Three years ago, Tamara Gane and her boyfriend sat at the airport. They were trying to board a flight from Reno, Nevada, to Seattle, Washington. But then, the gate agent announced that the plane was overweight. As a result, they were asking for volunteers to fly out the next day, offering $750 in airline credit to anyone willing to switch flights and help out. Upon hearing the offer, Gane and her boyfriend ran up to the counter and asked, "There are two of us," she wrote in an article. "Would we both get $750?" to which the airline employee replied yes. They immediately accepted the offer, banking $1,500. According to Gane, they had homes in both cities, so they didn't need to pay for a hotel.
Albeit it was an exciting moment and an easy decision for Gane and her boyfriend, it was far from a top-tier offer.
Recently, a college student took to social media to share a major score. Per a post in the Delta subreddit, the student, who goes by the username timotheySKI on the platform, says he was waiting to board a flight from Boston to Paris when the agent asked for nine volunteers to fly out the next day, offering $800 per passenger. The airline didn't get enough responses. As a result, they raised the amount to $1,500. The student eventually went up to the counter and said he'd volunteer for $1,800. The gate agent agreed. That said, nothing was finalized as they kept soliciting the additional volunteers they needed.
The offer kept growing, as the airline already got five volunteers. They increased it to $2,500, with four more volunteers needed. Ultimately, "The offer rose to a full 3000 dollars," said TimotheySKI, as he waited with the other volunteers. Not only were they all rebooked for the same flight the next day, but they also received "all sorts of vouchers." TimotheySKI scored in the end. According to him, he "got paid $3000 plus a $48 meal voucher." What's more, he received an Uber credit and a hotel room.
When asked how he was paid, TimotheySKI replied: "Cash, it's in the form of prepaid Visa/Amex cards you have to redeem." He later gave an update that he landed in Paris safely on his rebooked flight. According to him, this flight was also oversold and five people volunteered for $1500.
"I missed the announcement but I don’t think I would have taken it anyways," he wrote.
All the same, TimotheySKI's compensation isn't the highest confirmed volunteer compensation offer on record. In 2022, Delta Air Lines offered $10,000 cash upfront for eight volunteers to give up their seats on a flight bound for Minneapolis.
