Make them an offer they can’t refuse.
Nothing is worse than finally making it to your gate, waiting to board a plane, only to find out the flight is overbooked and the airline is looking for takers to give up seats.
As much of a pain as that scenario is, a thousand-dollar prize might change some minds.
Airlines are known to overbook flights to prevent empty seats since oftentimes flyers miss connecting flights, make last-minute flight changes or simply don’t board the flight in time before takeoff.
That seemed to be the case for a recent flight leaving Miami International Airport.
In a now-viral TikTok video posted by user @kelli.palacios, a gate agent for what supposedly looks like American Airlines, although it’s not confirmed, is heard on the intercom asking a crowd of plane passengers to voluntarily give up their seats for a $1,250 trip credit and a $1,000 prepaid Visa card.
Could you imagine?
In the short clip, the crowd of flyers is heard gasping and rightfully so, because anyone who’s experienced this scenario knows how generous an offer that is.
Most airlines offer some sort of compensation for these good Samaritans, but since the US Department of Transportation technically doesn’t “limit the amount or type of incentive offered,” airlines can propose whatever they want — and clearly these agents were feeling quite generous that day.
The commenters on the video were just as shocked and quite jealous that they weren’t one of those plane passengers.
“1250 in trip credit AND a 1000 dollar Visa card? I would have took it immediately,” one wrote.
“I would’ve got up before she finished talking,” another chimed in.
“Done I’ll sleep in the airport too,” a commenter joked.
“I’d be up there in 5 sec,” agreed someone else.
“Would’ve already been heading back to the hotel,” quipped a commenter.
While some airlines are acting as Santa’s little helpers, others are banning flyers for not wearing enough clothing.
Edda Elisa, a fitness influencer from Germany, was supposedly denied from getting on a Lufthansa flight after being told by a gate agent that she “wasn’t wearing anything” and whose outfit was described as being “naked,” as explained in a viral TikTok video.
The outfit of choice? Black biker shorts paired with a white V-cut sports bra.
“What the f- -k?,” a frustrated Elisa asked in her social vid. “She told me I wasn’t wearing normal clothes, and that I had to put something over it now. You go to the side now and you can only [board the plane] once you’ve got something on.”
The airline supposedly responded to Elisa and reassured her that the airline worker’s alleged use of the word “naked” does not “correspond to our standards” and that Lufthansa will reportedly do an internal review of the incident.
