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I was on an oversold WestJet flight a few days ago and a $2400 voucher was announced to give up your seat. I was told the amount corresponded to the delay, and

I was on an oversold WestJet flight a few days ago and a $2400 voucher was announced to give up your seat. I was told the amount corresponded to the delay, and that it was "up to" $2400, with a flight leaving the same time the next day, which was the longest option mentioned being worth $1500. I didn't see any confirmation from someone receiving the $10,000 so I would guess it was the same situation.

paulcole 4y ago
From the article: > “If you have Apple Pay, you’ll even have the money right now,” the flight attendant said, Aten wrote.
- mondocat 4y ago
  That does not clarify whether it's $10,000, or up to $10,000.
  - paulcole 4y ago
    Back to the article we go: > The crew was looking for eight volunteers to give up their seats on the "apparently oversold" flight, offering them $10,000 each. I have emphasized the use of “up to” in the previous sentence.
  - arwhatever 4y ago
    Obligatory xkcd https://xkcd.com/870/ https://xkcd.com/870/
    - paulcole 4y ago
      Doesn’t seem to be the case at all. The article is very clear about what was heard: > The crew was looking for eight volunteers to give up their seats on the "apparently oversold" flight, offering them $10,000 each.
- listenallyall 4y ago
  Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, none of which has been supplied. This particular statement about Apple Pay makes the story sound less likely, since it is not the typical way airlines handle this compensation.
  - phil21 4y ago
    This doesn't read as extraordinary at all, having been a pretty heavy frequent flier on Delta. The ops problems I've been reading about sound pretty hellacious. I've gotten heavy cash credit in the past, printed as a check at the desk. The only difference here is apple pay, which delta started to heavily market about when I stopped flying so I didn't read that as totally out of the question. The cash credit thing is quite a lot more common that Internet lore would have you believe. I've seen it hit multiple thousands or more dozens of times, although never $10k personally. Sample size of probably around 1500 flights.
  - paulcole 4y ago
    It also seems like it’s atypical to offer $10K. Maybe the whole thing is an atypical situation and we should trust the article vs. our well-honed software engineer intuition?
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - listenallyall 4y ago
      Yes the $10,000 was the extraordinary claim. I assumed that was a given. The Apple Pay is just an extra head-scratcher.
      - paulcole 4y ago
        Still not that much of a head-scratcher. Look at the sentiment in the comments here. Nobody can believe that the airlines will give out $10k. There must be some catch or some loophole they’ll use to avoid paying the $10k. Airline isn’t stupid and knows this so they have a method for near instant payment.
- puffoflogic 4y ago
  Once they have you off the plane it is, in practice, totally up to them whether and how much and in what specie to pay you. This isn't true of general counterparties but airlines have so many legal "protections" they could muddy the water to the point you'd never come out ahead. That's not to say taking the offer would be a bad idea; just because your expected value isn't nearly $10k doesn't mean it's 0 either.
zeagle 4y ago
I'd be curious what happened there or what route as I am surprised to hear this. I wonder what the circumstances were, e.g. trying to make room for crew in transit that was on a cancelled flight. I fly reasonable amount and try to exclusively use WestJet in recent years because they don't ever overbook and I just want to get there without frustration. In the last ~15 years of adulting I've had Air Canada, Delta or United, Lufthansa vouchers, credit, or cash for volunteering/involuntary bump but have never seen this at a WestJet gate. (I did have a cancelled WS flight a couple hours prior recently so here is to hoping to get my $1000 eventually.)
- mondocat 4y ago
  They said it was overbooked and needed two volunteers.

paulcole 4y ago

From the article: > “If you have Apple Pay, you’ll even have the money right now,” the flight attendant said, Aten wrote.

mondocat 4y ago
That does not clarify whether it's $10,000, or up to $10,000.
- paulcole 4y ago
  Back to the article we go: > The crew was looking for eight volunteers to give up their seats on the "apparently oversold" flight, offering them $10,000 each. I have emphasized the use of “up to” in the previous sentence.
- arwhatever 4y ago
  Obligatory xkcd https://xkcd.com/870/ https://xkcd.com/870/
  - paulcole 4y ago
    Doesn’t seem to be the case at all. The article is very clear about what was heard: > The crew was looking for eight volunteers to give up their seats on the "apparently oversold" flight, offering them $10,000 each.
listenallyall 4y ago
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, none of which has been supplied. This particular statement about Apple Pay makes the story sound less likely, since it is not the typical way airlines handle this compensation.
- phil21 4y ago
  This doesn't read as extraordinary at all, having been a pretty heavy frequent flier on Delta. The ops problems I've been reading about sound pretty hellacious. I've gotten heavy cash credit in the past, printed as a check at the desk. The only difference here is apple pay, which delta started to heavily market about when I stopped flying so I didn't read that as totally out of the question. The cash credit thing is quite a lot more common that Internet lore would have you believe. I've seen it hit multiple thousands or more dozens of times, although never $10k personally. Sample size of probably around 1500 flights.
- paulcole 4y ago
  It also seems like it’s atypical to offer $10K. Maybe the whole thing is an atypical situation and we should trust the article vs. our well-honed software engineer intuition?
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - listenallyall 4y ago
    Yes the $10,000 was the extraordinary claim. I assumed that was a given. The Apple Pay is just an extra head-scratcher.
    - paulcole 4y ago
      Still not that much of a head-scratcher. Look at the sentiment in the comments here. Nobody can believe that the airlines will give out $10k. There must be some catch or some loophole they’ll use to avoid paying the $10k. Airline isn’t stupid and knows this so they have a method for near instant payment.
puffoflogic 4y ago
Once they have you off the plane it is, in practice, totally up to them whether and how much and in what specie to pay you. This isn't true of general counterparties but airlines have so many legal "protections" they could muddy the water to the point you'd never come out ahead. That's not to say taking the offer would be a bad idea; just because your expected value isn't nearly $10k doesn't mean it's 0 either.

zeagle 4y ago

I'd be curious what happened there or what route as I am surprised to hear this. I wonder what the circumstances were, e.g. trying to make room for crew in transit that was on a cancelled flight. I fly reasonable amount and try to exclusively use WestJet in recent years because they don't ever overbook and I just want to get there without frustration. In the last ~15 years of adulting I've had Air Canada, Delta or United, Lufthansa vouchers, credit, or cash for volunteering/involuntary bump but have never seen this at a WestJet gate. (I did have a cancelled WS flight a couple hours prior recently so here is to hoping to get my $1000 eventually.)

mondocat 4y ago
They said it was overbooked and needed two volunteers.