Thought I would share a story with everyone and a quick tip based on my experience this past Sunday where I got a $600 dollar voucher and confirmed into a 1st-class seat on a later flight.

Original flight LAS-SEA on a Compass Air Embraer 175, which was scheduled to take off at 2pm PST on a Sunday. The airport is always packed on Sunday's in Vegas, as I am sure everyone knows

Everything is looking good for the flight and they get the entire plane loaded with no issues. Doors are closed, captain makes normal announcements, and the jet bridge is backed away. But then nothing, we just sit there.

About 10-15 minutes go by and finally the captain gets on the intercom and announces that it's too hot to fly and that the aircraft is overweight for the heat.

A red coat comes on board and makes an announcement that they need to remove 5 passengers from the plane, so that they can reduce the weight and take off. She is offering $400 dollars and two people raise there hands immediately. I then shout out, "When is the next flight?" And hear that there is a 4:10 DL and 7:55 AL...Then she gets a radio call that the temperature increased again, and they now need 7 people. She gets back on the intercom and says that she needs the 7 now and is sweetening the deal to $600 dollars.

Well at that point I am already on the phone with the Gold Medallion Line, asking about availability on the next flights out, so I immediately raise my hand for the $600 and get off the plane.

The agent I was speaking to was amazing and was able to put me #1 on the standby list for the 4:10pm DL, and even better, was able to confirm me into a 1st-class seat on a 6:15 DL flight (that for some reason the red coat didn't mention).

During my wait for the standby (which I wasn't going to take unless it was C+ or 1st) I was speaking with a different gate agent and red coat who gave me the inside tip about flying in summer at LAS.

Apparently, DL Connection Compass Air, uses smaller engines on their airplanes and aren't able to preform well enough to carry a maximum capacity weight of the aircraft. Compare this to DL Connection Skywest, and their aircraft are equipped with engines that are big enough to preform in the heat and be maxed out on weight. (Embraer 175 vs a CRJ-700/900)

The agents told me that this is a regular occurrence in Vegas during the extremely hot summer months and I figured this was good information for two reasons.

1) Make sure you book Skywest flights out of Vegas in the summer to avoid any potential delays or cancellations.

2) OR, purposely book a Compass AIr flight in hopes of the same thing happening and having a chance to be offered $$$ for a bump. (If you do this, make sure you book during August on a busy time like a Sunday morning/afternoon)