Family makes £9,000 in compensation from overbooked flights
A family in America made nearly £9,000 in compensation after being bumped off three overbooked flights.
Laura Begley Bloom made £8,866 when her, her husband and daughter were due to fly on an overbooked plane from New York to Florida.
See also: Scorpion falls from overhead locker and stings plane passenger
See also: Musician removed from flight as cello pose 'safety risk'
A storm had caused a lot of travel chaos for Delta Airlines, with a number of delays and cancellations meaning running flights were under pressure.
Ms Begley Bloom said she had always "secretly scoffed" at people who took credit for their seat place, but that when the offer got to £1,075 a ticket, they took it and were booked on another flight a day later.
However, when they went to check, the same situation occurred.
According to the Independent, Ms Begley Bloom said: "Somehow, when an airline is offering you and your family $4,050 (£3,225), missing a flight doesn't seem so bad.
"When I went to check in online on Saturday and saw that the flight was delayed by more than an hour and that Delta was already asking for volunteers to give up their seats, I turned to my husband and said, "Cha-ching!"
The airline started asking for volunteers to give up their seats, firstly offering £238 a ticket. When the offer got to £1,035, the family said yes to two gift cards at that amount and another one at £1,075.
After waiting for hours for confirmation of another flight, and being told flights were overbooked for three more days, the family decided to cancel their holiday and go and see relatives instead.
The airline gave them another £796 per person in advance compensation, as well as refunding the three tickets.
Ms Begley Bloom said: "We accepted Delta's offer and went home, sad to miss our trip, but not so sad about the lucrative results."
