United Airlines gave passengers $10,000 each to downgrade from business class to premium economy on a flight.

The flight, between Newark, New Jersey, and Honolulu, Hawaii, was scheduled on a Boeing 777 aircraft.

However, it was changed at the last minute to a Boeing 767-300 – a smaller jet.

Due to the last-minute plane change, there were not enough business class seats for the number of passengers who had booked them.

As a result, United needed nine passengers to be downgraded to United's "Premium Plus" cabin, the equivalent of premium economy.

The US carrier gave them all $10,000 each in travel vouchers as compensation – costing United $90,000 for the entire flight, reports View From The Wing.

A passenger, posting in forum Flyer Talk, called the compensation "insane".

A United spokesperson told The Independent: “Occasionally we have to change aircraft at the last minute and when that happens, we try to make the impact to customers as minimal as possible.”

Following the David Dao incident, when a doctor was dragged from his seat on an overbooked United flight, the airline upped its compensation limit to $10,000 for customers who are involuntarily "bumped".

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