Posted on 06/29/2022 1:01:26 PM PDT by EBH
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at eyeoftheflyer.com ...
My goal would be to eliminate most discretionary travelers and only serve passengers who really need to fly.
Here’s another one from a few years back.
Why Delta Air Lines Paid Me $11,000 Not To Fly To Florida This Weekend
Do the math — my family and I were given exactly $11,000 in American Express gift cards, plus a little extra in food and taxi vouchers. And because we were staying with family and didn’t need to cancel a hotel or car rental, it didn’t cost us anything besides our time (and a missed trip).
And what you'd get would be only multimillionaire fliers or corporate sponsored fliers all at the expense of the people who pay the taxes, the middle class who would no longer be able to afford a ticket.
I can see logic in your madness, but I can’t totally agree.
There needs to be some changes. Overbooking would be what
I would reign in first.
$10,000 gift card.
How much is the taxi fare for this trip? :D
Bidenflation is baked into that payout!
The U.S. airline industry can’t meet the current passenger demand. If you’re not going to price a lot of people out of the market, then that will never change. And if you’re going to approach this from the standpoint that every American has a God-given right to fly on airplanes, then it’s best to step back and not waste your time. Just let it continue the same headlong slide into mediocrity and dysfunction that defines everything else that is treated the same way — like public transit, government schools, crumbling bridges and highways, etc.
That can be fixed, get government out.
Fly to JFK a day early.
How is any of this constrained by government?
That’s my plan.
Good. I hope things go smoothly for you.
For Gay State Conservative also...
I guess I dont get the incentive for the airline. They must be able to recoup the money from a variety of finance maneuvers. Are they liable in ways other than PR?
Ah when it was fun to travel pre kung flu. I only travelled with carryon and had no set schedule. Out of the country two weeks a month each month. I got vouchers all the time. Free hotel rooms and restaurants in nice cities. Free car rentals. Upgrades on later flights with the fancy waiting room. I’d do it again.
Last year we “settled” on $900 each for a taking a later DC to Charlotte flight, but still made our same connecting flight home. Just booked flights to Ireland and a separate stateside trip for one of us. We did give up first class seats for middle coach seats, but I’d say it was well worth it.
The government imposed vaccine requirements for public transportation affected pilot readiness and hours training. The airlines adapted these requirements.
This happened the one time that I flew years ago. The airline overbooked, so a staff member at the front of the plane auctioned off the extra seat. Passengers said this was normal, no one was getting kicked off, and the offers would escalate until someone accepted. The airline started by offering to rebook a passenger’s flight, a night’s stay at a nearby hotel, and a shopping voucher of some sort. The voucher went up to $500 before a man enthusiastically agreed.
In this case rebooking appears to have been worth no less than 10k to a planeful of passengers.
When I purchase a plane ticket the sole reason is to get be from point A to point B on a certain date and time. I don't buy them as a lottery ticket and would turn down anything they would most likely offer.
The government imposed vaccine requirements for public transportation affected pilot readiness and hours training. The airlines adapted these requirements.
Modern airline travel being crappy in general was an old joke well before COVID vaccine requirements were mandated. Unless you're referring to something else.
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