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Passengers on a recent overbooked Delta flight from Michigan to Minnesota who were able and willing to take a later flight hit the compensation jackpot when they were offered a whopping $10,000 in cash to give up their seatls. Inc. magazine tech columnist Jason Aten was on the flight and wrote about it earlier this week, saying the flight's crew was looking for eight people to give up their seats on the one-hour flight from Grand Rapids. Another person on the flight, Todd McCrumb, confirmed it on social media, and told Fortune that $5,000 was offered at first while passengers were still at the gate and there were no takers. After boarding began, they upped it to $7,500, and then finally to $10,000 by the time most passengers were on board. Some people took the $10K offer immediately, but McCrumb said it took a second announcment of the $10,000 offer and 20 minutes to get enough people to take it. Delta increased its maximum compensation for passengers on overbooked flights from $1,350 to nearly $10,000 in 2017. However, Fortune reports it's rare for $10,000 to actually be offered, especially for such a short flight, and in cash instead of as a gift card or travel voucher.
Additional coverage of this story here: https://www.wzzm13.com/article/travel/delta-airlines-offered-10000-passengers-grand-rapids/69-c3eca22a-0a40-4e21-9c52-6591b70f2c24