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You Can Now Expect $10,000 for Volunteering to Take Later Flights — Right?

Chris Carley by Chris Carley
June 30, 2022
in Airlines
5
A handful of money: $100 (hundred dollar) bills

(©iStock.com/Artranq)

Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc. has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Eye of the Flyer and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.


We wrote earlier this week about eight lucky Delta Air Lines passengers each receiving $10,000 in Visa gift cards as compensation to take later flights. Their original flight, an early Monday morning hop from Grand Rapids to Minneapolis, was apparently oversold. (We later learned their stays in Grand Rapids might have lasted until Wednesday.)

The story drew national attention on television, websites, and social media. And for good reason: $10,000 is a lot of money to award passengers for taking a voluntary “bump.”

As far as we know, it happened only once before. About four years ago, a woman scored $10,000 in United travel vouchers for being voluntarily denied boarding. (She also received a pair of $10 meal vouchers.)

Personally speaking, I’ve earned anywhere between $400 and $1300 for voluntarily staying behind and taking later flights. René and his wife, Lisa, each pocketed $3000 on an international trip during which they volunteered. (We put together this little guide on how we usually get bumped.)

Yeah, but maybe I’ll get $10,000! is surely what some people think. Those other people got ten grand! So, I should, too!

Will Your Bump Dreams Really Come True?!

So, do I think you can literally take that to the bank? Can you reasonably get your hopes up that you’ll be $10,000 richer at some point because you’re on an oversold flight?

Oh, heck no.

Your chances of getting a $10,000 bump are very, very, very slim to none. The now-infamous SkyWest 3550 flight of June 27, 2022, was a unicorn in terms of flight bump compensation. (I’m still stunned the opening offer was five thousand dollars.)

Keep in mind that most flights don’t need people to stay behind. Airlines don’t like giving away money and usually, do whatever they can to prevent that from happening. (No companies except foundations and charities enjoy handing out cash.)

Expect something along the lines of maybe $600 to $1,300.

Maybe. Probably lower.

I heard a couple of recent tales that $2500 was offered to passengers. But even that is fairly rare. (Also, don’t be a pest and insist to the gate agents that they give you $10,000 because the GRR-MSP passengers received that sum.)

Thanks, Daddy Downer.

Sorry. I’m not saying it’ll never happen again. (That came back to bite us in the tush.) If it does, I hope you’re the lucky recipient of ten large.

And there’s a chance it will. Monday’s flight is proof anything can happen.

Delta’s pilots are concerned about the airline’s operations and meltdowns (and how much they’re getting paid). That’s why they’re picketing today.

If lots of flights get canceled and airlines are desperate, who knows? More lucrative bumps could become more frequent.

Final Approach

Everyone’s going to try and play by the bump game now. But please understand our dreams of showing up to airports and getting $10,000 rewards for accepting bumps likely will remain that: dreams.

That said, enjoy whatever bumps you receive. You can turn your trip into a little extra vacation (or stay-cation) and earn a few extra bucks.

Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc. has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Eye of the Flyer and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.


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.

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Chris Carley

Chris Carley

Chris Carley is the owner, editor, and lead writer of Eye of the Flyer (formerly known as Rene's Points).

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Comments 5

  1. Elise says:
    1 year ago

    Sounds good… but its a random pick…. id rather get on the plane instead of waiting for hrs for the next flight…. g-d help me july 7 to jfk…. let u guys know….

    Reply
  2. MFB123 says:
    1 year ago

    In March, I received $1300 in AMEX cash on DL from PHX-LAX, and I thought that was pretty good. Interestingly, it was a Sunday morning flight (I would have thought, low demand) and route that I did not think was big for Delta. But alas, no one was taking them on their offer. I made it home 3 hours late… not bad

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      1 year ago

      Nicely done!

      Reply
  3. Jessie says:
    1 year ago

    I got $800 during the spring break season this year to take a flight just an hour or so later than the one I was going to be on. Best I’ve ever done was $1200 (and hotel and food vouchers) to stay overnight in the Christmas season (though not overlapping or missing the holiday itself, I would have needed more for that).

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      1 year ago

      Tell people your new hourly rate is $800 (unless you already earn better than that, of course) 🙂 .

      Reply

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