Fourth of July and Memorial Day weekend, which marks the beginning of the summer travel season across the US, is seeing unprecedented travel disruption probably in many years. It has been reported that 35,000 flights have been canceled across the USA.
Staff shortages, including pilots and bad weather, caused enormous delays and cancellations. Also, the number of passengers was on par with pre-pandemic travel, and the airlines could not cope with the rush.
However, the industry is already prepared for another round of disruption during this time, with all airlines either canceling or delaying flights. Delta Air Lines, the airline with reliable travel history, has offered a whopping $10,000 to all the passengers who were offered to be bumped from an oversold flight out of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
A magazine columnist wrote that he was waiting at the gate for a flight to Minnesota when Delta announced it was looking for eight volunteers to get on a later flight. The carrier offered $10,000 to each of those willing to give up their seats.
He added that his group of eight did not put up their hands as they were unsure of the number of passengers. “Had we known it was eight, we would have gotten off,” he wrote later.
The initial offer was $5000, and it was later upped to $10,000. The payments were made via Apple Pay or a Visa gift card. Delta CEO has also apologized to SkyMiles members for flight delays. Some were offered free flights for deferring flight dates.
