Delta Air Lines offered passengers $10,000 each to get off an oversold flight

[MerryHolidays]

21. Flying standby is different

That's when you book when it's oversold and are in the queue to get on the flight.

I guess it depends on specific flights and airlines, but my understanding is that airlines generally allow booking of several percentage points (e.g., 10-20% of actual seats), assuming several people will cancel/rebook on another flight.

It's when all ticketed passengers fill up all available seats that this becomes an issue where airlines have to offer compensation to get ticketed passengers to agree to take another flight.

Here are some more details from the US DoT: https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/bumping-oversales#:~:text=The%20business%20practice%20of%20bumping,a%20result%20of%20oversales%20practices.