Compensation of up to $4,000 was offered to more than a dozen passengers to gave up their seats on a Delta Airlines flight from Boston to Rome, Italy, that had been overbooked.
The Delta Airlines flight was set to travel from Boston to Rome, Italy, and a cabin crew member made an announcement about the overcapacity issue, leading to the following scene documented on social media:
In a video widely shared on social media, a flight attendant addressed the passengers via the intercom, providing an explanation of the situation to folks
She says: “You can go shopping via gift card…I can’t, there has to be one passenger who wants to take one for the team?"
Although there was initially little enthusiasm among the passengers, the flight attendant raised the offer to $3,500, emphasizing that it would be on a first-come, first-served basis.
Following a second call for volunteers, at least two people stood up and made their way to the front of the aircraft, evidently accepting the offer.
The clip was posted with the caption: "13 passengers on an overbooked #Delta flight from #Boston to #Rome were given between $2,000-$4,000 plus hotel rooms to voluntarily give up their seat on the plane due to the flight being overbooked."
Since being shared on TikTok, the video has garnered over 375,000 views, with numerous comments expressing disbelief.
One person said: This is very common practice but $4000 is a lot! My adult daughter was given a United flight voucher for $1000 after being told she was bumped off her flight from the US to the UK. She was put up in a decent hotel and traveled the next day.
A second wrote: I’ve done it my husband and I both got $500 credits, a free hotel room, and food for staying another night
A third said: There is nothing that would stop me from happily taking the $4000 and a rebooked flight. That would more than pay for most people’s flights, holidays, and spending money.
Someone else asked: How is possible to overbook the plane? If the plane has 150 seats, you can sell 150 tickets. Just wondering how much pay these 13 extra passengers when Delta offers 4000 to get off?
So they pay you to get off the flight as it's overbooked? So who gets your seat? Why not just pay the people yet to board the flight? Another added.
It is worth noting that a similar incident occurred last year when a woman was offered $3,000 to surrender her seat on a flight from LaGuardia Airport in New York to West Palm Beach, Florida.
