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If it works for you, then why not? The airlines always overbook their airplanes. It's part of their business model. So this is uncomparable to all those MrBeast videos with stupid challenges.
@Rasmus Fuhse Indeed, I was initially surprised airline agents could offer that much money, and then increase the amount as the boarding time approached. We even got a direct thank you from a women who was waiting for a seat assignment and saw us volunteer, which was extra nice.
They overboard their vessels everytime and calculate that someone will eventually miss the flight. Most of the time this works fine. But sometimes more people are entering the machine that fit in there. It's a lot of money in this overboarding trick. So they even could go to 5000 $ and still make money with it.
@Rasmus Fuhse I’m not sure about the “making money” part. Counting the initial ticket purchase and the extra expenses incurred by the rebooking, we were essentially paid more than US $1,000 each to fill seats on another plane. It sounds like an expensive game the airline may not want to play too much. I’m not sure what the margin is on a New York - Washington, DC ticket is but it can’t be more than its price (US $110-280).

So, it turned out the 6:30 AM EST flight we got moved to was also oversold, and when we arrived at the gate, they were looking for one volunteer to take the 8:40 AM EST flight in exchange for US $500. My partner made it very clear none of us were going to take this opportunity this time.

An unfortunate consequence is that our booking at the hotel was cancelled despite us calling yesterday evening and we were given assurance that we could do a "late late check-in". Between this and the car service that took more than an hour to show up to bring us to the airport hotel, it has put a damper on this lucrative adventure.

Oh dear, that's not cool.

Epilogue: I'm flying over the week-end, and today Alaska Airlines sent me an email asking if my schedule for my return flight is flexible, so that they can offer me $55 in credit to change flight.

Not for that kind of money, cheapskates!

Well that's the downside... Once you have seen what money was in there, you feel somewhat entitled to the amount.

If you wouldn't have known, maybe you would just have been delighted that they offer you some money for a thing that was a negligible change for you...