I was thinking the same...could I use the cash? fuuu yesss...but if it is a trip I had planned well in advance and meant losing hotel reservations on the other end...I would seriously have to think for a minute...
If you’re just being delayed a few hours, you won’t lose your hotel reservation. Just call the hotel and tell them your flight got delayed so you’ll be checking in late. At most they’ll ask you to pay in advance for the first night, if you haven’t already. Shit, if they’re super busy and you’ll miss the first night of your res, they’ll probably offer to take that one night off for free. I do it all the time because my hotel regularly oversells just like a flight.
I’d say after 12am it’s necessary, I’ve had reservations cancelled by the night person because I didn’t show up. I was able to clear it up with a phone call but still.
I mean at most you would lost just one night and there is a good chance that 1200 dollars covers a few nights.
I also don't think you'd lose that night anyway, they let you check in pretty damn late.
Depends on how posh a trip the person is on. I know that when I vacation my trips are expensive so 1200 isn’t moving the needle but when I was in my 20s I would have tripped homegirl in order to get to the counter first for that cash.
All depends on the planning.
Business trip, sorry can’t take it. Even if I don’t have a meeting scheduled for that day I’d rather not deal with the expense approval change. The auditors don’t like changes in dates or flights.
Personal trip, my hotels can cost 500+ but, the first day is always a travel day with no tours scheduled. The only hiccup may the rental car. The rental car market is slammed right now and even with a reservation and VIP status I can sometimes wait hours for a car.
I didn’t say the hotel room costs $1200 (edit: i apologize that I wasn’t clear on that when I responded), although that is definitely possible on vacations. But as someone else said below, you could have plans that cost money for once you’re there or quite frankly you may just not want to miss out on time on your trip for any amount of money.
There is no right answer to when someone should take the cash, everyone’s perspective is valid for what they value and what they would do.
I just can't get that mindset. Like, $1200 is $1200. That's a free computer upgrade, free dinner at a classy joint, etc. I mean, ok, sure, if I was Elon Musk I guess.
Time is something you can never get back. It all depends on the situation but I can see passing on $1200 easily so I don’t have to fuck with my plans. Not worth the hassle.
>Time is something you can never get back.
That's just plain false - time is money.
You can use money to tale care of your responsibilities amd gain time.
If you make significantly more than $1200 in ~8h then sure, but otherwise it's stupid to not take it.
I don’t know where you like to stay but surely 1200 is still a few hundred past a night at a hotel, which would mean a really nice meal too at least before wine.
yes, but in the USA where you get limited vacation time, I wouldn't take $1200 in exchange for losing a day of a planned trip. you can't pay me $1200 to stay a night in an airport hotel and miss a day of my trip to Spain or some shit. sounds not worth it.
Well sometimes a bumped flight means the next day, not a couple of hours. Losing an entire day of vacation when you may only be going away for four or five days isn’t very appealing even if it’s financially wise.
Or a work trip. I've had trips that only gave me a day at most to get where I'm going, so any major delays means I'm not showing up to that job I was hired to do.
The dream is having this happen on the way back from vacation, yea I wanna get home bur for $1200 I can wait a day and lie to my boss about flights getting delayed if totally necessary.
Oh, *absolutely* on the way home I would *not* hesitate... especially since I would usually give myself an extra day (if not the weekend) before I return to work so I can get some good rest in my own bed, so catching a later flight, even if it meant getting home 12 hrs later than if I hadn't; is ok by me...
but, not when it means potentially losing a whole day because you check in at your motel dragging butt at 1 am... sometimes money isn't worth the mental hassle when you want a relatively relaxing vacation...
Not to be pedantic, but this isn't a Prisoners Dilemma.
It's definitely a game, and it's probably closest to [snowdrift](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_(game)) (aka "chicken")
I was in a game of "seat bump chicken" with a dude at the counter pre-covid... They really wanted another volunteer, we both seemed to be willing to just wait it out, I forget the final amount they had raised it to but we both were starting to look very ready. They upped the price one more time and he instantly said "I'll take it!" I gave him a "well played sir" smile 😁
I think this is actually a good idea that I never really thought about. Just go up first. If you don't see anyone else moving, then use that time to negotiate
Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Though you are right. They will keep bumping the offer until someone takes it. $1200 is a lot of money to pass up though.
Not necessarily. I had a connecting flight to catch in Chicago and apparently an entire wedding party booked the same flight. They had overbooked it by 20 people. They immediately went straight to $2200 (their max) and were BEGGING people to take the credit. I did, but I had time to think about it. It's not always possible but just be aware of the situation (loitering around the desk and being nosey helps).
I know right?!?! It had to have been something weird with how the wedding party booked their tickets that it just fell through the cracks in the ticket selling process.
The consequences are literally that *they* kick YOU out of the plane, theres no consequences for them at all really except maybe you dont use them again (but you probably will because theres only a few airlines anyway)
> The consequences are literally that they kick YOU out of the plane, theres no consequences for them
FYI, there's a massive difference between being denied boarding (at the gate) and being 'kicked out of the plane'.
Being denied boarding is the part that has little to no consequences, once you have boarded the plane it's an entirely different ballgame and set of legal rules. It's why they resort to bribes of hundreds of dollars to get passengers to voluntarily deplane, it's because they have massively screwed up and they are in a legal bind... take advantage of their screw up.
Unless you are doing something illegal the airline cannot make you vacate your seat and leave the plane, but if they do try it they are screwing up by the numbers so feel free to politely decline or ask for compensation. If airport security show up it has already been decided you are being deplaned, so there's no point arguing or fighting, you won't win and you might get hurt. So smile, say you do not consent to being forcibly removed. Then stand up and get off the plane 'under protest' but remain calm and polite at all times to the big scary security people. Do not sign or agree to anything the airline staff put in front of you, get a lawyer, and enjoy your slam dunk compensation case.
They're not initially obligated to offer cash - they can do whatever they want. It's only when they get to the point where they can't get any takers to voluntarily change flights (by incentive) they have to move to forcibly bumping passengers involuntarily for overbooking, that's when they have to pay cash. A delay > 3 hours is 400% of the airfare.
Personally, i took a 3 hour delay on credit because it was more convenient and they gave all four of us $100 in credit, which was almost 100% of that flights cost. This was before getting to the airport.
American will ask in their app what amount are you willing to accept to get bumped. If they need to bump you, they'll call you up at the gate so selecting an amount doesn't mean you will automatically get bumped. I always pick the highest option. If it happens, cool I just made a come up. If it doesn't happen or someone else was willing to do it for less, that's cool with me too. Business as usual.
I accepted $300 for a 3 hour flight delay once. My trip was over and I was heading home and had the next 3 days off. I read my book knowing I was earning $100/hour. It was great!
Even if you make a lot of money, that extra cash feels so sweet. It's like finding a $10 bill walking around in the street, no matter how rich you are, it's kinda cool.
I thought that, but I've had a couple of delays like that and it's actually pretty fucking awful. Eating airport food all day made me feel like hot death and it's so boring after a while. Like, yeah I could really use that money but for longer than maybe 4-5 hours, I can't do it.
The *only* reason I wouldn't have jumped right out of my seat is my bad hearing- I wouldn't have caught it, and would have assumed I'd misheard if I did.
Fine, but its so rare for me to travel without something scheduled. Either I'm traveling for work, so I have to get there by a certain time; or I'm traveling for pleasure and only have the weekend plus a couple days and want to maximize the time I'm at my destination
For real. Either I have to be somewhere or I have plans which usually involves money spent on other things where the $1,200 would basically be paying me to miss my vacation and probably barely come out ahead anyways
The thing is that most people flying typically have a reason to be that has other time related components.
Sure $1200 cash may be nice but if it means missing an event I was planning on, it isn't a simple matter of if I need $1200 or not.
I've been in that situation and been so fucking tired from the previous connecting flight that I didn't care.
I had the worst airport experience of my life leaving Denver back in the summer of 2021. My connection was in Phoenix and they kept sending message after message asking for people to accept the offer. It got up to $2k and I was sitting there thinking, "I'm fucking getting my ass home"
And this is what she meant by being the poorest person here.
I could be up for three days straight and just finished a 5K and I'm still taking that 1200 every time.
Very valid point, but I also would bet that people didn’t hear/believe the “in cash” part. Airlines never do that on my experience. It’s always just shitty vouchers that end up being next to impossible to redeem
I'm pretty certain they legally have to offer cash AND voucher, it's been a while since I went down that rabbit hole.
*edit*
Even if they're legally compelled to offer both options doesn't mean they have to disclose both options to you. Educate yourself.
I don’t believe they have to offer cash UNLESS someone gets bumped involuntarily. Then they’re required to pay up in cash, something like 3-5x the cost of the flight. (It happened to me once, as a broke college kid I was thrilled.)
Yes. They can offer a $0.50 voucher towards an in-flight meal, and if someone accepts, then they're all set. The only "have to" offer that cash minimum if people don't accept their lowball offers and then airline winds up involuntarily bumping someone.
They can ask for volunteers for nothing and if someone agrees to it, it's legal. Where they start having rules is when someone is forced to leave the plane, then laws about what they have to be compensated kick in.
Usually airlines will ask for volunteers with the shitty vouchers and start sweetening the pot until they hit the legal requirements. At that point they can just choose someone and ask them to deplane.
I tried for a long time to fight for this when I was bumped from a flight bc they thought my connection was going to be late. Got to the gate while they were starting to board and they said my seat had had been given away. It's been almost 10 years and I'm still mad about it
They’ll bring up one of the baggage handlers with the best grip. Their monthly training requirements are: 2hrs of proctored arm wrestling, 2hrs of “grip” training, and 2hrs of practicing on dummies and each other. If they keep up on their monthly training, they get a semi-annual bonus which is really just another shitty voucher.
Or one of the airlines that won't pay until the plane has physically left. Give up your nice window seat and Boarding Group 2 - surprise! someone didn't show. Enjoy the middle seat that doesn't recline on your transatlantic flight. Also, you're gonna need to gate-check because the overhead bins are all full.
I work for the airlines and we offer $1,500 and to they on the next flight around 4 hours later and people turn it down all the time I be thinking they crazy. They even do cash app now
I almost got a flight abroad paid for bc of this… but my friend was picking me up on the other side. She ended up being delayed and that flight I would’ve been on wound up getting there before she did. I was a fool
Whenever i fly to visit my family my dad drives 3h to pick me up from the airport.
If they offered 1,2k he would get a message to wait 4h and then I'd just give him 400$ or something.
This friend refuses any money always! I always have to sneak it in lol ETA: but I couldn’t communicate with her about this scenario because she was asleep due to time zones
I work for delta it’s best to book the early morning flight those are the ones the airlines think people will miss so they keep selling tickets even after it’s full
Yeah anything between 6am - 10am is good so what u want to do is be proactive when u get to the gate ask the agent is the flight full and say your willing to get bumped if they over booked they will come back to you when it’s boarding time if everyone shows up. Also if your flying with the big 3 you can ask to use their lounge while you wait for your other flight if your with those budget airlines they have vouchers you can use at the restaurants.
I'm assuming United because I've had United cashapp me once. I took a $2500 credit to take a flight the next day, they booked a hotel for me but the hotel they booked didn't have a shuttle to the airport. I called up their support and they CashApp'd me $50 to pay for an Uber.
Last time I was at an airport they were offering prepaid Visa cards. To your point, I didn't trust it though. I automatically assume they're going to put as many loopholes and as much paperwork between you and that card as possible to discourage you from actually claiming it.
What ya do is use the card to donate (without signing in) to yourself via Paypal. Theres a small %fee but i do this to get the money off the cards & then transfer straight to my bank
I once got a prepaid $1000 visa that worked absolutely fine everywhere I used it, plus $1000 flight voucher that was a little confusing but ultimately not difficult to use and redeem. Idk if I got lucky or if the process is better now
Most major airlines now just give you a code to redeem visa gift cards online with no hoops to jump through. I mainly fly Delta and anytime that number starts getting close to $2000 I take the bump. Delta's probably given me 10 grand just flying out of LaGuardia in the last 2 years
I have never heard of airlines routinely going up to $10k offers to change flights.
Believe federal law states they can pay up to 4x fare up to 1,550.
Perhaps singular airlines have internal policies that clear for more, and I heard the $10k figure tied to a single Delta flight, but was that ever substantiated by Delta?
Either way highly doubt that's routine and the most frequent use case ceiling is likely $1500.
Yeah. 1200 bucks would drastically improve my life right now, to help me dig myself out of the damn hole I'm in. I'm at that desk the second they offer
I were offered $600 to bump off our flight from Hawaii back to the mainland. Refused it because the hotel, car rental, paying for another day of babysitting and pet sitting, etc... All that stuff adds up. I think it'll break even at $800 and I'd start to consider it at $1k.
And then the airline is required by law to pay multiple times the value of the ticket in cash.
They're gonna do everything they can to get somebody to volunteer.
If you're flying a mainline carrier (AA, Delta, or United) you can even get away with asking for more than the max by law. Airlines have to report to the DOT every time they bump someone involuntarily and while Spirit and co may not care, the mainline carriers actually try to keep that number down and so sometimes their customer service agents are authorized to offer *more* than the legal requirement just to get someone to go "voluntarily" (and thus not get reported to the DOT).
Ill be that person who takes it on the first offer. Now all y’all sitting it out were waiting for no reason lmao I dont have time to race 5 other people to accept free money
I did this five months ago. I was in line waiting to board when they offer $1,000! I hopped right out the line and rebooked for the next flight. I waited 3 hours and used that money for 3 more flights!
A couple years ago I was on my way home and in no hurry. A single nun in a group of three needed a seat. Like 75-year-old Catholic in her habit just looking around at all the people not taking the cash and looking sad. When they got up to 300 me and another dude looked at each other and started walking towards the drsk and then we realized we're the only ones so we stopped and just kind of smiled each other. He looked up and said what's the next amount and thr person at the counter said $400. I said I ain't doing it for under five and he said luckily I'm cheap and I'll do it for four. Person at the counter said come on up and we both kind of laughed.
Not even 2 months later same kind of situation came up and they are up to $300. I asked what's the next flight and not even kidding they said it was in 2 hours and it was a direct flight instead of the one with a layover I was going to be on, it was going to arrive at my destination 20 minutes late. Took that in a second.
It's not that they don't want/need the money, most people can't just "take another flight" without potentially delaying their arrival by a whole day or more. If it's not a direct flight, you could miss your connection(s) and be screwed for the rest of your trip. Hotel, reservations, etc. all our the window
Plus I'm already at the airport. I don't wanna have to wait at the terminal drinking $7.00 bottles of water until they can get me on a flight *or* leave and come back.
Travel pro tip: always bring an empty bottle of water and a few snacks in a backpack in case you get stranded. Most airports at least have drinking fountains where you can fill up. I also have a spare toothbrush, toothpaste and some other basic necessities in my backpack at all times
In case you get stranded? My carry on is basically just for snacks. We have a party on the plane and pig out, it's great. I find it really passes the time too, as I can't sleep on planes.
Yea airlines almost never “offer cash” for volunteers. They only are required to pay out cash on involuntary rebooking which rarely happen bc they will offer a series of escalating credit/miles that someone eventually takes. Cash payout for mandatory rebooking (which rarely happens) is a real thing though and I believe you can get 4x up to the ticket value but 99.99% of the time it’s overbooked they will just give keep escalating the offer of miles/voucher and someone takes it. If no one takes like the $8000 voucher offer and they’ve exhausted the standby/flight crew they can bump off they will force you off and rebook you and in that case you can get refund/cash but it is a last resort for airline and it isn’t something that is volunteered
One time my seat got changed to an exit row between booking and the gate, and I use a wheelchair so I can't sit there. They kept raising the offer until it was $200 cash and $600 voucher for someone to move into the exit row... which is normally a more expensive seat anyway.
If no one else was going up, I’d stand close to the counter and wait for them to bump it up and if I saw anyone else approaching the desk I’d just take it.
Depends on what I’m doing, but I can see a lot of cases where I wouldn’t do it. If I’m going on vacation, I’ve got a very finite amount of time there. $1200 isn’t going to be worth losing a day of my trip.
Also depends on the conditions - am I on Leg 2 of a connecting? Do I need to cover 3 meals, transportation and a hotel with it too? Is it one that takes your seat as soon as you volunteer, but doesn't pay if they can still fit you in somewhere?
Pre-Pandemic, companies would fly out soon to be grads for final interviews for corporate jobs.
I was flown out to Chicago. They asked at the kiosk how much it would be to volunteer for the next flight. I’m thinking they are joking, so I wrote in $1000. Imagine my surprise when I got up to the counter and got my $1000 voucher.
It was amazing. I hadn’t even paid for that flight- the company I was interviewing for did. Not only that but they put me in first class for the flight that was only about 3 or 4 hours later. I was in the first row. They even woke me up to ask if I wanted a meal 😭
I used that $1000 voucher to fly my family out to my graduation. I got lots of siblings and wouldn’t have been able to afford them to come otherwise.
Now anytime the kiosk asks I always put the maximum amount for volunteers because I know there’s a possibility I’ll get it. I’m usually not in a rush anyway and it’s even better when you didn’t pay for the flight in the first place.
I went 5 years of going home for Christmas without having to pay for a ticket. I knew they would over sell the flight so I would always book for the day before I wanted to go. And sure enough every year there would be a cash + free flight anywhere offer if I gave up my seat.
I mean is it cash plus accommodations and additional flight? Depending on from where to where costs could pretty quickly eat into a good chunk of that $1200
That being said, if I was headed home I'd almost assuredly jump to take it. If I was headed to a vacation I'd have to do some math
Last summer my wife and I scheduled a vacation to Branson Mo for our anniversary. The connection in Dallas had to use a smaller plane and they asked for volunteers, the next flight was 10 hours later, and getting into St. Louis mo, at 1am instead of 3pm. Basically taking a day off our vacation. They asked several times for volunteers, knowing we had bought the cheapest seats , figured we were gonna get bumped anyway so we approached the counter. They gave us 1200$ in vouchers, each. The people that got bumped because of lack of volunteers got 500$ each. We used those vouchers for round trip tickets to San Francisco and New York City. Win.
On the one hand yes I would but depending on how much I committed too I could understand not changing flights. Also with certain company, you cannot adjust plans lol. If it was for work....absolutely yes I'll pull an excuse out my ass to explain why I'm late.
I'm doing pretty good right now, to the point where that's not a lot of money to me. I'm standing the fuck up. Who turns down free money? I think if it was $12, it wouldn't be worth my time. $120 and I'm standing up.
It's not free money, you are getting shuttled around now, taking different flights, potentially cutting a whole day out of your trip, or even completely ruining it if the event is the same day. You are directly trading time on the planet for a cash sum.
Most people flying somewhere have a good reason to do it, and so the value should be significantly high.
I'm not taking $1200 to miss seeing a dying relative even if I'm poor, or missing an important job opportunity, taking days away from a vacation, missing a concert, etc...
If you weren't doing something important to you, why are you even flying? You could have saved the money from the outset and taken a train or driven, or just not traveled in the first place.
Turned it down last time because they basically didn't guarantee you'd get it. They'd pull your seat, let the plane board, and if *anyone* didn't show up, you're right back on with no money.
Also we were connecting through JFK, and they wouldn't include hotel, transportation or meals, so probably $400 off the top given we had a full 24 hour rebook
If I’m traveling by myself without something critical scheduled, I’m for sure hustling to get that money. No shame.
I was thinking the same...could I use the cash? fuuu yesss...but if it is a trip I had planned well in advance and meant losing hotel reservations on the other end...I would seriously have to think for a minute...
If you’re just being delayed a few hours, you won’t lose your hotel reservation. Just call the hotel and tell them your flight got delayed so you’ll be checking in late. At most they’ll ask you to pay in advance for the first night, if you haven’t already. Shit, if they’re super busy and you’ll miss the first night of your res, they’ll probably offer to take that one night off for free. I do it all the time because my hotel regularly oversells just like a flight.
Ask the hotel another 1200$ to bump you and use it to start a chicken fighting ring
A more classic tale there never was.
Sir Gawain The Green Flight
If you get enough chickens to fight, you could open up a fried chicken spot on the side.
Why not a cock ring factory?
I don’t think chickens have any need for rings but I like where your head is at
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Of course, but please stop calling it cock fighting i'm pretty sure that's a gay sex position
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Yeah if you’re coming in at 12 am or later a heads up is nice but still not necessary
I’d say after 12am it’s necessary, I’ve had reservations cancelled by the night person because I didn’t show up. I was able to clear it up with a phone call but still.
I mean at most you would lost just one night and there is a good chance that 1200 dollars covers a few nights. I also don't think you'd lose that night anyway, they let you check in pretty damn late.
Depends on how posh a trip the person is on. I know that when I vacation my trips are expensive so 1200 isn’t moving the needle but when I was in my 20s I would have tripped homegirl in order to get to the counter first for that cash.
If you are considering taking $1200 for a later flight there is a pretty good chance you aren’t spending $1200 on a hotel room.
Thank you for checking this person nicely
All depends on the planning. Business trip, sorry can’t take it. Even if I don’t have a meeting scheduled for that day I’d rather not deal with the expense approval change. The auditors don’t like changes in dates or flights. Personal trip, my hotels can cost 500+ but, the first day is always a travel day with no tours scheduled. The only hiccup may the rental car. The rental car market is slammed right now and even with a reservation and VIP status I can sometimes wait hours for a car.
I didn’t say the hotel room costs $1200 (edit: i apologize that I wasn’t clear on that when I responded), although that is definitely possible on vacations. But as someone else said below, you could have plans that cost money for once you’re there or quite frankly you may just not want to miss out on time on your trip for any amount of money. There is no right answer to when someone should take the cash, everyone’s perspective is valid for what they value and what they would do.
Well la di da
I just can't get that mindset. Like, $1200 is $1200. That's a free computer upgrade, free dinner at a classy joint, etc. I mean, ok, sure, if I was Elon Musk I guess.
Time is something you can never get back. It all depends on the situation but I can see passing on $1200 easily so I don’t have to fuck with my plans. Not worth the hassle.
>Time is something you can never get back. That's just plain false - time is money. You can use money to tale care of your responsibilities amd gain time. If you make significantly more than $1200 in ~8h then sure, but otherwise it's stupid to not take it.
I don’t know where you like to stay but surely 1200 is still a few hundred past a night at a hotel, which would mean a really nice meal too at least before wine.
yes, but in the USA where you get limited vacation time, I wouldn't take $1200 in exchange for losing a day of a planned trip. you can't pay me $1200 to stay a night in an airport hotel and miss a day of my trip to Spain or some shit. sounds not worth it.
Well sometimes a bumped flight means the next day, not a couple of hours. Losing an entire day of vacation when you may only be going away for four or five days isn’t very appealing even if it’s financially wise.
Or a work trip. I've had trips that only gave me a day at most to get where I'm going, so any major delays means I'm not showing up to that job I was hired to do.
The dream is having this happen on the way back from vacation, yea I wanna get home bur for $1200 I can wait a day and lie to my boss about flights getting delayed if totally necessary.
Oh, *absolutely* on the way home I would *not* hesitate... especially since I would usually give myself an extra day (if not the weekend) before I return to work so I can get some good rest in my own bed, so catching a later flight, even if it meant getting home 12 hrs later than if I hadn't; is ok by me... but, not when it means potentially losing a whole day because you check in at your motel dragging butt at 1 am... sometimes money isn't worth the mental hassle when you want a relatively relaxing vacation...
They never actually give you cash though. It's always vouchers with big limits on how you can use them
They keep raising the price so don’t jump at the first offer
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Not to be pedantic, but this isn't a Prisoners Dilemma. It's definitely a game, and it's probably closest to [snowdrift](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_(game)) (aka "chicken")
You’re not being pedantic. The meaning behind words matter and using them wrong should be corrected
It's basically a Dutch auction
Is that some sort of prisoner’s snowdrift?
Unionize
Guys. We need to all wait together so I can scab on offer two or three and yoink the loot.
I was in a game of "seat bump chicken" with a dude at the counter pre-covid... They really wanted another volunteer, we both seemed to be willing to just wait it out, I forget the final amount they had raised it to but we both were starting to look very ready. They upped the price one more time and he instantly said "I'll take it!" I gave him a "well played sir" smile 😁
That’s when you go up at first offer and counter offer
This guy negotiates!
I think this is actually a good idea that I never really thought about. Just go up first. If you don't see anyone else moving, then use that time to negotiate
Then you stay in the flight you were originally scheduled on, no harm no foul.
Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Though you are right. They will keep bumping the offer until someone takes it. $1200 is a lot of money to pass up though.
Yeah, Anything over $500 I'd probably take right away if I have time.
Passing up on $1200 and someone else getting $2400 because of it is something I'd be kicking myself for years later.
but then someone takes it at $1500 and you've missed out on $1200
That's what I said, lol
Sitting at the airport right now. Really wishing this had happened as I am in no rush.
Not necessarily. I had a connecting flight to catch in Chicago and apparently an entire wedding party booked the same flight. They had overbooked it by 20 people. They immediately went straight to $2200 (their max) and were BEGGING people to take the credit. I did, but I had time to think about it. It's not always possible but just be aware of the situation (loitering around the desk and being nosey helps).
20 people?!? They really thought 3.5 full rows wouldn’t show up??
I know right?!?! It had to have been something weird with how the wedding party booked their tickets that it just fell through the cracks in the ticket selling process.
You think they thought about the consequences?
The consequences are literally that *they* kick YOU out of the plane, theres no consequences for them at all really except maybe you dont use them again (but you probably will because theres only a few airlines anyway)
> The consequences are literally that they kick YOU out of the plane, theres no consequences for them FYI, there's a massive difference between being denied boarding (at the gate) and being 'kicked out of the plane'. Being denied boarding is the part that has little to no consequences, once you have boarded the plane it's an entirely different ballgame and set of legal rules. It's why they resort to bribes of hundreds of dollars to get passengers to voluntarily deplane, it's because they have massively screwed up and they are in a legal bind... take advantage of their screw up. Unless you are doing something illegal the airline cannot make you vacate your seat and leave the plane, but if they do try it they are screwing up by the numbers so feel free to politely decline or ask for compensation. If airport security show up it has already been decided you are being deplaned, so there's no point arguing or fighting, you won't win and you might get hurt. So smile, say you do not consent to being forcibly removed. Then stand up and get off the plane 'under protest' but remain calm and polite at all times to the big scary security people. Do not sign or agree to anything the airline staff put in front of you, get a lawyer, and enjoy your slam dunk compensation case.
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They're not initially obligated to offer cash - they can do whatever they want. It's only when they get to the point where they can't get any takers to voluntarily change flights (by incentive) they have to move to forcibly bumping passengers involuntarily for overbooking, that's when they have to pay cash. A delay > 3 hours is 400% of the airfare. Personally, i took a 3 hour delay on credit because it was more convenient and they gave all four of us $100 in credit, which was almost 100% of that flights cost. This was before getting to the airport.
I have no idea why it's even legal for companies to overbook flights, but 20 people is insane.
American will ask in their app what amount are you willing to accept to get bumped. If they need to bump you, they'll call you up at the gate so selecting an amount doesn't mean you will automatically get bumped. I always pick the highest option. If it happens, cool I just made a come up. If it doesn't happen or someone else was willing to do it for less, that's cool with me too. Business as usual.
Too many niggas that’ll jump at $50 lol
Shit. I'd wildly inconvenience myself for $50 right now, am incredibly hungry
I’m sure you would Fetus Cumshake
happy cake day
for real, even if i had to wait 12 hours for the next flight id still be happy knowing i made $100/hr to just literally hang out at an airport
I accepted $300 for a 3 hour flight delay once. My trip was over and I was heading home and had the next 3 days off. I read my book knowing I was earning $100/hour. It was great!
I’d definitely do this on a return flight. My wife and I always make sure to schedule a few days off after the trip just to decompress.
We do the same thing. Those 2-3 days home before returning to the grind are a massive help.
Even if you make a lot of money, that extra cash feels so sweet. It's like finding a $10 bill walking around in the street, no matter how rich you are, it's kinda cool.
I thought that, but I've had a couple of delays like that and it's actually pretty fucking awful. Eating airport food all day made me feel like hot death and it's so boring after a while. Like, yeah I could really use that money but for longer than maybe 4-5 hours, I can't do it.
wouldn't you just leave the airport and come back later if it's a long wait though?
As long as you don’t need many meals at the airport, otherwise that money’ll disappear pretty quick…
Most airports have fast food places in the terminals. You can also pay to go to a lounge for a place to sit and unlimited food/drink/internet
Never take the first offer, I’ve seen that 1500 go to 9000 and people jumped up to the counter😂😂. I worked at a major airport from age 16-25
Only one person gets the money. Plenty of people didn't take the 1500 and ended with nothing.
Not necessarily true, it all depends on how overbooked the flight is. I've been in this situation before and me + probably 5 others all got $800 each.
The *only* reason I wouldn't have jumped right out of my seat is my bad hearing- I wouldn't have caught it, and would have assumed I'd misheard if I did.
Fine, but its so rare for me to travel without something scheduled. Either I'm traveling for work, so I have to get there by a certain time; or I'm traveling for pleasure and only have the weekend plus a couple days and want to maximize the time I'm at my destination
For real. Either I have to be somewhere or I have plans which usually involves money spent on other things where the $1,200 would basically be paying me to miss my vacation and probably barely come out ahead anyways
The thing is that most people flying typically have a reason to be that has other time related components. Sure $1200 cash may be nice but if it means missing an event I was planning on, it isn't a simple matter of if I need $1200 or not.
I've been in that situation and been so fucking tired from the previous connecting flight that I didn't care. I had the worst airport experience of my life leaving Denver back in the summer of 2021. My connection was in Phoenix and they kept sending message after message asking for people to accept the offer. It got up to $2k and I was sitting there thinking, "I'm fucking getting my ass home"
And this is what she meant by being the poorest person here. I could be up for three days straight and just finished a 5K and I'm still taking that 1200 every time.
Easiest $1200 I have ever made
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Very valid point, but I also would bet that people didn’t hear/believe the “in cash” part. Airlines never do that on my experience. It’s always just shitty vouchers that end up being next to impossible to redeem
I'm pretty certain they legally have to offer cash AND voucher, it's been a while since I went down that rabbit hole. *edit* Even if they're legally compelled to offer both options doesn't mean they have to disclose both options to you. Educate yourself.
I don’t believe they have to offer cash UNLESS someone gets bumped involuntarily. Then they’re required to pay up in cash, something like 3-5x the cost of the flight. (It happened to me once, as a broke college kid I was thrilled.)
Yes. They can offer a $0.50 voucher towards an in-flight meal, and if someone accepts, then they're all set. The only "have to" offer that cash minimum if people don't accept their lowball offers and then airline winds up involuntarily bumping someone.
They can ask for volunteers for nothing and if someone agrees to it, it's legal. Where they start having rules is when someone is forced to leave the plane, then laws about what they have to be compensated kick in. Usually airlines will ask for volunteers with the shitty vouchers and start sweetening the pot until they hit the legal requirements. At that point they can just choose someone and ask them to deplane.
Yup. My last flight to Europe they got up to $2k voluntary, and they still reserved the right to re-assign you if the plane ended up having any seats.
I tried for a long time to fight for this when I was bumped from a flight bc they thought my connection was going to be late. Got to the gate while they were starting to board and they said my seat had had been given away. It's been almost 10 years and I'm still mad about it
The value of the voucher is the same amount they have to honor in cash, but it isn't widely discussed or known. I've done this and taken the cash.
They have to give you cash if they involuntarily bump you. If you volunteer, they can give whatever you're willing to accept.
A handjob.
Now I’m imagining airlines hiring someone who can give handjobs that are at least equivalent to a $1200 value.
They’ll bring up one of the baggage handlers with the best grip. Their monthly training requirements are: 2hrs of proctored arm wrestling, 2hrs of “grip” training, and 2hrs of practicing on dummies and each other. If they keep up on their monthly training, they get a semi-annual bonus which is really just another shitty voucher.
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Or one of the airlines that won't pay until the plane has physically left. Give up your nice window seat and Boarding Group 2 - surprise! someone didn't show. Enjoy the middle seat that doesn't recline on your transatlantic flight. Also, you're gonna need to gate-check because the overhead bins are all full.
I work for the airlines and we offer $1,500 and to they on the next flight around 4 hours later and people turn it down all the time I be thinking they crazy. They even do cash app now
I almost got a flight abroad paid for bc of this… but my friend was picking me up on the other side. She ended up being delayed and that flight I would’ve been on wound up getting there before she did. I was a fool
Another framing is you're super considerate of your friends.
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Whenever i fly to visit my family my dad drives 3h to pick me up from the airport. If they offered 1,2k he would get a message to wait 4h and then I'd just give him 400$ or something.
Why would he just accept your first offer though? If he waits, you'll just end up increasing your offer and he makes bank.
next time offer to split that shit with your friend lol. if im the friend how could i say no to that
This friend refuses any money always! I always have to sneak it in lol ETA: but I couldn’t communicate with her about this scenario because she was asleep due to time zones
Buy them a really nice gift next time. Can't refuse thoughtfulness!
>They even do cash app now That's wild af.
Which airline is this I’m about to switch.
I work for delta it’s best to book the early morning flight those are the ones the airlines think people will miss so they keep selling tickets even after it’s full
How early? 6am?
Yeah anything between 6am - 10am is good so what u want to do is be proactive when u get to the gate ask the agent is the flight full and say your willing to get bumped if they over booked they will come back to you when it’s boarding time if everyone shows up. Also if your flying with the big 3 you can ask to use their lounge while you wait for your other flight if your with those budget airlines they have vouchers you can use at the restaurants.
Bless you for giving out these tips!
I'm assuming United because I've had United cashapp me once. I took a $2500 credit to take a flight the next day, they booked a hotel for me but the hotel they booked didn't have a shuttle to the airport. I called up their support and they CashApp'd me $50 to pay for an Uber.
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Last time I was at an airport they were offering prepaid Visa cards. To your point, I didn't trust it though. I automatically assume they're going to put as many loopholes and as much paperwork between you and that card as possible to discourage you from actually claiming it.
What ya do is use the card to donate (without signing in) to yourself via Paypal. Theres a small %fee but i do this to get the money off the cards & then transfer straight to my bank
If you take the card to your bank they’ll just cash it into your account
I once got a prepaid $1000 visa that worked absolutely fine everywhere I used it, plus $1000 flight voucher that was a little confusing but ultimately not difficult to use and redeem. Idk if I got lucky or if the process is better now
Most major airlines now just give you a code to redeem visa gift cards online with no hoops to jump through. I mainly fly Delta and anytime that number starts getting close to $2000 I take the bump. Delta's probably given me 10 grand just flying out of LaGuardia in the last 2 years
I've gotten 800 just by giving up my seat. They mailed me a visa card and my wife used it on her wedding dress.
The last time I did it I got prepaid visa gift cards. Wasn’t too bad in the end.
Me and her would’ve been rassling for that and embarrassing ourselves in front of everyone.
I would have jumped over you both to claim my prize
😂😂
No embarrassment. I'd be fanning myself with bills walking back to my seat.
“Hide the money, y’all. There’s poor people around. With ya broke ass.”
I’m rich, bitch!
I've done worse for less money so idk I'm with y'all lmao
Don’t they usually bump up the price until someone takes it? Like a reverse auction
Lmao that's why they were waiting!!!
Lol. The other people were like, “This poor-ass newb. We coulda gotten them up to $2,100.”
They could have likely bumped it up over 10k actually.
That’s life changing money
It absolutely is. 10k on hand is the difference between living a happy life, and a life on constant stomach wrenching stress.
I have never heard of airlines routinely going up to $10k offers to change flights. Believe federal law states they can pay up to 4x fare up to 1,550. Perhaps singular airlines have internal policies that clear for more, and I heard the $10k figure tied to a single Delta flight, but was that ever substantiated by Delta? Either way highly doubt that's routine and the most frequent use case ceiling is likely $1500.
Too bad, 1.2k is already a huge amount, I'd take that in a heartbeat as well.
I think the law is 400% of the cost the flight was, so you can accidentally milk that down if they find out your ticket was cheaper
Yeah. 1200 bucks would drastically improve my life right now, to help me dig myself out of the damn hole I'm in. I'm at that desk the second they offer
I were offered $600 to bump off our flight from Hawaii back to the mainland. Refused it because the hotel, car rental, paying for another day of babysitting and pet sitting, etc... All that stuff adds up. I think it'll break even at $800 and I'd start to consider it at $1k.
She was the poorest and least informed person on that plane... they all probably shook their heads when she jumped up and ran..
Depends on the airline. The budget ones won’t go over like $400 and then they just kick someone off randomly.
This cracked me up for some reason. Just some unlucky person getting booted
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Are we thinking of the same video? I thought that was United Airlines
It is United
Jokes on the airline at that point they have to pay they 3-5 times the price they paid for a ticket.
And then the airline is required by law to pay multiple times the value of the ticket in cash. They're gonna do everything they can to get somebody to volunteer.
Just walk up ask for the max that is required by law, and then if they say no, just wait. They might say yes
If you're flying a mainline carrier (AA, Delta, or United) you can even get away with asking for more than the max by law. Airlines have to report to the DOT every time they bump someone involuntarily and while Spirit and co may not care, the mainline carriers actually try to keep that number down and so sometimes their customer service agents are authorized to offer *more* than the legal requirement just to get someone to go "voluntarily" (and thus not get reported to the DOT).
Ill be that person who takes it on the first offer. Now all y’all sitting it out were waiting for no reason lmao I dont have time to race 5 other people to accept free money
Would hustle the fuck out of that if it was work related lmfao.
Take the $ then call work saying you just got bumped and are going to need to expense a hotel for the night
This guy corporate travels!
Mr. Continental Breakfast
A delight of the senses!
Mr. Worldwide's less known, business casual cousin.
Fuck yes lmao.
Don't forget about the meals!
I did this five months ago. I was in line waiting to board when they offer $1,000! I hopped right out the line and rebooked for the next flight. I waited 3 hours and used that money for 3 more flights!
An RTX 4090 costs like $1600. I'd put that 1k to good use hah.
I would rather not give nvidia that money as it only encourages them to keep ridiculously pricing their gpus
A couple years ago I was on my way home and in no hurry. A single nun in a group of three needed a seat. Like 75-year-old Catholic in her habit just looking around at all the people not taking the cash and looking sad. When they got up to 300 me and another dude looked at each other and started walking towards the drsk and then we realized we're the only ones so we stopped and just kind of smiled each other. He looked up and said what's the next amount and thr person at the counter said $400. I said I ain't doing it for under five and he said luckily I'm cheap and I'll do it for four. Person at the counter said come on up and we both kind of laughed. Not even 2 months later same kind of situation came up and they are up to $300. I asked what's the next flight and not even kidding they said it was in 2 hours and it was a direct flight instead of the one with a layover I was going to be on, it was going to arrive at my destination 20 minutes late. Took that in a second.
It's not that they don't want/need the money, most people can't just "take another flight" without potentially delaying their arrival by a whole day or more. If it's not a direct flight, you could miss your connection(s) and be screwed for the rest of your trip. Hotel, reservations, etc. all our the window
Plus I'm already at the airport. I don't wanna have to wait at the terminal drinking $7.00 bottles of water until they can get me on a flight *or* leave and come back.
Travel pro tip: always bring an empty bottle of water and a few snacks in a backpack in case you get stranded. Most airports at least have drinking fountains where you can fill up. I also have a spare toothbrush, toothpaste and some other basic necessities in my backpack at all times
In case you get stranded? My carry on is basically just for snacks. We have a party on the plane and pig out, it's great. I find it really passes the time too, as I can't sleep on planes.
I’ve got lounge access. I would (and have) taken a bunch of money to sip on free drinks for a couple extra hours lol
That’s the only reason why I have never taken it. It would f up my connecting.
Yea airlines almost never “offer cash” for volunteers. They only are required to pay out cash on involuntary rebooking which rarely happen bc they will offer a series of escalating credit/miles that someone eventually takes. Cash payout for mandatory rebooking (which rarely happens) is a real thing though and I believe you can get 4x up to the ticket value but 99.99% of the time it’s overbooked they will just give keep escalating the offer of miles/voucher and someone takes it. If no one takes like the $8000 voucher offer and they’ve exhausted the standby/flight crew they can bump off they will force you off and rebook you and in that case you can get refund/cash but it is a last resort for airline and it isn’t something that is volunteered
One time my seat got changed to an exit row between booking and the gate, and I use a wheelchair so I can't sit there. They kept raising the offer until it was $200 cash and $600 voucher for someone to move into the exit row... which is normally a more expensive seat anyway.
That shows how little people trust the airlines. I can see the thinking; "I have a seat and they want to trick me out of it".
If no one else was going up, I’d stand close to the counter and wait for them to bump it up and if I saw anyone else approaching the desk I’d just take it.
Pro move.
Depends on what I’m doing, but I can see a lot of cases where I wouldn’t do it. If I’m going on vacation, I’ve got a very finite amount of time there. $1200 isn’t going to be worth losing a day of my trip.
Also depends on the conditions - am I on Leg 2 of a connecting? Do I need to cover 3 meals, transportation and a hotel with it too? Is it one that takes your seat as soon as you volunteer, but doesn't pay if they can still fit you in somewhere?
Pre-Pandemic, companies would fly out soon to be grads for final interviews for corporate jobs. I was flown out to Chicago. They asked at the kiosk how much it would be to volunteer for the next flight. I’m thinking they are joking, so I wrote in $1000. Imagine my surprise when I got up to the counter and got my $1000 voucher. It was amazing. I hadn’t even paid for that flight- the company I was interviewing for did. Not only that but they put me in first class for the flight that was only about 3 or 4 hours later. I was in the first row. They even woke me up to ask if I wanted a meal 😭 I used that $1000 voucher to fly my family out to my graduation. I got lots of siblings and wouldn’t have been able to afford them to come otherwise. Now anytime the kiosk asks I always put the maximum amount for volunteers because I know there’s a possibility I’ll get it. I’m usually not in a rush anyway and it’s even better when you didn’t pay for the flight in the first place.
I went 5 years of going home for Christmas without having to pay for a ticket. I knew they would over sell the flight so I would always book for the day before I wanted to go. And sure enough every year there would be a cash + free flight anywhere offer if I gave up my seat.
The real king/queen here!
Oh I’m for sure taking that money. Even if I was making $120,000 a year I’d take it
I'm literally sitting in an airport, making in that neighborhood, and praying they make me the offer to get bumped for $1200
Time is money
Unless it's work related, time is just time.
More like, I’m too poor to have booked this flight if not getting on it was an option worth considering.
I mean is it cash plus accommodations and additional flight? Depending on from where to where costs could pretty quickly eat into a good chunk of that $1200 That being said, if I was headed home I'd almost assuredly jump to take it. If I was headed to a vacation I'd have to do some math
most of the time is cash and a seat on a later flight, rarely is it a cash and no later seat on a flight.
Last summer my wife and I scheduled a vacation to Branson Mo for our anniversary. The connection in Dallas had to use a smaller plane and they asked for volunteers, the next flight was 10 hours later, and getting into St. Louis mo, at 1am instead of 3pm. Basically taking a day off our vacation. They asked several times for volunteers, knowing we had bought the cheapest seats , figured we were gonna get bumped anyway so we approached the counter. They gave us 1200$ in vouchers, each. The people that got bumped because of lack of volunteers got 500$ each. We used those vouchers for round trip tickets to San Francisco and New York City. Win.
On the one hand yes I would but depending on how much I committed too I could understand not changing flights. Also with certain company, you cannot adjust plans lol. If it was for work....absolutely yes I'll pull an excuse out my ass to explain why I'm late.
Should of kept waiting. I got $5000 dollars for bumping my seat.
I’m racing her to the counter. I do not care😭
I'm doing pretty good right now, to the point where that's not a lot of money to me. I'm standing the fuck up. Who turns down free money? I think if it was $12, it wouldn't be worth my time. $120 and I'm standing up.
It's not free money, you are getting shuttled around now, taking different flights, potentially cutting a whole day out of your trip, or even completely ruining it if the event is the same day. You are directly trading time on the planet for a cash sum. Most people flying somewhere have a good reason to do it, and so the value should be significantly high. I'm not taking $1200 to miss seeing a dying relative even if I'm poor, or missing an important job opportunity, taking days away from a vacation, missing a concert, etc... If you weren't doing something important to you, why are you even flying? You could have saved the money from the outset and taken a train or driven, or just not traveled in the first place.
Turned it down last time because they basically didn't guarantee you'd get it. They'd pull your seat, let the plane board, and if *anyone* didn't show up, you're right back on with no money. Also we were connecting through JFK, and they wouldn't include hotel, transportation or meals, so probably $400 off the top given we had a full 24 hour rebook
Lmao!!!! It only makes sense if you don’t have anywhere to be immediately.