Money talks: United Airlines passengers can’t get up fast enough to volunteer their seats to Vegas and score jackpot offer
There’s an old saying: “Everyone has a price.” And we see that play out firsthand in this viral video, which was shared with the caption: “When your flight asks for 14 volunteers to get off the flight.”
A passenger traveling to Las Vegas on a United Airlines flight filmed her companions and the rest of the passenger cabin while the gate agent made an announcement asking for 14 volunteers to give up their seats. I suspect the reason was due to weight and balance issues since it’s extremely hot outside; they probably had a lot of cargo so the airline needed to deplane some passengers
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As you can see in the video, at first, the passengers didn’t budge until the agent announced how much they were offering in travel credit. The reaction of the person filming, her friend and the surrounding passengers was classic, as they couldn’t get up quick enough.
Here’s a transcript of part of the United Airlines PA announcement: “ … to Las Vegas. For your safety at this time, after calculating the numbers, we called our dispatch. We do need 14 passengers off the aircraft and for the rest of you passengers onboard that don’t want to volunteer, I just want to make you aware we’re kind of racing the clock here with your crew. If we don’t meet that time frame, unfortunately, we will have to deplane the entire aircraft. I want to apologize in advance. If I have 14 volunteers, $2,500 in travel credit apiece.”
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As you can see in the video, at first, the passengers didn’t budge until the agent announced how much they were offering in travel credit. The reaction of the person filming, her friend and the surrounding passengers was classic, as they couldn’t get up quick enough.
Here’s a transcript of part of the United Airlines PA announcement: “ … to Las Vegas. For your safety at this time, after calculating the numbers, we called our dispatch. We do need 14 passengers off the aircraft and for the rest of you passengers onboard that don’t want to volunteer, I just want to make you aware we’re kind of racing the clock here with your crew. If we don’t meet that time frame, unfortunately, we will have to deplane the entire aircraft. I want to apologize in advance. If I have 14 volunteers, $2,500 in travel credit apiece.”
I’m not sure where the plane was originating but it was obviously going to Las Vegas per the PA announcement and I could tell it was United Airlines thanks to the Hemispheres Magazine in the seatback pocket.
Usually, the gate agent makes an announcement at the gate area before boarding to try and get volunteers. Typically, the offer is very low to start and if no one bites, it gradually increases. In this case, it seems $2,500 was the magic number to get enough volunteers.
If I’d been on the plane, I would have jumped up too since $2,500 could get you plenty of trips across the country or a business class ticket to Europe in the off-season. I’ve taken the bait before and almost did last week on an American Airlines flight from Chicago to L.A. but the agents ended up not needing volunteers.
However, before you ever volunteer, always ask what the next flight they can get you out on is. Sometimes it’s just a few hours later but other times, it could be days. The most I’ve ever received was $500 but my sister (and each member of her family) received $1,300 in cash because they were involuntarily bumped, meaning they didn’t want to give up their seat but the airline took the last people with no status to check-in off the plane.
