Passenger left stunned after Delta crew offers him ₹2.5 lakh to give up his seat: ‘Wasn’t even the day’s biggest payout’
A Delta passenger made nearly ₹2.5 lakh by giving up his seat due to a last-minute operational issue.
Travel during a holiday weekend is always a frenzy for both airlines and passengers. But one flyer, travelling on the Monday after Easter Sunday, walked away with a reward few could imagine.
According to a post on Reddit, the traveller was on a Delta flight from Chicago O’Hare to Seattle, scheduled for 7:50 am, a high-traffic day by all standards. “I boarded with Zone 2, grabbed my seat in Row 10, and settled in,” he wrote.
What happened next felt almost unreal. “A gate agent walks up to the front of first class — no mic, no big announcement — and casually drops what sounded like a travel myth: ‘We’re looking for two volunteers to deplane due to fuel rebalancing issues. Compensation is $3,000.’”
That’s around ₹2.5 lakh in Indian currency.
“I barely even processed it before my hand was in the air. No hesitation. I wasn’t letting anyone else beat me to it. Another passenger raised theirs right after,” he added.
The airline handed him two vouchers, one worth $2,000 (around ₹1.66 lakh) and another for $1,000 (around ₹83,000), since Delta apparently doesn’t issue more than $2,000 on a single voucher.
Interestingly, the vouchers weren’t limited to Delta flights; they could be converted into gift cards from major retailers. The passenger said he was thrilled to receive the money and also got some extra time with his family before flying out again.
But the $3,000 surprise wasn’t even the day’s biggest payout. Earlier that same day, due to an equipment change involving the same plane, Delta had offered $1,700 (around ₹1.41 lakh) to 22 other passengers to give up their seats. That’s a total payout of $43,400 (over ₹36 lakh).
“I always thought once you board, you’re locked in and done. But apparently, if Delta hits an operational issue (like fuel balancing) and still needs volunteers? That window reopens — and if you’re quick, you can win big,” the flyer noted in his Reddit post.
Other Reddit users also chimed in with similar stories.
Take a look at the post:
“I was offered $3k. I forget which card(s) I got, but one of them allows you to use it for PayPal. So I set them as my PayPal info and paid my wife, who then deposited it into our bank account. There was a fee to do so, but of the $3k we pocketed like $2,950, so I was fine with it,” read one comment.
Another user added, “Saw it once at [the Detroit’s airport]. They started at around $500, I think. Jumped to $1000 right before boarding. Got on and they offered $1500 for one more, dude behind yelled $1800 and they took him for $1800.”
