Originally Posted by
Some person
It's not surprising that it is "expensive as hell" as SAS has to pay 250 to 600 euros to someone else if you use this perk.
In my experience of getting overrides onto sold-out flights for non-governmental travel, the fare seemed to be way more than enough to offset typical IDB/VDB amounts paid to a displaced passenger flying the same flights on the cheapest tickets. Also, I am pretty sure that in many such instances, the airline isn't necessarily paying money out to as they can try to pre-empt ending up in an oversold situation for the cabin/flight or have other passengers who misconnect, no-show, re-book anyway.