What's the best thing that an airline compensated for you?

Nanjing, China
April 16, 2017 10:32am CST
For me, it was a night in a five star hotel. I was on a plane travelling from the US to Indonesia. Through the flight, I had to take a couple hours transit at Hong Kong, or what would be a couple hours transit if they didn't cancel the flight altogether and delay it until tomorrow morning (for some unknown reason, I forgot). My parents complained to the airline because we were a family that didn't have any place to spend the night in Hong Kong. So luckily, the airline decided to compensate it and give us a free night in a luxury hotel in Hong Kong (maybe it was five stars, maybe it wasn't. But it sure looked really amazing to me). They also compensated for the trip from the airport to the hotel and back. Ironically, the flight we were in was operated by United Airlines. Disclaimer: I am in no way a United Airlines employee trying to bring back the company's reputation after the incident . My experience also occurred such a long time ago, and it really boggles me what the airline actually did on the news recently. So what about you? Have you ever had a similar experience?
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6 responses
@FourWalls (67220)
• United States
16 Apr 17
I don't fly anymore, for various personal and medical reasons (I have a serious ear issue that will act up if I get on a step ladder, never mind 42,000 feet!). The only "incident" I ever had in my scant time on airplanes occurred when I was going home on leave from Honolulu to Louisville. About halfway to San Francisco there was a medical emergency on board, so they turned around instead of continuing and landing in SF. Our compensation was free ear plugs to listen to the movie.
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• Nanjing, China
16 Apr 17
Hmm, some airlines even give free earplugs not as a compensation, but on a normal flight. That really was the least thing that they gave for a compensation.
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@FourWalls (67220)
• United States
16 Apr 17
@definitelynotaziz -- this was a long time ago (1984).
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• Nanjing, China
16 Apr 17
@FourWalls Wow a really really long time ago then. I wasn't even born yet .
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@wongchoiyee (7413)
• Malaysia
17 Apr 17
No I never experienced this before, but I been to Hong Kong 9 years ago. There was very crowded with people on the streets. Good if the airline could compensate me with a five star hotel room.
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• Malaysia
17 Apr 17
@definitelynotaziz I like Hong Kong very much. The city is small, I walk with my mother and friend to shopping not by taxi or bus. Cool!
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• Nanjing, China
17 Apr 17
@wongchoiyee I should travel there sometime. But I heard it's Hong Kong is mostly a city for shopping
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• Nanjing, China
17 Apr 17
Yeah we took a shuttle bus straight to the hotel, so we didn't really experience much of the city.
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@scheng1 (24649)
• Singapore
17 Apr 17
Wow, that is good. I do not have any experience in this, since I tend to travel off peak, and the worst I suffer is for flight delay.
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• Nanjing, China
19 Apr 17
Yeah flight delays are fairly common nowadays. Hope they continue to try and limit the delays.
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@sishy7 (27167)
• Australia
17 Apr 17
I remember we were in Bali some years ago waiting for a domestic flight to Jakarta that had been delayed for so many hours and the airline ended up giving out some food vouchers that passengers can use to eat anywhere at the airport.
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• Nanjing, China
17 Apr 17
Food is nice, so that's a free meal basically? I had one like that except they only gave us some snacks and a drink.
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@Jackalyn (7558)
• Oxford, England
17 Apr 17
I have never been compensated. However, weary from backpacking through the Middle East British Airways suddenly upgraded me and my ex husband to First Class. That was lovely and possibly very kind as we probably looked done in.
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• Nanjing, China
17 Apr 17
That's nice. I've never been upgraded to first class during a flight before, maybe one day
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@RubyHawk (99405)
• Atlanta, Georgia
17 Apr 17
No. I've never had any experience with flying. Sounds like you and family were well compensated.
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• Nanjing, China
17 Apr 17
Thankfully so. Otherwise we would've spent extra money on a hotel room.
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