Delta OKs $10,000 Payments To Passengers On Overbooked Flights

by Will Racke

Delta Airlines isn’t taking chances it won’t be able to convince passengers to give up their seats when a flight is overbooked.

In the wake of United Airlines’ disastrous, forced “re-accommodation” of Kentucky doctor David Dao, Delta has authorized payments of up to almost $10,000 per overbooked passenger, the Associated Press reported.

An internal company memo obtained by the AP says gate agents can offer up to $2,000 in compensation and ground supervisors can offer up to $9,950. The previous maximums were $800 and $1,350, respectively.

United Airlines has drawn widespread condemnation since a Sunday incident, when security officers dragged Dao off an airplane during boarding at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Dao had refused to leave his seat after he was randomly selected to be bumped from the flight so United could provide seats to a flight crew deadheading to Louisville. (RELATED: Video Shows What Happened Before Man Was Dragged From United Flight)

Several passengers captured the manhandling on video, which immediately went viral. United CEO Oscar Munoz initially tried to lay blame for the scuffle on Dao, who suffered a broken nose and a concussion, but later issued a series of public apologies amid the ensuing public relation crisis.

“This can never–will never–happen again on a United Airlines flight,” Munoz said Wednesday on “Good Morning America.” “That my premise and that’s my promise.”

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