stevendorechester

I don' t know why airlines don' t offer other alternatives. Such as free tickets that can be used without too many restrictions, as it used to be. Especially in these situations where they really needed the seats ( like a must-ride). I' m pretty certain that an agent walking onto a plane offering two free tickets to " Any destination we fly" will get some takers. It' s all about how it' s offered.

While not trying to go too off topic the only time I was given an offer while on the plane was a CO flight from EWR-LAX. A concierge walked on and offered me 20000 miles to take the next flight for some VIP passengers. I accepted. In the jetway I met the VIP' s the CEO of American and British Airways! They needed to be in L.A. that day and thanked me. I got a BF seat on the next flight, full J miles to my Onepass ( I was on an upgrade). I got an escort to the President's club, a couple of drink coupons and an escort back to the plane. The concierge thanked me and mentioned that he would have been allowed to give even more on the spot since " we really don' t like forcing anybody to give up their seat" . I really miss Continental, they were really good in the late 90's.

davetravels

I also miss CO (especially when they were partenrs with NW). I started flying them when they took over for PeoplExpress at EWR.

Although, when I took a $650 VDB at EWR, they told me that if you didn't use the whole amount, you lost it. I asked the GA if he could give me $250 + $200 + $200. He said no problem!

How do UA's & AA's work?

fly747first

I doubt anyone booked in Y would ever get the maximum of $9,950... that would most likely only go to someone in J who gets downgraded (FAM, equipment change, broken seat on sold out flight, etc).

Kevin AA

1) Delta Dollars are not a negotiable instrument
2) it's not illegal to carry $10k out of the country; you only need to declare it. Delta could give you a check for $1 million for voluntarily giving up your seat and as long as you declare it to customs, no prob

hfly

New regulations or old, I have witnessed twice numbers going as high as $3500+++ (next flight, hotel, etc) CASH or so in limited situations in the past. Both for Business Class and both being extreme oversells just prior to big events - the kind where people were paying over $10k for an Transoceanic Business Class travel - and they had 4-8 more passengers then they had seats and everyone had relatively high status.

The question is whether the airline has a responsible adult around (read supervisor) to make the decision, UA could have gone much higher in their offer, but it would seem that the GA made mistake after mistake which compounded......

kop84

I would like to know what type of yoga people here do to be able to bend over far enough to spin this as a negative move by DL? I'm looking to improve my flexibility and whatever regiment some here are on must be amazing.

Is it a bold PR move...yes. But that does not make it a bad idea.
DL is trusting and empowering their front line employees to essentially eliminate one of the most hated things in the industry.

Will anyone ever get the full amount...I'm sure SOMEONE will, but as has been said many times, someone will take far less than that...but still more that the max offer before.

I think people are missing the TRUE motivation...NPS.

DL just empowered their frontline employees to turn this:

"DL JUST TOOK ME OFF A FLIGHT!!! NOW I'M MISSING XYZ EVENT! THEY ARE ALL CROOKS AND LIARS!!! #FDELTA "

Into this:

"Just scored 3,200 to take a later flight. I'll be flying in style to FCO this summer!"

Or something approximating those remarks that have the potential to go viral on social media. The second one probably won't go viral, but the first one sure can if it's some IG celebrity

C W

^

It mostly seems to based around a massive misunderstanding of the frequency with which high amounts will be paid out. Some might just be trolls too.

Well said and I agree. A great move all around.

NorthwestFlyer

How many Flights does an Airline have to fly to make $10,000? That is the Question.

NorthwestFlyer

What is the most anyone has been paid by Delta for voluntarily getting 'Bumped' from a flight? After United dragged Dr. Doa off a plane.

kop84

Probably not yet. I'm sure that someone will eventually get that type of payout, but most overbooking situations will be taken care of far before that amount is reached.

Maybe around Thanksgiving/Xmas time.

iflyalexair

No. It's a PR stunt to piggy back off of UA's misfortune.

I think you'll likely see higher offers on VDBs across the board because of the public's taking a special interest in the UA3411 incident. Paying this much could come in handy in the instance of an oversold business cabin leaving from Europe...

NorthwestFlyer

That is what I was thinking. With their unique Bidding structure, they will NEVER have to pay out that much money. Some pax will always place a 'Lowball' bid.@:-)

CJKatl

I was on a flight that went to $1,800 before they got a volunteer to fly the next day instead. I was on my way to my company's annual meeting. There were many of us on the flight: ATL-SAT. None of us could take the offer with all the others on the plane, but it was killing me and the coworker next to me. A woman sitting one row ahead of me across the aisle finally couldn't resist and got up when the offer reached $1,800.

injera

I got $2k once but that involved getting bumped off back to back flights on the same day. $800 and then $1200. Was offered another $800 to get off the first flight the next morning but with a 10am meeting I couldnt make it work.

kop84

I don't believe DL put out a press release about this, so while some may say they new the info would leak out, it's not like they've put on a full court marketing blitz.

And I don't believe the intentions were to start paying everyone $9950. It's more a matter of raising the ceiling which was ~$1350 about the same as an IDB...obviously some situations went higher but for the most part it seems $1350 was about it. Now they are free to negotiate higher amounts if need be.

You're mad at DL for people accepting $2K and not just giving them another ~$8K?

I don't see the downside to consumers here...this just reinforces the idea that some here see any change DL makes as a negative change.