Delta offers $10,000 to passengers who volunteered to get off flight

Delta Air Lines said it offered passengers $10,000 to get off an overbooked flight from Michigan to Minnesota.

The airline said the money would be offered for each passenger who volunteered to disembark the aircraft on Monday morning.

Jason Aten, a tech columnist at the Inc. magazine, wrote that he was on the flight with his family when a flight attendant asked for volunteers over the intercom.

Aten said the airline was looking for eight volunteers to offer seats on the oversold flight, and that each volunteer would be given $10,000.

If you have Apple Pay, you ll have the money, according to Aten, the flight attendant said.

Aten told Fortune that his group of eight did not take Delta up on their offer because they were not immediately aware how many volunteers were needed.

He told the outlet if we had known it was eight, we would have gotten off. By the time that was clear, four or five people had already left. Another passenger confirmed Aten's claim about compensation on Twitter.

It is a true story. I was on that flight! Todd McCrumb tweeted in response to a tweet from Aten. I was flying with my wife who has very limited eyesight, so I was unable to take advance notice of the offer. She has to have me nearby when traveling. McCrumb told KTVB 7 that the offer began at $5,000 but would then be increased to $10,000.

A Delta spokesman wouldn't say if the incident took place, but they did state that there was compensation for ground staff when circumstances like this occur.

The compensation gives our employees the ability to ensure that our overbooked flights are able to take care of customers and then dispatch or get our aircraft on time, the spokesperson said.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian apologized for recent flight delays and cancellations in a post on LinkedIn Thursday.

Bastian wrote, if you encountered delays and cancellations recently, I apologize. We have spent years establishing Delta Air Lines as the industry leader in reliability, and although most of our flights continue to operate on time, this level of disruption and uncertainty is unacceptable.