For many travelers across the country, flying has become a true nightmare as they face a lot of flight cancellations, delays or oversold flights in many US major airports. But for some, this current troubling situation turned out some extra money from hers. As CNBC reported, a passenger named Megan Keaveny received $3,000 from Delta Airlines for giving up her seat on an oversold flight.
With a flight booked to West Palm Beach, Florida, from New York’s LaGuardia Airport, Keaveny told that while she was boarding, a gate agent announced that Delta needed 22 people to get off this flight, offering $1,300 to any volunteers. She was told by her boyfriend and friends who had already boarded, to request at least $2,000 to trade her seat on the flight.
Once on the plane, she heard the agent announce another offer. This time, the employee said the price had risen to $2,500. When time Keaveny and other passengers decided to accept the offer and started to deplane, the price was up to $3,000. “I almost broke my neck sprinting down the aisle,” she told CNBC.
With that money in her pocket, Keaveny took a flight to Fort Lauderdale. There, she arrived in West Palm Beach by Uber, spending 50$ on the ride. She says she arrived only a couple of hours after her friends and would consider volunteering her seat on future flights. If she wasn’t on a timeline, she probably could have done the same thing on her rebooked flight, she adds.
Keaveny’s experience may be a trend this summer. According to CNN, airlines are particularly likely to offer large sums of cash to passengers willing to give up their seats at the airport gate, primarily due to overbooked flights. As Travel Noire reported this month, Delta airlines offered $10,000 to eight upset customers on an oversold flight.