Posted on 07/01/2022 9:46:33 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The cost of a seat on a commercial airline has been going up a fair bit lately, though not as quickly as the inconvenience and frustration levels have risen. But some seats are clearly worth more than others, at least at Delta Airlines. Earlier this week, a Delta flight was scheduled to go from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Minnesota. But when passengers were ready to begin boarding the plane, it quickly became obvious that Delta had overbooked the flight. They began asking for volunteers to move to a later flight and when they didn’t hear from anyone willing to give up their seat, they started sweetening the offer. Soon the price went up to ten thousand dollars and the offer was for cash, not credit toward future flights. Passengers were told that if they used Apple Pay, they could receive the money immediately. They soon had the required number of volunteers and the flight departed only twenty minutes later than its scheduled time. (Yahoo)
Passengers on a Delta flight from Michigan to Minnesota say that the airline offered them $10,000 cash to give up their seats on an oversold domestic flight.
In the end, the hour-long flight departed just 20 minutes later than scheduled from Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, according to Cirium’s flight tracker.
Jason Aten, a tech columnist at Inc. magazine, boarded the plane with his family and was waiting for it to leave the gate when a flight attendant came over the intercom, he wrote earlier this week. The crew was looking for eight volunteers to give up their seats on the apparently oversold flight, offering them $10,000 cash each.
This weekend is expected to be one of the busiest travel periods since the start of the pandemic, so we’ll probably be seeing more stories like this one. For once, we’re not talking about the pilot shortage, but that’s far from the only thing wrong with the airline industry these days.
Of the many annoying things that the airlines do (and they do plenty of annoying things), overbooking flights is among the most infuriating. And the airlines were doing this long before the pandemic. In their efforts to squeeze every last dollar out of the public and fill every seat, the major airlines sell more seats than they actually have. This is supposedly done to maximize capacity in the case of cancellations.
But if nobody cancels, then someone has to be kicked off the plane through no fault of their own. In the worst cases of this abusive practice, they attempt to give passengers credit toward another flight rather than cash. Delta does not offer refunds for basic economy flights. So if you need to cancel your flight with a seat in that category, they basically wind up selling the same seat twice if there is anyone waiting.
I point these facts out as evidence of how much pressure Delta and the other airlines must be feeling as their staffing problems and cancellations continue to draw scrutiny from both the media and the government. Offering ten thousand dollars in cash for a seat that probably cost less than a thousand bucks is an awful lot of “generosity.” They probably just didn’t want the eight passengers who were rescheduled to go running off and talking to the media about the terrible service they received.
It’s also worth noting that refunds or rescheduling don’t work for everyone. If you’re an infrequent flier and you’re booking a flight because of a particular event or appointment, having your flight canceled may cause you to miss the event entirely. In that case, offering you credit for a future flight does you no good. The point here is that they should be giving refunds (not credit) for every flight that is canceled and every overbooked seat.
Personally, I haven’t been on an airplane since the start of the pandemic in February of 2020. And I have no plans to start flying again now unless it’s an absolute emergency. Between the overcrowding and concerns as to whether the person in the next seat has monkeypox, I think I’ll just plan in advance and get where I need to go by car.
Several years back, I took an offer to give up my seat for the value of my ticket, a meal voucher in around $300. I got it on a Visa or MasterCard gift card.
A few weeks ago, my flight from Hartford to Florida was delayed from taking off. Apparently, the plane we were on was supposed to go to West to Denver or Vegas, forgot where, but somewhere in that area the day before but got canceled.
Supposedly, they never realized they forgot to takeoff the excess fuel until we are all boarded and the safety speech had just begun. We had to D plane and wait in the terminal for over an hour and a half while they made phone calls to get a fuel truck out.
I kinda have the feeling as well that that was something that the airline probably should’ve caught Before either assigning that aircraft, or having the fuel removed before boarding,and the pilots were pissed off they didn’t catch it and put them in that predicament.
No, I’m sure it’s cash. In the past, I’ve been given as much as $4500 to give up my seat and take a later flight. One time, BA gave me £1500 in *cash*, plus a hotel room, to take a flight the next morning. I’ll be flying to Europe this morning, so I hope I receive the $10k offer!
Just last week, the wife was flying AA with air miles. Upon checking in within 24-hours of the flight (thru the AA app), she was offered several monetary choices. I don’t remember the top amount, but the lowest was $300. I think the progression was a few hundred dollars each step...with the top being nowhere near $10k. The ultimate award would be based on the actual “need” at boarding time. She selected the $300...and never heard another thing from AA. Standby, in the app, showed two names for First Class...but none for Economy. She said no-one was called at the gate.
We fly southwest as much as possible. Affordable, friendly, efficient. Flew in 2021 for a funeral.
Couldn’t give me ten grand in cash to take another flight my last one was so bad I thought I saw Elvis in the next seat.
Anybody know if this would be taxable income?
Hell yes, and then I’d hitch hike home
Sure, I would. Chances are I wouldn’t want on the plane anyway, so I’d take the money and head to the nearest motorcycle shop, buy a bike, and have fun riding home.
Well, if it’s actually cash, that’s great. I’m sure it’s really been messing up peoples’ lives and plans.
The article said for people who used Apple Pay they got it immediately
Yes, I saw that. Thanks.
(Seems to discriminate somewhat against those who don’t use Apple Pay, though...)
No. You still get the money just not right this minute
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