People have a clever way of making money off airlines to essentially travel for free—and it’s all about looking for an overbooked flight

A man sits in a plane seat with an eye mask on. (Credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post—Getty Images)

It could be a scene from an auction house: A Delta flight from Boston to Rome in September 2023 was so overbooked that a flight attendant pleaded with passengers and offered them thousands of dollars and a hotel room to give up their seats in exchange for a voucher and a later flight.

“Come on guys, $3,500, can somebody take one for the team?” the flight attendant said in a video captured on TikTok. “We’ll get you a hotel if you guys show up for us.”