Charlie Riedel / AP
It’s not uncommon to be bumped from the flight, though the figure of US $ 10,000 is certainly one of the broader deals.
How much will it take for you to accept being bumped into a flight? Well, this is what passengers on a recent oversold flight in the US had to decide – stay on, or get off US $ 10,000 richer.
The decision came earlier this week on a Delta regional service from Grand Rapids to Minneapolis.
The plane was oversold and the crew made an initial announcement that any passengers who would get off the plane and book a later flight would receive US $ 5,000.
There were apparently few recipients, as a second announcement raised the offer to US $ 10,000, and that it would be paid immediately if the passenger had Apple Pay, or they could take a Visa gift voucher.
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One passenger, Todd McCrumb, wrote on Twitter that he was on the run with his wife.
“It’s a true story. I was on that flight! Unfortunately I could not accept the offer in advance as I was flying with my wife who has very limited vision. She must be close to me when I travel. ”
Another passenger Jason Aten also confirmed the story.
“On @Delta flight from GRR to MSP and they just offered $ 10,000 for people to give up their seats … Ten. Thousand. Dollars. ”
The tech columnist wrote in an article on inc.com about his experience: “Yes, $ 10,000 is a lot of money, but it was clearly better than forcing eight people to miss their connections and ruin their plans.
“The people who volunteered did the calculations and decided it’s worth changing their plans because it’s obviously a lot of money.”
It is not clear how many people accepted the money, although one Twitter user claimed their son took the cash and then drove to his destination.
It’s not uncommon to be bumped from a flight, although the figure of US $ 10,000 is certainly one of the wider offers.
Airlines can legally oversell flights on the assumption that some people will not show up.
The US Department of Transportation website states: “Most passengers who are bumped up who experience short delays on flights will receive compensation equal to twice the one-way price of the flight they were bumped into, but airlines can pay this amount up to US $ 775 restrict.
“Passengers who experience longer flight delays will receive payments of four times the one-way value of the flight from which they were flown, but airlines may limit this amount to up to US $ 1,550.”
The website also states that “although airlines are required by law to give you a certain amount of money, they are free to give you more money than is required if they wish”.
Airlines have instituted new procedures to knock passengers off oversold plans following the infamous removal of Dr David Dao from a United Airlines flight in 2017. He suffered a concussion, broken nose and damaged sinuses and lost two front teeth when he got out of his seat has been drawn.