Delta offered the family $24,000 in travel vouchers, then refused and canceled the flight
by Gary Leff on January 1, 2023
A family of three traveled from Oakland to Salt Lake City on an overbooked Delta flight. The gate agent offered them $8,000 each — $24,000 total — for another flight. They felt like they had won the lottery. But then Delta turned down the offer. The family didn’t get the vouchers and couldn’t catch the flight.
Instead, Delta canceled the flight due to a missing crew member. As a result, they no longer needed “the family seats” to accommodate other passengers, as no one was intended to be accommodated. By canceling the flight, Delta did not have to pay any denied boarding compensation at all.
A Bay Area tourist was offered $24,000 in coupons by Delta Airlines to give up his family’s seats on an overbooked flight. But he says the airline withdrew the offer after an alleged staff accident.
“I understand that flights get canceled and things happen,” said David Reeves, a Nashville native who was visiting San Francisco on vacation. “But don’t dangle the carrot and pull it back.”
The flight was on Christmas Eve and the family was connected to Nashville. The man’s family said he was ruining Christmas by taking the bump coupons. But, in his words, “It’s $24,000 … we can wait a day for $8,000 a seat.”
In the end they didn’t get the voucher and didn’t make it on Christmas Eve, but they made it on Christmas. Delta offered a flight two days later, the day after Christmas. However, they took matters into their own hands and drove to the Monterey Airport, where they picked up a flight. Delta covered hotel and car rental for one night.
Imagine being that close to $24,000 in travel vouchers and not getting the money but not getting the flight either. They’re being hosed down by the airline anyway and still not getting the future travel on offer.