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How does it make sense to pay that much money? That's $80k for the eight people who took the deal. Was there some special person who was carrying some importan

How does it make sense to pay that much money? That's $80k for the eight people who took the deal. Was there some special person who was carrying some important item? Or can you pay to bump other people off a flight like that, just because you're rich? Astonishing that this could happen, I'm pretty sure I'd take the $10k. Seems like easy money.

loxias 4y ago
I'm just as curious as you -- I can kinda see the math behind sloppily overbooking and paying $3-500 occasionally for the operational cost savings, but I have a tough time seeing how it adds up once you're paying out 10s of K$. Here's a thread of people discussing it: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-air-lines-skymiles/2085020-10-000-bump-grr-msp.html https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-air-lines-skymiles/208... Including a reasonable hypothesis: The next available flight was 2-3 days later. So the amount of money could cover 3 days of hotel, food, and lost income. Of course, most people have a drivers license and could rent a car and drive -- but not everyone.
27182818284 4y ago
They start at a lower amount and then increase it until they have the required people. The lower and upper bound on what they can offer first appeared in a leaked 2017 memo. 2017 also happens to be the year of the violent removal of someone on a United flight: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_United_Express_passenger_removal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_United_Express_passenger_... My guess would be that Delta put this policy into place after the terrible United incident.
exmadscientist 4y ago
Usually it means one of two things: 1. There is a regulatory (or contract) issue if this isn't fixed _now_. They would also have had some reason to avoid involuntary deboarding, which they usually don't. 2. A gate agent was angry and wanted to send a message to corporate (possibly just before quitting).

loxias 4y ago

I'm just as curious as you -- I can kinda see the math behind sloppily overbooking and paying $3-500 occasionally for the operational cost savings, but I have a tough time seeing how it adds up once you're paying out 10s of K$. Here's a thread of people discussing it: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-air-lines-skymiles/2085020-10-000-bump-grr-msp.html https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-air-lines-skymiles/208... Including a reasonable hypothesis: The next available flight was 2-3 days later. So the amount of money could cover 3 days of hotel, food, and lost income. Of course, most people have a drivers license and could rent a car and drive -- but not everyone.

27182818284 4y ago

They start at a lower amount and then increase it until they have the required people. The lower and upper bound on what they can offer first appeared in a leaked 2017 memo. 2017 also happens to be the year of the violent removal of someone on a United flight: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_United_Express_passenger_removal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_United_Express_passenger_... My guess would be that Delta put this policy into place after the terrible United incident.

exmadscientist 4y ago

Usually it means one of two things: 1. There is a regulatory (or contract) issue if this isn't fixed _now_. They would also have had some reason to avoid involuntary deboarding, which they usually don't. 2. A gate agent was angry and wanted to send a message to corporate (possibly just before quitting).