Rabbi Feld sat in the boarding lounge of the airport, learning his daf. He was traveling to the wedding of one of his congregants, Mr. Krauss, who had purchased him a complimentary ticket. Although the wedding was scheduled for late afternoon, he had booked an early flight to allow ample time.

Rabbi Feld noticed Rabbi Dayan sitting across from him, waiting for the same flight. “I’m heading to a wedding in Chicago,” Rabbi Feld said. “By any chance, are you also attending?”

“No,” replied Rabbi Dayan. “I was invited to give a shiur.”

As they talked, an announcement came over the loudspeaker: “Continental Flight 473 to Chicago is overbooked. There is an additional flight at 12:00 p.m. Passengers willing to be rescheduled to the 12 o’clock flight will be granted a free round-trip ticket to anywhere that Continental flies. Please approach one of the Continental representatives near the boarding gate.”

Rabbi Feld couldn’t believe his ears. “A free ticket to anywhere that Continental flies!” He could get a free round-trip ticket to Israel in exchange for a few hours’ delay! He looked at his watch. Even with the later flight, he should arrive at 3:00 p.m., just in time to make the wedding.

“Should I risk it?” he thought to himself.

Rabbi Feld asked himself another question: Since the Krauss family had sponsored the ticket, perhaps it was they who should be entitled to the bonus ticket. It was their money, after all.

Rabbi Feld needed to make a quick decision. He turned to Rabbi Dayan and explained the situation.

“Can I take the later flight?” he asked. “If I do, who gets the ticket?”

“Whether you can take the later flight depends on what you expect Mr. Krauss would want,” said Rabbi Dayan. “The bonus ticket would certainly belong to you, though.”

Rabbi Feld decided that it would be irresponsible to risk arriving late for the wedding, despite the potential gain.

“Thank you. I’ll stay with this flight,” he said to Rabbi Dayan. “Now that we have some time, though, could you please explain the reason for what you said?” 

“When a person gives a gift, we evaluate his intention in giving it,” said Rabbi Dayan. “Mr. Krauss clearly bought you a ticket so that you could participate in his simcha. You should therefore act in accordance with his intention. Presumably, he would not want you to arrive late for the wedding. If you were meant to lead the wedding (mesader kiddushin) or take an important role in the chuppah, he would probably not be willing to have you take any risk (see Choshen Mishpat 241:5; 246:1).”

“What about the bonus ticket?” asked Rabbi Feld. “I know that in some cases, an agent who bought something and received a bonus must share it with the sender who paid the money. Here, Mr. Krauss paid for the ticket (C.M. 183:6).”

“Correct, but this does not apply here for a number of reasons,” said Rabbi Dayan. “First, the bonus ticket would be issued under your name. Rashi explains that the bonus is shared because we are unsure to whom the seller intended to give it: the sender who paid the money or the agent who executed the purchase. Accordingly, when the bonus is explicitly designated to the agent, he is entitled to it (Rema 183:6).”

“But don’t some later authorities question this ruling?” asked Rabbi Feld (see Be’er Heiteiv 183:21; S.A. Harav, Mechirah #11).

“Yes, but the Rashba writes that if the agent received the bonus because he benefited the seller, everyone would agree that it belongs completely to the agent,” said Rabbi Dayan. “Here, the bonus ticket is not because of the initial purchase, but because you were willing to be bumped from the early flight (Ketzos 183:7).

“Furthermore, the commercial airline practice is to benefit the bumped individual, regardless of who paid for the ticket,” Rabbi Dayan concluded. “Thus, the principle of hakol k’minhag hamedinah (everything in accordance with the common commercial practice) applies here (331:2).”

“Thank you,” said Rabbi Feld. “This will make for an interesting shiur when I return home!”