“Is there any room for negotiation?” Maxwell Cohen says he put that question to the man at a Delta gate counter at about 6 a.m., after the offer for giving up a seat on his 7 a.m. flight had gone from $300 to $500 with no takers. “And the man starts laughing,” he says. “But I was being dead serious.”
Cohen, who posts as @maxcohennn, told the story in a video posted on September 25, 2026, wearing a navy cap and a blue sweatshirt with backpack straps over his shoulders. He tells it in the present tense: “So I’m flying right now. I’m in the airport, it’s currently 6:00am.” His caption reads, “Thanks for the $$$$$$ @delta.”
By his account, the flight was full and staff announced that they would “start paying people” to move. The next flight left “at like 8 or 9:00am.” The opening figure did nothing for him: “I’m not gonna do it for $300.”
Nobody volunteered. “So he ups it to 500,” Cohen says, and that was the point where a different idea arrived: “I wonder if I can negotiate.”
At the counter, once the laugh had passed, he says the agent asked, “What do you have in mind?” Cohen had already done his own sums: “Realistically, I can sit in the airport and just do work and take the next flight in two hours.” He calls the trip “a quick two hour flight.” Then he named his price, an offer to “hop on the next flight” for $1,300.
The agent’s reply, as Cohen tells it, was “I don’t know, we’ll see.” The rest takes him a few seconds: “20 minutes passed, so no one volunteers,” and the agent accepted the $1,300. He ends the video with, “Thanks, Delta.”
He does not say in what form the $1,300 was paid, and that is the first thing to settle if you try the same move.
Start by letting the first number go by. In his telling the price rose only when nobody stepped forward, from $300 to $500, and then to his figure after another 20 minutes without a volunteer.
Work out what the delay costs you before you walk up. Cohen knew three things: the next departure was an hour or two later, he could work from the terminal while he waited, and the flight itself was short. Check the same three for your own trip, plus whatever is waiting at the other end, such as a connection, a pickup or a meeting.
Then use his two lines in his order. Open with the question, “Is there any room for negotiation?” When the agent asks what you have in mind, answer with one number tied to one flight, as he did with the next flight and $1,300. Have the number ready before you reach the counter.
Stay by the gate after a “we’ll see.” His answer came 20 minutes later, once it was clear no one else had volunteered.
Before you give up the seat, get three answers. Ask how the money is paid: cash, a card, airline credit or a voucher. Ask for a confirmed seat on the later flight and the new boarding pass in your hand. If you checked a bag, ask which flight it travels on. Have the amount put in writing or sent to your email before you step aside.
A high ask can also come to nothing. If another passenger takes the $500 while you are holding out for more, you board your original flight with no payment, which is exactly where Cohen stood when he passed on $300.
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