Man Hears Offer From Delta Worker To Get On Later Flight. He Doesn’t Accept—And Pulls An Expert Move Instead

Giving up your seat on a flight can be a huge sacrifice. But if you play your cards right, airlines like Delta are sometimes prepared to pay you handsomely for it. And these offers to take later flights are sometimes negotiable, Maxwell Cohen recently discovered.

TikTok user Maxwell Cohen (@maxcohennn) decided to shoot for the moon. And to the surprise of everyone, that risk paid off.

In the video, which has garnered 22,800 views, Cohen speaks to viewers from the airport. He says it is 6am and that his original flight takes off at 7am. However, while waiting, he says Delta made an announcement about paying people to change flights. The next flight, he said, was around 8 or 9am—but he wasn’t willing to do it for the $300 offered.

With nobody volunteering, he says Delta made another announcement. He says the reward went up to $500.

“So it comes to my head, and I’m like, “I wonder if I can negotiate,”” Cohen says. “So I go up to the counter, I’m like, “Is there any room for negotiation?” And the man starts laughing.”

Undeterred, Cohen says he made it clear he was being “dead serious” and offered to change his flight for $1,300. The worker didn’t commit at first. But after 20 more minutes passed with no other volunteers, he says Delta actually accepted his offer. “Thanks, Delta,” Cohen concludes.

Is It Worth It To Take A Later Flight?

Commenters shared their own sweet deals from airlines.

“OMG this happened to me for $1000 it was such a lucky day,” one wrote.

“I got $2,500 and a first class ticket on the next flight,” a second said. “Don’t underestimate how much they’ll give you.”

“My husband and I did this for the first time a couple years ago- easy $1800,” a third added. “We told ourselves we will do this any time it is offered in the future.”

And a fourth shared, “United paid my daughter $2000 and it’s happened more than once.”

Delta told BroBible in a statement, “Generally speaking, in the rare event of an oversold flight, we empower our people to provide compelling compensation to customers willing to take a later flight. Our priority is always to care for our customers while ensuring an on-time departure.”

BroBible reached out to Cohen via Instagram direct message.

The Offer To Take A Later Flight—It’s More Common Than You Think

It’s more common than you think for airlines like Delta to offer incentives for passengers to change their flight last minute.

In the past, BroBible has also reported on Delta passengers being offered as much as $10,000 for passengers to give up their seats. More recently, earlier in the month, Ashley Weil (@theashleyweil) shared footage of Delta workers trying to entice people to leave the plane with gift cards. “Whether you want Amex, Mastercard, Visa, Amazon, Whole Foods,” the worker said over the intercom. “You name it, we got it. $2,500 [in] a gift card of your choice.”

In a statement to BroBible at the time, Delta said, “In the rare event of an oversold flight, we empower our people to provide compelling compensation to customers willing to take a later flight. Our priority is always to care for our customers while ensuring an on-time departure.”

As pointed out on the Department of Transportation website, the practice of “bumping” involves denying passengers boarding when the plane is overbooked. Bear in mind, airlines often overbook to make more money.” While airlines can force passengers to leave with no incentive, they’re generally required to “seek out people who are willing to give up their seats for compensation before bumping anyone involuntarily.”

Can You Negotiate Delta’s Offer To Take Later Flight?

These offers are sometimes negotiable, too. One Redditor, in a post about this very subject, suggested going about the negotiation process like this: “Say you’re interested if they have a better offer and leave it open ended on them.”

The author of Andy’s Travel Blog also revealed how he successfully negotiated Delta’s offer of $700 to a whopping 30 volunteers. “Thirty volunteers is a LOT. I was worried they would have to involuntarily move people and figured I’d be first in line if they did. I did some math in my head and approached the gate agent, telling her I’d move to a flight a day later for $1500 and a hotel. She needed to ask around but eventually said absolutely!” Andy penned.