How does it make sense to pay that much money? That's $80k for the eight people who took the deal.
Was there some special person who was carrying some important item? Or can you pay to bump other people off a flight like that, just because you're rich?
Astonishing that this could happen, I'm pretty sure I'd take the $10k. Seems like easy money.
I'm just as curious as you -- I can kinda see the math behind sloppily overbooking and paying $3-500 occasionally for the operational cost savings, but I have a tough time seeing how it adds up once you're paying out 10s of K$.
Including a reasonable hypothesis: The next available flight was 2-3 days later. So the amount of money could cover 3 days of hotel, food, and lost income. Of course, most people have a drivers license and could rent a car and drive -- but not everyone.
1. There is a regulatory (or contract) issue if this isn't fixed _now_. They would also have had some reason to avoid involuntary deboarding, which they usually don't.
2. A gate agent was angry and wanted to send a message to corporate (possibly just before quitting).
They start at a lower amount and then increase it until they have the required people. The lower and upper bound on what they can offer first appeared in a leaked 2017 memo. 2017 also happens to be the year of the violent removal of someone on a United flight: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_United_Express_passenger_...
My guess would be that Delta put this policy into place after the terrible United incident.
Was there some special person who was carrying some important item? Or can you pay to bump other people off a flight like that, just because you're rich?
Astonishing that this could happen, I'm pretty sure I'd take the $10k. Seems like easy money.