Get Paid for Being Flexible

You heard me right!  There is now a company that will actually pay you for being flexible, so loosen up those muscles and get stretching!

Ok, ok I apologize for the poor attempt at humor in my above statement.  But in all honesty it is true that being flexible can get you $$ to use towards your next vacation.

Let’s back up to last year when I was on my way home from Singapore for a work seminar.  My original flight path was Singapore > Tokyo > Washington, DC > Boston.  I still cringe thinking about the length of that trip.  So, when I landed in Tokyo and was patiently waiting in line to get off the plane, a flight attendant called my name over the speaker asking me to visit the customer service desk. 

My immediate thought was maybe they feel the pain of my flight and are bumping me to first class for the long leg home!  Instead they told me that the flight from Tokyo to DC was overbooked and they were looking for me to take a flight that would connect to Boston through Chicago and in turn only get me home 1 hour later.  At first I figured uh no way am I making this 24 hour trip an extra hour longer!  But before I could turn them down, the service representative informed me I would be given a $600 travel voucher and an extra 10,000 bonus miles on top of what I would already be earning for the long journey.  “HECK YEA!”

Don't go thinking I'm something special for getting this deal.  It's common practice for airlines to overbook their flights because it’s inevitable that people will cancel their reservation or miss the flight.  However, when they’ve over booked a flight and come boarding time they are short on seats for passengers they’ll often offer deals for travelers to change their travel plans for compensation. 

This is not always the best option especially when you’re just trying to get to your next destination.  But if you’ve got a couple hours of flexibility then it’s worth it to ask what they’re offering in compensation and what the change in timing will be.

On my recent trip home from Chicago, they were offering $600 for volunteers to take the later flight to Boston.  The flight original flight landed around 9pm while the later flight would land around midnight.  Would it have been worth it for Emily and I to take the deal?  Perhaps.  And looking back on it, it would be nice to know I had a $600 travel voucher in my back pocket to use sometime in the next year.  Yet, Emily and I were planning to be at work on Monday and were both in need of some good sleep so its okay that we didn’t take the option. 

Whether or not it’s worth it is always up to you, your flexibility, and the schedule you’re on.  When I took the option to go through Chicago on my way home from Singapore, I ended up getting a plane that didn’t have personal TV’s (it was a 12.5 hour flight) and then my connection to Boston was SUPER late so I got home almost 3 hours later than originally planned.  And let me tell you, 3 hours felt like an eternity after traveling for over 24 hours. 

So is it worth it?  That will have to be up to you!

The happy ending to my travel credit: I was able to book 2 round trip tickets to Cancun, Mexico for just $130 (after applying the $600 credit)!  Talk about an awesome way to use up the last of my vacation days for the year and get some beachy warmth before the New England cold comes in!

Questions of the day:

Have you ever taken compensation to change a flight?

Would you consider taking compensation to change you flight?