The voucher you see above is from a few years back when my wife and I were booked in Delta One to Europe and they needed us off the aircraft and to take a later flight. We, well me, literally JUMPED up and could not run to the aircraft door fast enough to say yes. We each got a $3,000 bump voucher plus $50 for dinner and took a flight that departed 6 hours later so earning $1000 per hour in cash to spend on Delta flights.
Since that massive bump a few years ago Delta has moved to a much more lucrative way of rewarding those who take a bump by offering either physical gift cards or even e-Gift cards (Visa or Amex) that you can then spend on anything or even load into apps like Apple Pay.
Hurricane Debbie has and will be pounding Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas for days and causing a travel mess and the result is oversold flights like the one Reddit user “OutrageousProperty46” had posted about. They say:
“Delta just paid about 15 people on my flight $3k each to not fly” – Reddit thread
Think about this – Delta paid around $45,000 to get folks off the jet to make sure they did not have to force folks off the jet involuntarily. For those not aware, Delta will give everyone who volunteers, even if you accepted a lower number, the maximum amount they offer to the last few to accept an offer.
While I have seen higher amounts for international over bookings this is one of the biggest domestic total bump offers I have ever seen. For me I only take these kinds of bumps if an airline is willing to offer me a confirmed flight on another flight but in this case with the weather who knows how long the delay may end up being.
Would you have jumped on this offer to take another flight for $3,000 in gift cards? – Rene
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In days gone by, this would have been complete and confidence of management and training to the agents who need to solicit in advance so they don’t get caught with their pants down when it comes time to get volunteers off of the aircraft. Once Upon A time, the maximum amount offered was $200. If nobody takes it, you involuntarily take them off and put them on another airplane and pay them 400% of the fair they paid according to the Department of Transportation rules back then. Things have gotten out of hand with the airlines just giving away the store. This is a complete utter joke. Upper management including the CEO should be fired