Gift cards and more: How Delta beats United in handling overbooked flights

Delta frequently offers fliers gift vouchers to avoid involuntarily bumping them

United and Delta airlines both bumped scores of passengers because of operational problems this past weekend, but one airline ended up facing world-wide outrage and the other managed more deftly.

That is because Delta and United take different approaches to bumping passengers. When it comes to bumping, Delta is more generous than United and other airlines, government data shows.

When it decided it had to put four crew members on a flight from Chicago to Louisville, Ky., Sunday evening, United asked for volunteers, offering a hotel for the night, a reservation for a flight the next afternoon, and a voucher