Gate Access
Happy Monday, Travel Friend! You know I love seeing passengers win when it comes to travel, so I had to share this story with you. A passenger was able to legally collect multiple flight vouchers from American Airlines after discovering a pretty lucrative problem the airline had. Let’s get into it!
This Monday’s edition:
How a Passenger Made $3600+ in Flight Vouchers
The Quick List (Essential Travel News & Updates in Under 3 Sentences)
Checkpoint: 60 Tips Passengers Should Know When Going Through TSA Screening. Read Full E-Guide Now.
How a Passenger Made $3600+ in Flight Vouchers
If you don’t learn anything else from this story, I hope you learn how benneficial flexibility is in air travel. A woman attempting to fly back home from her vacation in Italy to Philadelphia was stoked when she discovered that her flight was overbooked. As you know, when flights are overbooked, airlines will begin seeking volunteers to give up their seats in exchange for gift cards or flight vouchers. Luckily for this passenger, she wasn’t ready to leave Italy, and she saw this as an opportunity to extend her stay on American Airlines dime. Not only did she collect $1200 on her first day, but she was also given a 4-star hotel room, private car service, and food vouchers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Most passengers are unaware that they can receive all of this when in this situation. That’s why it’s important to share these stories.
When she returned to the airport the following day, she discovered that the same flight had been overbooked again and would remain overbooked for two weeks, allegedly. Knowing this, she volunteered to give up her seat for three additional days, collecting a total of $4800 in flight vouchers.
This got me thinking, if you’re flexible with travel and discover a way to forecast flights that are often overbooked, you can make a fortune on flight vouchers to use on vacations later. The issue is that this information isn’t public. I reached out to a few Gate Agents to hear their thoughts on this, and I’ll swing back with an update. Look out for the update!
The Quick List
Essential Travel News & Updates in Under 3 Sentences.
Government Related
TSA is gearing up to screen over 17 million travelers during the upcoming Labor Day travel period, which is expected to be the busiest on record. The peak day is August 30th, when 2.86 million passengers are projected.
Gate Access E-Guide
Read the first official Gate Access e-guide! Checkpoint: 60 Tips Passengers Should Know When Going Through TSA Screening. I discovered these tips during my time at TSA, and I’ve broken them down into bite-sized chunks for you to refer to when needed. Check it out now! You can also ask for additional tips regarding this topic, and I’ll add those tips to the downloadable version when it’s ready.
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