an adult and they delayed the flight 3 times, 2 were weather related, then no pilot or flight attendant. They found a pilot but no attendant so they canceled at 11 that night. She got a 15 dollar food voucher for her inconvenience. They rebooked on a flight at 4 the next day. If the same thing were to happen again she would have missed her own bridal shower. She ended up getting on standby the next morning with southwest but that ended up being full. Southwest put her on the next flight an hor later, refunded her ticket AND gave her 1000.00 flight voucher. All for a 1 hour delay. I will never fly Delta.
You stated weather related THEREFORE They didn’t have to give you a penny. Next time drive.
We should try to understand the problems that lead to this. Often, we’re too rushed to blame and don’t see the bigger picture here.
Lately, there’s a surge of short notice equipment swap. It’s not intentional overbooking because there’s no wiggle room in summer travel. When the plane is 100% sold, there will still be stragglers who missed earlier flights and other standby passengers who want that middle seat.
Downgauging can happen, like swapping E175 down to CRJ7 or a B739 down to an A220. Or when airlines have to reposition crew using positive space. Paying 4-5 passengers VDB compensation is far cheaper than cancelling the flight that was supposed to be staffed by the out-of-position crew. Think of the potential headache required to reaccomodate hotel/meal/rebooking for passengers on that flight with missing crew.
The lesson here is patience, flexibility and understanding.
Interesting points, thanks.
(FWIW, SkyWest 3550 has been performed by E175s for a while, so this wasn’t a downgauge.)
I’m living from central Oregon to Fort Lauderdale on the 30th of June with Delta . I would volunteer if $10,000 was involve
I know someone who used to look at flights to see which looked full and then booked for the day before Thanksgiving. For five or six years, he always got an overbooked/oversold voucher.
The person who made the announcement probably heard the instructions wrong from the one who authorized the vouchers. It was probably supposed to be 10- thousand dollar vouchers are available. Not 10thousand dollar vouchers
I know GRR isn’t a huge airport but one would think at least two people would be working — and one of them would double-check. (If your hypothesis is actually what occurred.) But, hey, stranger things have happened.
This is kind of along the lines of the Commas Save Lives theme (i.e., “Let’s go eat, Grandma!” vs. “Let’s go eat Grandma!”)
I heard a comedian say that D-E-L-T-A meant “Don’t Ever Leave The Airport”.
Heh, heh.
So what happened to this post?
https://eyeoftheflyer.com/2017/04/15/new-10000-delta-bump-vouchers-mostly-pr-stunt-likely-will-never-happen/
@phicao – Chris talked about it in the middle of this post.
Just 3 days ago when going to Tucson on my way to airport and was advised flight canceled they put me on different flight but didn’t tell me I now had 4 and half hour layover in Salt Lake and wouldn’t arrive in Tucson for 6hrs later than originally booked all I got was sorry for inconvenience. I hope to never fly with delta again.
On a related note I just received this for our upcoming trip, although none of my flights are close to full
As we continue to look for ways to provide you with more flexibility for your travel, we are issuing a fare difference waiver for all travel from July 1-4 in anticipation of the busiest holiday period we have seen since the pandemic.
Please see additional details below:
You can rebook your trip before or after the long weekend (Friday-Monday) with no fare difference or change fees
Your travel must be between the same origin and destination and in the same cabin as your existing itinerary
Rebooked travel must take place by July 8, 2022, to be eligible for the fare difference waiver
You can adjust your travel plans via MyTrips or the Fly Delta App
We are working around the clock to make our operation as resilient as possible to minimize the ripple effect of disruptions. Even so, some operational challenges are expected this holiday weekend. This unique waiver is being issued to give you greater flexibility to plan around busy travel times, weather forecasts and other variables without worrying about a potential cost to do so.
Yeah, I saw that on Delta’s site. I’m prepping a post. Thanks for the reminder, Barry!
10K…..honey we are getting on the next flight. Love you and thank you for understanding.
I would love to enjoy Grand Rapids for an extra ten large.
I feel like this was a user error on an employee’s part but to be honest, this is the best PR you can have for a cancelled flight. This just shines them in the light of “good guy Delta Airlines”. Given the positive feedback you’ll probably just have the VP of customer service toss this expense over to the marketing department and ask them to put it in their bucket.
Years ago on Northwest Air, I had enough vouchers from overbooking multiple times, from Detroit to Cleveland, and Cleveland to Detroit, to take 10 of family and relatives to Hawaii in first class
I love stories like that! #PointsItForward
I had happened to assist the flight crew with a passenger who approached crew and announced he wanted in the cockpit to speak to the captain about landing someplace. The crew called for assistance twice, asking for medical or anyone else who might help. After no takers appeareded I got up and volunteered, retired L.E. And first responder. The passenger was laying on the floor in the aisle. The crew mentioned she could not understand him. He spoke with a Mediterranean accent, as far as I could tell. He was having a medical problem as he described it and wanted up to tell the captai, could get his friend to assist him. Breathing was shallow and sometimes rapid, pulse seem to racing and eyes not right. This relayed to the captain and he relayed back I wanted order him land somewhere, I replied that was his decision to make not mine.
After we land somewhere in Montana the medical and law enforcement were there already what happened to the have no idea, I was told that was confidential information , even though I was a principal, I put my professionalism on display. SunCountry offered me $150.00 travel voucher in the next 6 months, I do not fly but every five years.
Same thing happened on our United LAX-EWR flight last week. First they offered $5000 in travel credits AND a business class seat on the next morning flight. Then about 90 seconds later they upped it to $10000. Insane.
My flight was just offered $1,500 in “gift card” to volunteer from SEA to MSP on Monday’s red eye. But all of those who volunteered ended up boarding.
I’ve had that happen to me in the past. I’ve taken the offer, only to board the plane. This article helped explain why. Thank you for that.
It would be nice to see how those “gift cards” can be used and their limitations. As I’ve received gift cards in cc form where gas and groceries are excluded. Can you do a follow-up article re: what the gc’s can be used for as the guy told me a car rental probably wouldn’t have been something I could have gotten with said gift card. TIA.
@Rachael – Here you are: https://eyeoftheflyer.com/2020/01/08/what-gift-card-should-you-choose-when-getting-a-delta-bump-a-rookie-wednesday-post/
I think they have added VISA gift cards as well now in 2022. Most have to be spent in 6-12 months unless that also has been updated.
Delta is one of the worse airlines around. My daughter and her family had their flight canceled after multiple delays. Her flight was then changed to the next day and once again it was delayed for 4 hours. My daughter has tried to get reimbursed for her expenses caused by the cancellation and next day delays which total over $1000.00 for her and her family but she was denied any compensation because Delta said it was due to weather. Other airlines were leaving for the same destination she was going too and they weren’t held up because of weather
Never fly Delta, they’re too unreliable.
I find Delta to be an excellent airline. True, if I based my opinion on my experience last Sunday only, then I would probably feel the same way as you but I like to look at the bigger picture. It could be that the plane was delayed by weather while it was inbound, which would explain why other airlines going to the same destination weren’t affected.
Our flight on stop was canceled. Comfort + seating. We were given a flight next day that had a stopover for 2 1/2 hours. Very last row of seats in back of plane. Haven’t heard of us getting any compensation.
If it was canceled because of weather, it’s not Delta’s fault. But I’d call Delta or email them — submit a complaint and see what happenes.
That’s true but when they ask volunteers to give up their seats it is mostli because they have business people or sic and connecting flights that. Are limited out of the next airport helping them to connect swiftly.